Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition recognises the important, essential and critical role that community radio broadcasting plays throughout Australia, especially in regions. When in government, we provided a funding increase of an additional $4 million per annum over two years in the 2021-22 budget. This was on top of the existing funding of a little over $16 million per annum which we continued to provide from 2021-22, bringing the total yearly funding to just over $20 million for those two years.

The coalition government also extended the licensing arrangements for Australia's two remaining metropolitan community television broadcasters, Channel 31 in Melbourne and Channel 44 in Adelaide for up to three years. I know that the late Paul Neville, the former member for Hinkler, would certainly have spoken in this debate in his time in parliament because there was no greater champion of broadcasting rules of community radio and community broadcasting than the late Paul Neville. I suppose there are two great disappointments in mentioning this—that is, the fact that Paul Neville did not receive his Order of Australia Medal while he was alive—he received it posthumously—and, also, the fact that he did not carry 'honourable' in front of his name after his political career or, indeed, during it. There are many people who are bestowed the title of 'honourable' and it is a thing that probably only politicians regard highly these days. If ever there was an honourable member of parliament, it was the late Mr Neville. He was never a minister, more's the pity. He was never given the great privilege of serving in an outer ministry or a cabinet, more's the pity. But he gave such remarkable service to this parliament over so many years. We remember him, we respect him, and we honour him always.

I am glad the communications minister is in the Federation Chamber for this debate. I wish her well in her role. She and I entered the parliament in 2010. I have the greatest respect for the member for Greenway. I also admire the way she came to my electorate and said she is going to do what she can about mobile phone technology. We went to a place not far from West Wyalong. We also ventured on to a place further west to talk about what we could do together, in a bipartisan way, about mobile communications and communications in general. As I say, I earnestly and honestly wish her all the best in her role because regional Australia needs the very best communication services. She'll disagree with me, but, when we took over in 2013, the NBN was a bit of a mess. It was. We did what we could to make sure that we made the best of what was there at the time. We also funded 900 mobile phone towers, installed them in fact, and promised another 400, which, due to contract arrangements et cetera, will eventually be delivered on this government's watch. But I wish the member for Greenway well in her ministerial responsibilities.

I do community radio a lot. Some might say I have a good head for radio, but, indeed, I talk a lot on the Sounds of the Mountains in Tumut. It's not in my electorate; it's in the member for Eden Monaro's electorate. She knows that I've got a fortnightly spot. I don't go on there and be partisan—I do not. I go on there and talk about all of the things that are important in our area. Whilst it mainly covers the area in Eden Monaro, such as Tumut, the Snowy Valleys, Tumbarumba, even into the member for Indi's electorate, through Corryong and the Upper Murray area—

A division having been called in the House of Representati ves—

Sitting suspended from 12:02 to 12:1 3

As I was saying before the division in the House of Representatives, I speak every fortnight on Sounds of the Mountains, which operates out of Tumut. I speak with David Eisenhauer, who needs recognition not just in this motion but for the work he did during the Black Summer bushfires to keep people informed, to keep the community up to date and to keep Australians alive. David, like me, spent much of his youth in Junee, and he still goes back there every year to MC the annual show. He still contributes mightily to the communities outside his now home town. That shows the measure of the man. Yesterday he and I both, before we got on air and whilst on air, were discussing—well, it was this week—the 80th birthday of Yvonne Braid, who was the face of Riverina radio, Wagga Wagga's 2WG, for many, many years. She started in the front office and worked her way up to the managerial role. Yvonne lit up a room when she walked in. She was not necessarily on air, but she indeed served that station, 2WG, so very well when it was owned locally. Like many commercial radio stations, they're now operating out of capital cities, but, back in the halcyon days of radio, the 1970s and 1980s, when 2WG was king of the airwaves, the likes of Jeff O'Brien and Peter Mahoney and award-winning journalist Damian Ryan were behind the mic, broadcasting to their known universe. They were heady days, and Yvonne Braid was working her way up the chain to that great managerial position she occupied for so many years.

But there's not only Sounds of the Mountains in Tumut; there's TEM-FM in Temora, which I speak on regularly; Valley FM in Forbes and Parkes, in the north of my Riverina electorate; 945 Gold FM in West Wyalong; 2AAA-FM and Wagga's Life FM in Wagga Wagga; 2YYY Radio in Young; and PHFM in Peak Hill. There are many more, but they're the ones that spring readily to mind. I know 2AAA-FM in my hometown received support through the previous coalition government with a $9,373 grant under the Stronger Communities Program to install a disabled access ramp in its Young Street studio. That might seem a lot of money, but for that community radio station it meant the world of difference because it meant that those presenters and indeed those people who were going to be interviewed could gain better access to that hillside studio.

The 2AAA-FM website says the station is the 'brainchild' of Stuart Carter:

2AAA-FM had its beginnings in June 1978 when a handful of people gathered to discuss the idea of establishing Wagga Wagga's own Community Radio Station. … Stuart presented the group with a working paper entitled "Community Radio IS People".

That 'IS' is capitalised because he wanted to emphasise that it's all about people, and that's indeed what community radio is all about.

After a licence hearing in October 1980, 2AAA-FM was granted a licence by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (now called the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The first official broadcast of 2AAA-FM was on Friday July 31st, 1981—

a red-letter day for Wagga Wagga.

It ran for 54 hours from Friday till Monday.

In those very embryonic years, 2AAA transmitted from temporary premises in the Australian Arcade on Fitzmaurice Street. It relocated to its own premises on the corner of Young Street and Coleman Street in November 1982.

I referred earlier to Sounds of the Mountains. It is a not-for-profit—just like so many are—community radio station. It covers the Snowy Valleys and Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council areas—that is a council about to be de-amalgamated, thank goodness, but that is an area of their broadcast listening area that I represent—and, as I said earlier, goes into north-east Victoria. It operates 24 hours a day and is staffed by a combination of paid and volunteer locals. Volunteers make up—wait for it—80 per cent of the team.

I know, Deputy Speaker Stevens, how fondly you spoke of your own radio stations in your part of the world in your contribution last night. I have great memories and great experiences in more recent times of working with community radio people to bring about better outcomes for the people I serve, and I know you do too.

The radio station is the locally recognised electronic medium for the immediate dissemination and distribution of emergency information. Without them—I said this before; I wasn't overegging it—people in emergencies, particularly in fire emergencies, would die if they did not have those signals, those alerts, those updates and that information which is given on an instantaneous basis, whether it's bushfires, floods or severe thunderstorm warnings. Particularly in regional areas, those thunderstorm warnings are so important for farmers to get their sheep into shearing sheds if there's going to be a cold snap or torrential rain. Getting stock to safety is something which I suppose city folk don't probably ever consider. You know you're in the bush when you click on the radio station and you hear that people are being urged to get their sheep indoors. You know you're in country Australia. It's one of those totally Australian moments. It's fantastic.

Sounds of the Mountains dates back to 2001, when the Tumut Youth Council—and good on them—made a request for a community-based radio station and a steering committee was formed. At the time, David Eisenhauer joined the steering committee to coordinate the building, the engineering and the general compliance-based and local community-based implementation of the licence. It began full transmission on 3 August 2003.

I mentioned Valley FM—it's situated on Parkes Road in Forbes. It covers Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin and Eugowra. Those last two communities I just mentioned are so beset by floods at the moment. I've been in two war zones and never seen the devastation that I did in Eugowra just the other week. It was quite extraordinary. But Condo, of course, is going through its own situation at the moment, with the Lachlan River having burst its banks and causing mayhem and destruction and despair and heartache for the people in what is the very geographical centre of New South Wales. Valley FM also covers Bogan Gate, a little community where there is actually a monument to Breaker Morant in the local park; Trundle, which is the home of Australia's widest main street and has the annual ABBA festival; as well as Tullamore, Tottenham, Peak Hill, Alectown, Bedgerabong and others. It sounds like 'I've Been Everywhere'. But that's what radio stations do. That's what community radio does.

I'm glad that this bill, the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Community Radio) Bill 2022, has been brought to the House, because anything that the government can do to improve broadcasting services—indeed, to improve the lives and lot of people who rely on those radio broadcasts—is to be commended. We said when Labor came back into power in May that if there was good legislation, if there were good motions, if there were good bills, then we would support them. That's why we do support this particular legislation being brought to the House.

Going back to Valley FM, the nine people who run that station meet monthly. The committee is made up of president Greg Whitworth, vice-president Gill Taylor, secretary Jayne Whitworth, treasurer Joe Sydney and coordinator Kevin Dwyer, who's also an announcer and life member. I mention those and I mention the other life members of the station—Don McGuire, Bob Grant and Dawn Parker—because they deserve to have their names mentioned. They deserve to have their names recorded in Hansard. They don't expect it but it's something that is nice, something that's appropriate. They keep the airwaves going, just like TEM-FM in Temora, which covers Temora and Ariah Park. I've had several interviews with Sandy Koch, which are always interesting. They're very wide-ranging interviews. They're usually supposed to take about 10 minutes and they take half an hour. Sandy's fantastic, as are all the other volunteers in these community radio stations. It's executive committee is made up of chairman Ken Davis, secretary Robina Moore, financial director Colin McCrone, with board members Mark Ribbons, Jean Groth and Hilda Bird. I say to those people: thank you. Thank you for the service that you provide. Thank you for keeping the airwaves rich with your announcements, rich with your voices, rich with your presence and rich with your input, because community radio matters. It is about community. When we've lost so many of our media organisations to outside influences and when even the journalists who come in and the people who work for them are not locals, community radio is. It's all about community; it's all about localism.

See this speech in context