Radio Australia broadcasts on FM transmitters in seven countries across the Pacific Islands, to the Indo-Pacific region via satellite, and to the rest of world via online streaming.

[1] Short-wave services from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation were officially opened in a ceremony by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies on 20 December 1939.

[4] Radio Australia had a considerable range of broadcasts to the Asian region in the 1970s and 1980s,[citation needed] and was hugely popular in China, where the only alternative was the state media controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

[5] During the first Gulf War in 1990/91 the Darwin station provided valuable information and support to expatriate Australians caught in Iraq, and others working in places like Saudi Arabia.

[citation needed] In 1993, the ABC launched its international TV broadcasting, but Radio Australia's budget was cut significantly under the Howard government, causing the closure of its Cantonese, Thai and French services, as well as shutting down the short-wave transmitter to South-East and North-East Asia.

This move was condemned by newspaper editors (including that of The Australian) and politicians alike, who saw the loss of Australia's ability to wield "soft power" in the region.

[6] The decision attracted criticism from cattle station owners, Indigenous ranger groups and fishermen, who argue it was done without community consultation and would deprive people in remote areas of vital emergency warnings, leading to Nick Xenophon introducing legislation to force ABC to reinstate short-wave radio service.

In 1941, following consultation between the British and Australian governments, a transmitter site in Shepparton, Victoria was selected, in part because of a flat landscape and soil conductivity.

A new transmitting facility was installed by the Postmaster-General's Department at Cox Peninsula near Darwin in the late 1960s, rebroadcasting programs emanating from Radio Australia studios in Melbourne.

A second phase of implementation commenced shortly thereafter with the installation of two TCI curtain arrays, one beamed towards PNG and the other towards the Coral Sea and beyond (Solomon Islands and Vanuatu).

A special log periodic antenna with 18dB gain was placed at the Shepparton site for the 1956 Olympics to target Europe for coverage of the games.

It was directed 128 degrees (E by SE) at the long path across the South Pacific, Central America and the North Atlantic to Europe.

These services are streamed from machines hosted by Akamai Technologies in Steinsel, Luxembourg ensuring good network connectivity for listeners in Europe.

[citation needed] Asia Pacific was a regional news and current affairs program broadcast from Tuesday to Saturday at 12:05 am and repeated at 5 am on Radio National, for a domestic audience, from around or before 2009.

It features well-known artists from around the Pacific region, such as Tiana Khasi, Sprigga Mek, and Joji Malani, and is broadcast to Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Samoa.

[23] The Australian Department of External Affairs gave daily guidance to Radio Australia over its Indonesian broadcasts,[24] instructed it on the topics it should report on and the phrases it should use,[22] and often edited the station's programming.