Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on an issue that will have a major significance to patriotic Australians and sporting fans over the coming seven years: TV broadcasting rights to Socceroos matches. Like 1.87 million others across Australia, I stayed up, bleary-eyed, until 4 am on Monday to watch SBS’s coverage of Australia taking on Brazil. It was a great game. I note that even the Prime Minister himself stayed up to watch the match, describing it on the John Laws program yesterday morning as ‘terrific’, and the Socceroos’ performance as ‘magnificent’.

But what I think the Prime Minister would have to agree is not magnificent or terrific is the fact that, when the curtain closes on this year’s World Cup, it will also be the last time until 2010 that the majority of Australians get to see the Socceroos in action on free-to-air TV. This is because, for the next seven years, Fox Sports has bought exclusive broadcast rights to domestic A-league matches at Australia’s national home games, including qualifiers and matches in the Asian Cup in 2007 and 2011 and World Cup qualifiers in 2008 and 2009. In fact, Australians without a pay TV subscription will not be able to tune in to see their beloved Socceroos until the cup finals in 2010.

It is even more disappointing that the loss of free-to-air broadcasting rights could have been avoided, were it not for a misguided decision by the federal government’s Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Helen Coonan, to remove the sport from the antisiphoning list—a list set up by the previous Labor government to give free-to-air networks first bite at the rights for major sporting events, before pay TV.

Minister Coonan has previously stated that Australia has very small participation in the cup. She has also said that World Cup football probably has the same level of audience interest as the Tour de France. But, given the latest ratings figures, showing a whopping $1.87 million viewers for Sunday’s cup game compared to a peak of under half a million for the 2005 Tour de France, it seems the minister grossly misread the public mood and the popularity of soccer in Australia. I think a more accurate reading of the Australian attitude to the game came from Socceroo Michael Beauchamp and reported in Bloomberg News yesterday, when he said:

Backing from the people back home has been exceptional ... Give it a few more years and it could be the No. 1 sport the way it’s growing. All the kids want to play soccer.

The weight of public opinion on this issue is clearly with Beauchamp. It is an absolute shame that the decision by an out-of-touch minister has resulted in millions of Australians being denied the chance to watch their team and, subsequently, for a true and loyal following to grow around the sport in Australia.

I absolutely agree with the Prime Minister that the ability to watch the Socceroos in action is terrific. I believe it unites us as a nation and inspires youngsters across the country to get active and participate in sport. I just wish the ministers in the government had the foresight to recognise that too and would act to protect free-to-air access to Socceroos games.