Minister for Immigration Ian MacPhee (right) visits 3EA radio station, 1979

Between 1945 and 1975 Australia’s population almost doubled due to the government’s post-war immigration drive. By the 1960s many new immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds were asking for more access to broadcasting. A number of community-run radio stations were established in the early 1970s.

The popularity of these and the government-sponsored 2EA and 3EA non-English speaking stations encouraged the government in 1978 to establish the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) to manage multicultural radio services. This led to the start of SBS Television in 1980.