David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021. I mentioned No. 1, so I can only assume there is a No. 2 in the pipework somewhere. This is a really important bill that comes at a very critical time, a pivotal time, for traditional broadcasters. Other speakers have mentioned it earlier, but it has affected TV, radio and subscription TV services. Content producers, Australian screen producers and children's television show producers are all affected by this phenomenon. Digital disruption has been an existential problem not just for the traditional news platforms but for all of free TV, due to the growth of streaming services, video on demand and the social media platforms that we are all familiar with, like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Google, which has got its own version of most things. They are all digital platforms that are disrupting traditional ways that Australians watch and listen to their media. Unfortunately, because most of this is commercially run, not government run, this phenomenon is not just diverting eyeballs and eardrums away from traditional media, including newspapers; it is taking away the advertising revenue. That's why these reviews and changes to the legislation have to be critically looked at.

Regional news services in TV—the lifeblood of regional life—have recently closed. People are familiar with the announcement of WIN to close many of its regional news outlets. The announcement also included it merging with Channel 9. Recently, Prime new services have been reduced across eastern and southern Australia. It's been sad in the Lyne electorate for viewers of those TV news services. It's sad that so many high-quality journalists, cameramen, advertising sales staff and back-office support won't have the job that they were so proud of. This is not due to government regulation; this is due to disruption. The digital sweep through traditional media services takes no prisoners. It is ruthless in changing the pattern of what consumers do.

The government is in a very difficult position. The current regulations have many anomalies, which I'd better quickly get to, because we're about to finish. We all want free TV to continue and we all like our traditional regional radio services, but there are some regulatory burdens that are not to do with the digital phenomenon; some of them are to do with population changes and population growth. There might be some concern about the TV captioning regulatory changes, but I will make sure that, for people with disabilities, there is always some captioning service that is still there. From what I can see from the legislation, that will be the case.

There are also changes that need to be addressed in the digital radio space because now there is only one spectrum band for digital radio, so removing redundant legislation that covered many different bands is necessary for digital radio. There are some radio licensees who, just by virtue of population growth, will now have overlapping services, and they haven't done anything apart from being in an area of population growth. But that will put them in breach of their ACMA regulations and their statutory control regulations. Instead of having to provide 30 minutes of local coverage, they will have to provide up to three hours worth. Clearly that is not possible, so common sense has to apply. Just by being there and doing what they've always done, they will attract fines of up to $444,000.

I would like to speak more, and I think I will be given the right to continue should I reach the limit of time allotted for this debate, but our screen industry is a treasure that must be cherished. How would we see ourselves if we hadn't had shows like Mad Max, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Kath and Kim, Muriel's Wedding, Bluey, Happy Feet, The Castle, Strictly Ballroom, Crocodile Dundee and, recently, The Dry? These movies and television programs define our culture. They're a tourism magnet. They show Australia to the world, and their makers need to be reassured that we're going to make the video-streaming-on-demand people meet the same content criteria that all the traditional media have to meet. There is a disconnect, because they have got a leave pass. Other countries are putting content and quota laws in place—in Europe, in Canada. I could go on for a lot longer, and I look forward to finishing this speech.

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