Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker Burke, and the time expired of the Rudd government is coming soon, too.

I rise today to talk again in this place about the digital television issue in my electorate, particularly in Yankalilla and Gumeracha. We have had in recent months some good news delivered by the broadcasters that the five self-help stations in Yankalilla will be upgraded by the broadcasters to ensure that the people in Yankalilla receive digital television when the analog service is switched off in Adelaide in 2013. It has always been an area which has struggled with television reception because of its topography. While it is very close to the main broadcasting tower in Adelaide, it has, unfortunately, always struggled. The council has maintained these self-help towers for some time. It is good news now that we are going to have these upgraded to ensure that digital television is received. The question now is how quickly they will be upgraded. We are hoping they will be upgraded sooner than 2013 and we will be sitting down with the shadow minister, the member for Casey, who has done a sterling job on this issue, to ensure that that is the case.

More worryingly, however, Gumeracha, Cudlee Creek and Forreston have not received the positive news that Yankalilla has. They have received some news, which is that the broadcasters in their assessments believe they will be picked up by current stations which will be upgraded as part of this process. However, we are looking for some assurances from the broadcasters. Again, in conjunction with the shadow minister who visited my electorate recently and met with some of these locals, and the Adelaide Hills Council Mayor Bill Cooksley who has focused on this issue very much as well, we will be working to ensure that the people in this area—who believe it or not live closer to the Adelaide broadcast tower than most people in Adelaide do and cannot get digital TV—will be picked up by the increase in services. We will work to ensure that that view of the broadcasters will actually come to pass. Again, we want to know what the time frame for that is to ensure these people are able to get their TV service, as they deserve.

Unfortunately, this has been mishandled by the Rudd government. We are seeing that in Mildura today with a disastrous situation occurring up there, and we will see it more broadly through regional and rural Australia. They just simply do not understand the regions. They simply do not think about the impact of these sorts of policies on people who live out of the city areas. Thankfully, the Yankalilla council and the Adelaide Hills council have both worked very hard on these issues for their constituents, working alongside me and the shadow minister, who has been very focused on ensuring that people are not left behind by another Stephen Conroy stuff-up.

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