Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

A lot has been said in support of this very important part of our media landscape, the community broadcasting sector. It's particularly important to me. I started out in community radio as an 18-year-old. I met my husband at community radio many, many years ago. I don't even want to tell you how many years ago that was! What's more, it also sent me on the path of being a broadcaster—a radio journalist—and it was my stepping stone to working for Mike Carlton and 2GB when I started out in radio. So I have nothing but praise for the changes that are in this bill, the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Community Radio) Bill 2022, to help strengthen what we have. It's become even more important to have community broadcasting, with the lack of diversity that we see in our mainstream broadcasting these days. I wanted to provide that context for it. I think that's why it was disappointing, in the last nine years or so, to see the uncertainty that community broadcasters faced under the former government. There were calls for stability and certainty of funding, and those were not heeded. So I'm delighted to see support from those opposite for these measures.

Community broadcasters do an awful lot for their local communities—for us, it has been through bushfires, through floods and through COVID. They were, for some people, the lifeline and the link to what was happening elsewhere in the local community. And all they got from the former coalition government was a lot of uncertainty. During the pandemic, they were ignored when they called for sustainable funding, and you can imagine the challenges they were under during that period. Instead of granting the usual four-year top-up funding, for some inexplicable reason the coalition only gave the sector two years of funding, which was due to run out next year. Like a lot of things this government has done, it expires next year.

Community broadcasting relies on just over $20 million a year to maintain existing services and supports. Under the former government, funding was due to drop to around $17 million over the forward estimates. Our budget commitment will maintain community broadcasting funding so the sector can continue to support their communities with local news, emergency broadcasting and local content—including, of course, Australian music and local music. The Albanese budget of 2022 includes an additional $4 million per year of ongoing funding for the community broadcasting program from 2023-24. It takes that funding program to over $20 million a year. I note these comments from Jo Curtin, the CEO of the Community Broadcasting Foundation, who said the funding will have a positive impact on sector sustainability and the media landscape:

This budget acknowledges the essential role community radio plays in an increasingly concentrated media environment. This funding will enhance the sustainability of our sector which serves as one of the only remaining local sources of news and information, particularly in regional and remote communities.

It's certainly a very, very much needed voice in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains in my electorate.

I have spent a lot of time working with Community Broadcasting Association of Australia over the last few years because of a circumstance that I will describe and which this bill will address, and I was pleased that Jon Bisset, the CEO of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, has also welcomed that funding. It's funding certainty for over 350 community broadcasters, so a small amount goes a really long way in community radio.

But what we faced in the Hawkesbury is one of the issues being addressed in this bill, and that is the issue of temporary licences. Many years ago, back in 2017 or thereabouts, there was a decision made by ACMA to take away a permanent licence and turn it into a temporary licence. Initially, we started out with a few different organisations sharing that licence spectrum. We got to the ridiculous situation, though—after ACMA's failure to really tackle what was going on and work toward a permanent licence—where we'd ended up with seven temporary licensees. That meant they got one day a week of broadcasting. That has been an impossible situation for them to be in, and it has been a really challenging period of time. Only in the last week has a decision been made to allocate a permanent licence in our area. That licence has been granted to Pulse FM Radio, and I congratulate them on getting that licence. I also want to acknowledge the disappointment that the other temporary licensees had. There are now many broadcasters who are very disappointed that they won't be getting the permanent licence.

We've talked about the volunteers. Those volunteers put their heart and soul into community radio. I want to thank them for what they've done, in keeping issues that are important on air, in keeping the airwaves alive through a very difficult process, over many years. I look forward to there being a real sense of inclusion and to those who want to broadcast in the Hawkesbury getting the chance to do that. We have a wealth of radio talent—an absolute wealth of it—and I really hope there are opportunities for all members of the community who'd like to make a contribution through this medium to do it.

What is so pleasing about this legislation is that it gives ACMA the discretion to limit the number of temporary community broadcasting licences that can share a particular frequency. It has always been the policy intent of the act to enable temporary licensees to share frequencies, to assist with the sustainability of the community broadcasting sector and management of the spectrum, but when you get to a position where you're giving seven different organisations a day, it does not serve your community or those broadcasters.

I welcome this legislation. That's one example of some of the things it will address. I look forward to both the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains having a very vibrant, inclusive community radio sector, because our community needs that voice.

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