Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier, I was talking about the additional gambling advertising restrictions that the Minister for Communications announced on 6 May and how it is notable that the minister was unable to explain at the Senate estimates process that was conducted recently exactly how they would be implemented by legislation when it comes to online platforms. The restrictions on broadcast platforms are expected to be implemented through codes of practice that will commence in 2018. Labor led the way in addressing community concerns around gambling advertising in 2013 by demanding that Australia's broadcasters amend their codes to ensure a reduction in the promotion and advertising of gambling during live sport.

Concerned that the rules were not working optimally, in March this year Labor moved a motion in this place calling on the government to work with the broadcasting industry and national sporting organisations on a transition plan to address the issue of gambling ads before and during live sports broadcasts. It is notable that government MPs voted against this motion, only to announce gambling advertising restrictions in live sporting events a few weeks later. Ultimately, Labor's leadership on this issue has compelled the government to act and we welcome the measures as a step in the right direction. That says that Labor does not consider that they go far enough to address community concerns.

We anticipate that our communities will continue to complain about the intrusion of gambling advertising in live sports, given the amount of gambling advertising this government's flawed proposal continues to allow and given the fact that gambling advertisers may simply shift their advertising to avoid the five-minute shoulder. It remains to be seen whether viewers will be bombarded with gambling advertisements at the 8.30 pm mark or whether the timing of live sports fixtures will be altered to minimise the impact of the new restrictions. Labor shares the concerns of people right across Australia who are worried about the impact of gambling advertising on our community. Adults and children should be able to enjoy watching live sport without the intrusion of betting odds and gambling ads, and it is in everyone's interest to ensure that children do not associate betting and gambling as a normal part of enjoying sport.

On the matter of sport, the government's announcement of $30 million in funding to support the broadcasting of women's and niche sports is yet another area where this government is picking up on Labor proposals. Labor announced funding to support broadcasting of women's sport on the ABC, a national free-to-air service, as part of its 2016 election platform. This government's main point of difference is that it will provide the funding to subscription TV rather than the ABC and it remains to be seen what the legacy of the government's approach will be, given subscription TV's current penetration is only around 30 per cent of Australian households.

On the issue of antisiphoning, Labor is committed to ensuring Australians enjoy coverage of premium sporting events on free-to-air TV. We regard the proposed changes to the antisiphoning scheme itself to be in the nature of regulatory housekeeping. On the changes to the list of events in the antisiphoning notice proposed in this bill, changes that are permitted under the current scheme, I note these are justified on practical reasons, where the history of rights' acquisition by broadcasters and audience viewing patterns no longer warrant their inclusion, for example.

As with so many issues in this portfolio, Labor is disappointed that the government has not conducted a holistic evidence based and public consultation process on the scheme and the impact of over-the-top providers in the lead-up to proposing this bill. While change may be effected in incremental steps, it would be useful to have a roadmap of where we are headed as those steps are taken. While government acknowledges that the Australian media market has changed significantly and is willing to abolish licence fees as a consequence, as I said previously, there is an utter failure to articulate a vision for the future or a roadmap for getting there.

That brings me to content reform. It is disappointing that the government has moved to ease pressure at one end of the value chain—being commercial broadcasters—but neglected other links. This government's ad hoc approach to reform sees it granting licence fee relief for broadcasters but no relief for the production sector, which is also feeling increased competitive pressures in the contemporary media landscape. The broadcasting sector is not the only industry that has been disrupted by digitisation; yet the government, which is coming to almost four years in office now, only recently announced a content review to assess issues in the Australian production sector.

Despite the fact that the Department of Communications has identified content issues as in need of reform since 2014, as part of its dereg roadmap, this government has only recently just announced a content review. Meanwhile, recent ABS data shows the government's commitment to Australian content in the context of media reform or broadcasting reform is all talk and no action. Since 2011-12, commercial TV broadcasters appear to have cut their commitment to Australian drama and documentaries by 20 per cent. They have moved more production in-house—from 44 per cent of production in 2011-12 to 55 per cent in 2015-16. In this time, they have had a series of broadcast licence fee cuts. The production sector is suffering as a consequence of this government's inaction when it comes to joined-up reform. Ad hoc regulatory tinkering is not addressing the structural issues being faced by the industry.

The communications minister has proven to be incapable of getting his ducks in a row to usher in abolition of broadcast licence fees and the introduction of a spectrum tax at the time, as identifying its content policy. Perhaps the nexus between the two is overlooked. As the Productivity Commission stated in its inquiry into broadcasting in 2000, licence fees 'seek to recover some of the value inherent in commercial broadcasting licences from commercial broadcasters and provide a return to the public for their use of scarce radiofrequency spectrum'. The sector-specific licence fees levied on commercial broadcasters formed part of the social compact that has been a central theme in how broadcasting policy and legislation has been approached in Australia until now. The compact provided broadcasters with privileged access to use the airwaves—the highly valuable, finite and public asset that is used to transmit programming. In exchange, broadcasters were required to pay licence fees and comply with regulation that aimed to promote a range of public interest objectives, including diversity.

I want to end by saying how important Labor believes it is that Australians reap a return on that use of such a valuable public asset, and that includes blind and low-vision Australians who need audio description. These reforms do nothing to support the introduction of audio description for the blind and vision impaired community in Australia. This government is dragging its feet, setting up a working group earlier this year which is not due to report until the last day of 2017. Blind and low-vision Australians deserve better.

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