Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Dividend and Other Measures) Bill 2011 will amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1992 to provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, with improved planning and enforcement powers to implant the reorganisation of digital television channels as required. The bill will also allow for the realisation of a digital dividend of spectrum by 31 December 2014. I will go into what that means in the broader context a little later.

The bill will ensure the equalisation of television services for regional, rural and remote Australia, allowing all Australians the same degree of access to television channels. Allowing for regional Australians to have access to the same television channels as the rest of us is a key outcome of the government’s switchover program. The bill will enable viewers in remote and regional areas to access the VAST satellite communications service to receive the full suite of digital television channels. Providing equal access to television services to all Australians, regardless of where they live, is extremely important, and its importance has been known for some time. Before I came down to make my contribution I looked up the report of a committee inquiry that I participated in back in 2006, the House Standing Committee on Communications, Information Technology and the Arts inquiry into the update of digital television in Australia. Belatedly, I got my highlighter out and flipped through that document. I want to draw your attention to a couple of things I have noted. The report noted:

Not since the shift from black and white to colour has so radical a change in the nature of Australian television taken place. The ‘revolution’ is the introduction of digital television … and the planned switch-off of current analogue services.

DTV offers clearer, sharper pictures in widescreen format. As it requires less spectrum to broadcast, it also offers opportunities for many more channels, and additional features such as interactivity and datacasting.

In terms of dealing with digital television, the report says:

[Digital television] is a new television technology that is replacing existing analogue free-to-air television in Australia.

[Digital television] delivers television signals in a substantially more efficient way than the current analogue system. With analogue broadcasting, the signal is in the form of a continuous wave, whereas digital broadcasting signals are in the form of discrete bits of information.

Analogue television channels can transmit one continuous stream of programming … DTV is a broadcasting transmission system which uses digital modulation techniques to transmit television programs.

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