Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to first of all thank the member for Greenway for giving a fine second reading amendment speech but also for her constant commitment to community radio and television. The member for Greenway and I have had many conversations over the last few months about some of the stresses that community media organisations have felt because of the mismanagement of the frequencies by this government. These are not big media organisations; these are community organisations that are crucial to the multicultural fabric of different corners of our communities. The member for Greenway understands this deeply and properly and has been a champion for those small local organisations, especially in my electorate, of which I will talk a little bit later in this contribution. I just want to note on record that the member for Greenway has been a champion for those local organisations and it has been much appreciated.

This bill, the Radiocommunications Legislation Amendment (Reform and Modernisation) Bill 2020, is a bit overdue, but it is a bill whose importance we on this side of the House understand. Obviously, with the frequencies changing and the technology changing over time, so must the governance arrangements for them. I'm going to focus my remarks more heavily today on the organisations that this bill affects—organisations that, as I previously mentioned, have really gone through a difficult time because of the way in which this government has not prioritised the community media landscape and has not prioritised TV, radio and other forms of community media.

Community broadcasting does a few things. First of all, community broadcasting can be the connection for communities, especially multicultural communities. In my electorate of McNamara, we have a number of big public housing buildings where there are many apartments. A number of the people who live there are migrants who came to this country with nothing and have made this their home. English is not their first language, and often they watch programming in their first language on community television, on channel 31. Every time I go and visit my friends who are public housing tenants, I walk out with a sense of pride and a sense of community and togetherness that they have been able to foster after being welcomed in Australia. I am proud of our public housing community. They watch community television. They watch television that's not in English. They watch television that makes them feel at home, and we need to support them. That's what community media organisations are all about. They're about supporting different communities—not trying to appeal to a large group of people but trying to appeal to a group of people who don't otherwise get programs that are relevant and purpose built for their community.

Sputnik TV is one of those great local programs. It is a Russian broadcasting program that has been around for over 20 years. I remember when my friend Gregory, who is one of the producers of Sputnik TV, called me in a panic when Channel 31 was set to be shut down by this government. This is a guy who has dedicated literally decades of his life to try and put on television—not to make money off it but to try and give his community a voice and a sense of home and belonging in my electorate. This government made Gregory and others like him go, unnecessarily, through a really anxious period, when the uncertainty around community television and community broadcasting was heightened. Instead of managing and supporting local community television, local community organisations like Sputnik TV and people like Gregory—who is a wonderful person—the government dragged these community organisations along, didn't commit to anything and then told them, at the eleventh hour, that community TV was going to be removed in Melbourne. That was devastating for programs like Sputnik TV and The Shtick. I note the presence in the chamber of the member for Gellibrand, who appeared with me on a recent episode of The Shtick. It was one of the highest-rating episodes of The Shtick.

Mr Watts interjecting—

As the member for Gellibrand likes to remind me, he brought the magic that day. The issue that the member for Gellibrand and I appeared in relation to was this unfortunate stress that the government had placed on community TV organisations. My friend Henry, who is the producer, the star, the director and the driving force behind it, has documented Jewish life in Melbourne for over 600 episodes and has done it in his living room. He has never received a cent of any government support over that whole period—over hundreds and hundreds of episodes. He has driven this project that enriches community life and enriches the uniqueness of our multicultural community and our multicultural life.

Yet this government didn't understand that you can't just drag these organisations along and not provide some certainty. In fact, the government told these organisations that Channel 31 in Melbourne didn't have a future. Channel 31 is not a commercial moneymaker. It's there to enrich Melburnians lives and to give people who are from all different corners of the globe a voice and a platform that they should have. This government dragged programs like The Shtick and like Sputnik TV to the absolute breaking point. They were told they didn't have a future. That was devastating. It was hard to accept. Thankfully, because of the pushing and stressing of people on this side of the House, the government did, at the very, very last moment, reverse their decision to shut down Channel 31—after they had announced it was going to be closed—and extended it for one year. But that's not good enough. The fight isn't over. The government shouldn't just postpone Channel 31's demise; the government should make sure that there is no demise of Channel 31 and other community TV programs and community television platforms. It is not enough to reform some of the governance arrangements. The government actually needs to make sure we're supporting the different corners of our community and the different voices who need a platform in our community.

It's not just TV. I know that you, Deputy Speaker Zimmerman, are a big fan of community radio. And I, as a younger, budding politician, cut my teeth on community radio. The first radio interview I ever did was on J-AIR, on a Tuesday night at 8 o'clock. I sent my mum a text saying, 'Mum, listen, I'm going to be on the radio,' and the frequency was so bad that she didn't even get the frequency at home! But it was a great example. J-AIR was the radio station I was on, and I'll actually acknowledge the member for Goldstein who, in this place, moved a motion urging the government to give J-AIR a frequency and a permanent home on the radio frequencies, and, thankfully, the government has done that. So I acknowledge the member for Goldstein's work in that. He pushed that.

Community radio has been a home and a place where people have learnt their craft, and it has produced stars. One of those stars lives in my electorate: John Safran, who is an identity in St Kilda. He cut his teeth on community radio. He was also briefly on community TV, on Channel 31, and then on SRA-FM and SYN, as it was known then, before he became too famous. And now he is living the high life! But I take this moment to acknowledge John and his commitment to community television and community radio in our electorate.

I will also take this moment to acknowledge one other great radio station—a great local radio station—in JOY FM. JOY FM is the voice of the LGBTIQ community in Melbourne. It is a brilliant organisation that gives voice to people and to a community. It is all about being proud and embracing LGBTIQ life in Melbourne. I'm absolutely delighted to say that, in my electorate, in St Kilda, the Pride Centre is being built. It is going to do wonderful things in Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, as it's going to be a hub of community life. But it is also going to be the home of JOY radio, and I look forward to being interviewed in the new studio in St Kilda when that project is finished. I give a shout out to my friends Macca and Tass, who are the Saturday morning presenters on Saturday Magazine. Macca likes to remind me that it is the highest-rating podcast of all the JOY FM shows; so, if it's not, you can take that up with Macca!

But, in all seriousness, community radio and community television are not about the big bucks. They're not about big corporations. They're about people who turn up and try and add a sense of home to our communities and a sense of culture and vibrancy to Melbourne life. These last few months in Melbourne have been some of the most challenging that I think any Victorian has had to go through. It is so wonderful to be able to come back and to know that the great state of Victoria is in a much better place than it was a few months ago. But, in those times of quietness and loneliness and of people being isolated, that sense of community and togetherness is something that needs to be rebuilt, and the way in which people can gather and connect with other people is not through programs that may appeal to everyone; it's through programs that have a uniqueness and celebrate the different parts of multicultural Australia, the different parts of community life in Australia and the different individuals that live in this wonderful country.

I would echo the comments made by the member for Greenway that Labor does support this bill. We do support the updating of arrangements for regulations around radio communications. But it is not good enough to set these regulations and to forget about the people who rely on them—to forget about the small local organisations that we are all so proud of and that we love attending as local MPs and as people who celebrate our local communities. So I would conclude by saying that this bill is important not in order to forget the people but in order to remind us of the work we need to do to support our wonderful local community organisations—the wonderful people who give up their time, not for glory but for others and for the very fabric that makes Melbourne a wonderful multicultural community, makes Victoria a wonderful multicultural state and makes Australia a wonderful multicultural country.

See this speech in context