Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak strongly on behalf of the people in my electorate of Forrest and I concur with what the previous speaker, the member for Hinkler, and the shadow minister, the member for Dunkley, said, particularly since, with the topography of my electorate, the black spot issue is a significant one. The funds that are going to be applied through this bill, the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television Switch-over) Bill 2008, are particularly important from here, so I am very keen to see what happens and how those issues will be eliminated from my electorate. Let me tell you, I will receive a lot of pressure, and therefore so will the government, if this is not done correctly. I am glad our amendments have been embraced, but we must ensure that no-one is excluded by this switch-over.

The one thing that is not well understood is what television means to very remote and regional viewers, whether they are in centres or extremely isolated areas. We take it for granted. There are places in my electorate that cannot get local ABC coverage, including emergency and local information, because their feed comes from the north-west, 2,000 kilometres away. They struggle for information now, and if we do not have decent television coverage with a local source then those same people are going to be completely disadvantaged. I am also told that unless the signal is delivered correctly, whereas with analog the graduation to a loss of signal is when you see the snow, with digital the loss of signal is like falling off a cliff; that is the effect. So this needs to be done particularly well and it needs to be able to service the communities in my area.

The other issue I have is about the assistance that is going to be provided through the budget for community organisations, shires and others who rebroadcast. There will be a number of them throughout Australia that do not necessarily have the funds for this within their capacity. So there is another issue in resourcing those groups that will need assistance to do this—as will some low-income earners and a range of people who may not have the funds for the technology that is needed to make this transition.

I am concerned that ACMA has had a cut to its budget. We have been told that this switch-over is going to be moving ahead—we will see if it moves quickly—but for ACMA to be able to discharge its responsibilities in this area, including black spots and, now, a whole raft of other requirements, it needs increased resources as opposed to cuts to its budget that the government has already agreed to. People within my electorate need to know without any shadow of a doubt, and I need to know, that every current viewer that has access to analog television and all of the safety and day-to-day information in their lives that comes from having good communications and access to television will have access to them once the analog system is switched off, and that those who need the assistance in the process will be given the resources to do so.

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