ACREM - History

History

ACREM is an offshoot of the group ACRM (Australian Citizen Radio Movement), which was originally formed in South Australia in 1974 to help petition the Australian Government for the legalization of the then still illegal CB band. CB users in Australia quickly realized the benefits of reporting emergencies via the CB emergency channels rather than searching for a public telephone.

ACRM soon spread across Australia, and following the legalization of the CB band in 1977 ACRM officially changed to become the Australian Citizen Radio Monitors, concentrating solely on the monitoring of the CB emergency channels.

In 1982 ACRM in Queensland decided to add the word "Emergency" to their name, and so ACREM was created. ACRM continued to operate in other states, including New South Wales. By 1997 there were members of ACRM (NSW), ACRM (SA) and ACREM (Qld) operating in NSW. This fragmentation caused problems for all members and prevented ACRM from gaining any widespread support in NSW.

In December 1997 members from ACRM (NSW) and ACREM (Qld) reformed into a single group known as ACREM-NSW (Australian Citizens Radio Emergency Monitors). The reformed group allowed members to focus their attention towards the same goals and saw ACREM-NSW gain a number of new operators. In 2006, following the closure of ACREM in Queensland, the New South Wales based ACREM once again restructured to form a national based group known as Australian Citizens Radio Emergency Monitors Incorporated. The organization incorporated in New South Wales under the Associations Incorporation Act (New South Wales), and was also registered as an Australian Registrable Body through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to enable it to legally operate in all states of Australia.