Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

The budget contains $7.2 million for the community broadcasting sector. Labor supports the community broadcasting sector, recognising that it has experienced significant growth over the last four or five years in particular. It is a particularly important area for rural and regional Australians, as I am sure the minister is well aware. Some 70 per cent of the community broadcasting reach is in rural and regional Australia. They are not-for-profit communities who receive an extremely small amount of their total budget outlay—some four per cent only—from government funding. Of course, as the minister would be well aware, the work they are doing the diversity of services they provide is particularly important to the print handicapped, youth, Indigenous people, Christian broadcasting and a number of other areas.

I draw the minister’s attention to the fact that the funding for the Community Broadcasting Foundation itself, which disburses moneys to community broadcasters, whilst it was renewed, has remained stable for I think the last 10 years, despite the fact that growth in the sector has been considerable. A start-up grant for a new community broadcasting station is approximately $20,000, but the first-off amount is now capped at about $7,000. That puts additional pressures on the communities who want to see community broadcasting stations initiated in their area.

It is of great concern that the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project funding was not renewed. Amrap, as this project is called, has been going for a number of years. It is widely supported across the sector by a variety of community broadcasters and particularly enables young Australian artists in rural and regional Australia and in cities who have written and produced music to have their music played on community broadcasting networks and further afield. It is of great concern to those young artists and to the community broadcasting sector in general that the funding for Amrap was discontinued. I draw that to the minister’s attention and am keen to hear what she has to say in response.

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