Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to speak on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Community Television) Bill 2024, a bill that has come to fruition through the Albanese Labor government. This bill overturns the former government's decision to wipe out community TV in Australia. I am pleased that the communications minister has announced that the last two community TV channels, C31 and C44, will survive beyond 2024. It has been on the minds of those community TV stations for a long time, because from year to year they didn't know whether they would have the funding to exist into the future. It's a great bill.

The bill delivers on the election commitment that was made by the Albanese Labor government. It was also something I campaigned for, together with Senator Marielle Smith, in the electorate of Adelaide, because C44 is in the federal seat of Adelaide. We took it to the former government, but to no avail. We spoke to our shadow ministers at the time, and there was great interest in it. I'm pleased that the Minister for Communications has brought this bill and it has now come to fruition. It will save community TV, especially C31 in Melbourne and C44 in my electorate of Adelaide.

This was a commitment that we made at the '22 election, and we've now delivered on it. This will keep the two remaining community television stations operating and on the air until there is an alternative use for the radio frequency spectrum that they occupy. They do a great job. I speak on behalf of C44 and General Manager Lauren Hillman, who advocated fiercely and continuously for the survival of C44 in South Australia. We know this bill will ensure they have a future where they can plan things, and it will ensure that the people they service are still able to watch the community broadcasting on C44 and C31.

Community television does a great job in briefing the community. In my electorate, during COVID-19, we saw messages coming out of C44 informing the public in different languages. Many community groups were very isolated and perhaps couldn't speak English, and C44 played a real role. At the forefront of my memory is one of the great community roles they played during the Orthodox Easter. A lot of older people and pensioners in my electorate attend church during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, but for the first time they couldn't go, because the churches were shut. C44 broadcast live church services so people could participate in the Easter celebrations, as they had done for years and years. They played a very effective role during COVID in 2020 and 2021 by ensuring they were informing different communities, which perhaps weren't locked into the traditional media that we watch, in their own languages. But they also had a vital role in the cultural and religious aspects of things. They do a great job in South Australia. It is an alternative viewing on TV that perhaps the other commercial stations don't broadcast or have an interest in; they're not dictated to by advertisements. It's a very, very good community service that they provide.

This bill will reverse the coalition's attempt to send the remaining community TV stations in Melbourne and Adelaide off air, and that was meant to start this year in June. This bill will overturn that, which means they will survive and continue to serve the diverse communities. What we've done here is not rocket science. It was very simple. It just wouldn't be done by the other side when they were in government. Of course, when an alternative use for the spectrum is found, then we can talk about how they go to that alternative system. But, until an alternative is found, there is no other choice. You must keep them on air because of the services that they provide.

As a result of the amendments, the two community television operators in these two cities, Adelaide and Melbourne, will have greater certainty beyond 30 June 2024. If you need to operate, you need that certainty to make sure that you prepare your budgets and have everything in place. When there's no certainty, you can't prepare for the future. It's very important, certainly not just for C44 and C31 but also, for the audiences who rely on these community stations, it'll mean there is surety for the future. The bill will replace that expiry date with the new ACMA-led process for determining a future day when the apparatus licensing for the remaining community television channels will cease. Under the bill, in the future the ACMA will be granted power to declare by notifiable instrument that an alternative use of the broadcasting service's band spectrum utilised by these licences has been found. That's subject to certain conditions being met at a later time than what was previously determined by legislation as the date for the cessation of those licences.

Community television plays a big role in our communities. It informs the public, including those who perhaps need a different type of process for that information to be given. I gave the example of the church services that they were broadcasting when people couldn't attend church, which was a big thing for me and my community in my electorate. Many people were praising them and saying that they felt like they were participating in those Easter celebrations when they couldn't attend many of the celebrations that took place. C44 was there, live broadcasting the church services with, of course, no parishioners in the church service. But people felt connected to it. These are the things they do that are different from commercial radio stations, pay TV, Foxtel and all the other broadcasting stations that are on air. They're very important. They play an important role in our community, and we want to make sure that they're viable and continue to service the very diverse community that they serve.

Community TV, as I said, plays a vitally important role in the diverse migrant community. I saw it first-hand in my electorate and I still see it. They still have programs in many different languages, religious and sporting programs that perhaps you wouldn't see on TV or paid channels that require a fee every month or every week or a one-off fee. They're playing a vital, important role in diverse communities, especially the migrant community. They both serve as information and entertainment platforms, with diverse entertainment. They provide religious communities with access to services. As I said, an example was when COVID-19 was happening.

I would like to congratulate Lauren Hillman, who has advocated continuously now for at least a number of years, wanting certainty. They now have that certainty. I am sure that C44 and C31 will continue to broadcast and they will continue to service their communities and reach out to all those communities that perhaps wouldn't otherwise have that information and that news that they are getting from these two wonderful channels. I commend this bill. I hope that it is supported by everyone in this place just on the fact of the important role that these channels play.

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