Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

History does record that that is correct.

This bill makes a number of amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act. The bill makes it clear that the renewal of a community radio licences is not a competitive process. This provides the Australian Communications and Media Authority and community radio broadcasters with greater regulatory certainty. This also means that radio stations will have greater confidence to invest long term in their operations, services, equipment and premises, subject to radio broadcasters meeting the requisite performance benchmarks under the act. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, of course, is able to refuse to renew a licence if the broadcaster falls short of providing a service which meets community needs in the interests of all Australians. The bill makes it clear that the Australian Communications and Media Authority can provide licensees in advance with dates for the commencement of services. While this is quite a technical matter, it does mean that community broadcasters will have appropriate notice as to the date on which they are able to commence operations, providing greater operational and regulatory certainty.

The bill addresses a number of concerns raised by the community broadcasting sector through their peak body, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, in relation to the allocation of temporary community licences. The bill provides that the Australian Communications and Media Authority has the ability to limit the number of temporary community broadcasting licences in the one geographical area, which is an important measure in reducing confusion for listeners and regulatory complexity. This will avert situations such as that which has arisen in the Windsor and Hawkesbury area where multiple licence holders are sharing the same frequency in different time slots. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will have greater flexibility to ascertain if a temporary community licence is providing a quality service. While the bill gives support to the notion of temporary licences to allow broadcasters the best opportunity to access valuable spectrum in a fair and equitable manner and to be able to demonstrate a track record, this amendment will be important to safeguard the integrity and quality of community broadcasting services.

I conclude therefore by reiterating that the coalition, when in government, demonstrated a strong track record in supporting the community media sector. I want to express our thanks to and admiration of all of those Australians who work in community television and community radio, including the many, many Australians who volunteer in those roles. This bill provides further support for community broadcasting. The opposition looks forward to continuing to work closely with the community broadcasting sector in support of the important contribution that sector makes in the life of our nation.

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