Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Community radio is a grassroots institution that underpins our freedom of speech, which is so essential to our democracy. In the Northern Territory, as in other regional, rural and remote areas, it's the heart of local communities and the essential way that people learn about what's going on and connect with others. Sometimes, it's the only way to connect.

That's particularly true of emergencies, where people are so dependent on radio for information. But in all cases it fosters that sense of real connection. It helps people share local news, stories, voices and music. It celebrates the best of our diverse and multicultural society, and every week five million listeners tune in to 450 community owned and operated radio stations around the country. That is massive, when you consider that Sydney's 2GB, which is popular with some and influential, gets about 600,000 listeners a week. Community radio gets almost 10 times that audience. Community radio is especially significant for 1.4 million listeners from non-English-speaking backgrounds who listen to broadcasts in over 100 languages.

That's why I'm so very proud that on 13 May this year the Australian Labor Party committed to give the community broadcasting sector greater funding certainty. That was prior to the election. Now the ALP is in government and will deliver. That's exactly what we have done here. The government is giving the community broadcasting program an extra $4 million a year in ongoing funding, which will take annual funding to over $20 million per year.

We're also reviewing the long-term sustainability of the sector to help it thrive and endure into the future, and that is what this bill is all about. We're going to make the renewal process for community radio licences a non-competitive process, to cut the red tape for operators. That means the regulator, ACMA, will prioritise the current operator's renewal application over a proposed new radio service. This will give certainty to those existing licensees, while allowing ACMA the ability to refuse to renew a licence if the licensee's radio service is not meeting community needs. They'll need to be held accountable to their communities.

We want listeners around Australia to have continued access to high-quality and locally relevant news. Community broadcasters faced uncertainty under the former coalition government, which ignored their calls for stability and funding. After all community radio broadcasters did for Australians through the bushfires, floods and the COVID pandemic, all they got from the former coalition government was a big shrug. The former government ignored the sector's calls for COVID crisis funding during the pandemic. I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm informed that that is the case, and that is pretty deplorable. They ignored their calls for sustainable future funding. Anyone would think that they didn't want to hear the voices of Australian people in places like the Northern Territory. These were perhaps marginalised people, perhaps people who needed a voice, perhaps First Nations people that needed a voice and asked for a voice—that want a Voice. But they've been ignored, because 'others know better'.

In this case, instead of granting the usual four-year top-up funding, the coalition only gave the sector two years, which was due to run out next year. The committed funding was due to drop to around $17 million per year over the forward estimates. Those are real cuts in the funding for community radio. But why were they cutting funding from this vital sector that their own members have just said is so important to the cohesion of their community? Why were they doing it? It's hard to reconcile why any political organisation would seek to cut the voices of Australian people. Community radio exists precisely so that they have a voice. It assists them in being heard and celebrating their connection as part of our multicultural community.

The Labor government's budget commitment will maintain community broadcasting funding so that the sector can continue to support communities with local news and emergency broadcasting, which are so important all around the country. That's true of the Northern Territory—the Top End—as we go into cyclone season. Local content celebrating those local voices of Australian music is also so important.

In my electorate, in Darwin and Palmerston, we have high-quality and much-loved stations such as Territory FM 104.1, which is an amazing station. It's broadcast out of Charles Darwin University campus. On a Sunday night, they have a wonderful program where different multicultural organisations get to talk to people in their language, celebrate things that have been happening in the community and make sure that the members of that multicultural community are heard and understand what government, through broadcasting, is saying. Local community radio is the vehicle for important information, sometimes life-saving information, to get from subject matter experts to their communities.

We take our hats off to Territory FM. A survey in 2016 found that it reached 51 per cent of all people in Darwin, and it has very much been listened to widely over the years. In September it was rated the No. 1 radio station in Darwin overall for the 40- to 65-year-old demographic.

Darwin's 97 Seven FM is a Christian community radio station that's doing great work in Darwin and Palmerston, but their reach also extends past Humpty Doo.

Then we have First Nations Radio on 94.5 FM, which was formerly Radio Larrakia. It's an Aboriginal community radio station broadcasting from Darwin that reaches the township of Jabiru out in Kakadu. It provides a great service, and they're a culturally appropriate broadcaster. They observe Aboriginal cultural protocols, which underpin everything they do. I think a lot of people will be hearing on First Nations Radio about the developments down here around who is supporting a Voice for First Nations people and who is not.

For people in Arnhem Land there is Yolngu Radio. There are other stations that have Kriol language and provide that service so that people in the remotest areas of the Territory, including the homelands, can hear what's going on.

I also want to give shout-outs to CAAMA Radio in Alice Springs and to TEABBA, and to Katherine FM and Gove FM, all of whom keep their communities connected and informed. I want to give a big shout-out to all those community radio stations and those that I may have missed in the Northern Territory, who every day are making sure Territorians—whether you're a First Nations Territorian or whether you've just arrived from overseas—are understood. That's why it's so important that we protect and develop our community radio stations. They truly are the heart of communities across our country, and we on this side of the House support them very much.

Debate interrupted.

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