Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Higgins and I are sharing this five-minute spot because we engaged in this joint venture to present these 37,000 signatures, and they are just for starters as they are still coming in. There are another 5,000 signatures for the next time we bring a bunch along. In my own electorate there are 1,200 that came in, and that number is growing.

The point is that the ABC has a voluntary charter. Section 6 of the act says that the ABC should broadcast:

… programs that contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community …

Getting rid of bowls off the ABC will mean that the ABC will not be fulfilling its charter. This is a very serious issue, because it is obliged under the charter to pay attention to the fact that there is no other channel broadcasting lawn bowls, yet 800,000 people are participants in this sport. It is one of the largest participating sports in Australia.

When I looked at the charter of the ABC, of course, I looked at it in the sense that it is not binding on the ABC. It is not something they have to comply with; it is something that they are meant to be guided by. I think this begs the question: are we moving to a time when the ABC needs to have a binding charter, where it must honour its obligations to let all sections of the community have exposure in the sense that their sport or their cultural activity is something that otherwise would not share in that broadcasting medium?

We heard the story of the young player who was a bronze medal winner, who told us that he had become interested in lawn bowls because he had watched it on the ABC. I subsequently found this was not an uncommon story. There is enjoyment for young people and we now have after-school programs where young people are engaging in bowls and enjoying the sport. They may grow up to become participating and competing members, which means it is one of those sports where everybody can compete. Young and old together can be part of the same team or they can be competing against each other. It is one of those sports that truly unite people in a common activity.

For that reason we simply say to the ABC, 'You must put lawn bowls back on the television.' It has been there for 30 years. At the end of that to get a letter to say, 'By the way, we think we've had enough of you; we're not going to have you anymore,' just will not do. It was a curt and discourteous letter and the attitude to lawn bowls is also discourteous. More particularly, it is a breach of that charter and we must see lawn bowls come back to the screen.

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