Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That’s right. ‘Stop the waffle and get on with it’—that is the basis of the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television Switch-over) Bill 2008. We have waited for those opposite to do something about this for ages. Nothing of substance was done. The rollout has been appalling, and you know it. The technical side of the rollout has been appalling, and unless you get on with it with a bit of whip and stick it is never going to happen. So, for all your bluster and all your amendments, nothing was going to change. This bill is crucial to ensuring that the changeover to digital television can be managed sensibly and effectively and ultimately provide a much superior television service to people across the country, both in the cities and in the rural areas.

The television industry is one that I have a long and quite sentimental attachment to, as my dad spent many years—indeed, his whole working life—as a television and radio technician. Indeed, we were blessed to have one of the first televisions in our street, and I remember that lots of neighbours used to come and sit with us as we watched the black-and-white test pattern, as some in this House might still remember.

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