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

We are in bipartisan agreement that we have very high-quality red wine in South Australia.

The second reading amendment moved by the member for Casey, the shadow minister, is a very good one and it highlights the issues that are not being addressed by this government. The amendment reads:

… the House:

(1)

condemns the Government for its lack of understanding of television broadcasting issues across regional Australia;

(2)

further condemns the Government for its inadequate planning and preparation for the switch-over to digital television across regional Australia, beginning in the Mildura region on 1 July 2010;

(3)

warns the Government that its failures to date risks leaving some Australians without television reception; and

(4)

calls on the Government to guarantee that Australians will not lose television reception on each digital switch-over day as a result of inadequate planning and preparation.

I think that is ultimately the point here—that this government just cannot implement a program. The Australian people are seeing that day in, day out. That is our greatest concern, and it is a concern that I am sure the Leader of the Opposition will rightly point out in the very highly anticipated address he will make tonight to the Australian people. This government cannot implement a program. It is spending far too much money because it cannot implement programs. It is costing the future generations of our country massively with its debt. This issue highlights that particularly. The digital TV implementation is as bad as the implementation of the insulation program, the Green Loans Program and the solar panels program. It is going to be another one of these issues which unfortunately cost the Australian people too much money, too much in higher taxes. We have seen a great big new tax this week to pay for all these failures.

I commend the second reading amendment moved by the member for Casey. With those few remarks, I will conclude.

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