Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this morning to highlight this Labor government's refusal yet again to listen to the concerns of those communities in rural and remote parts of Australia, not only in my electorate but many other parts of rural and remote Australia. I particularly refer to those communities that currently receive their television service under the remote licence area conditions. Just two weeks ago I travelled to the west of my electorate, to Birdsville in fact, with the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott. We sat down and listened to the councils out there prior to going to enjoy the races. We listened to the community, we had our ears open. This is something this government is not doing when it comes to the switchover from analog to digital television. Senator Conroy particularly just seems to have a blank in front of him on this whole issue.

The councils explained their predicament to us and it was a very graphic description. Under the government's proposal what will happen in that community is that they are going to provide a satellite to private homes to receive digital television and the analog service will be switched off. What that means is that there will no longer be a terrestrial signal, a digital signal, like there will be in the cities and in the big regional towns, which are going to get a terrestrial signal. That means you could pick up your television with an external aerial. These communities are going to be forced to have a satellite dish on their home but there will be no other signal in the community.

On the day we were in Birdsville there were over 6,000 people. That means that this time next year those communities in caravans, Winnebagos and camper vans will not be able to put their television out on the back of a ute, put up the aerial and receive television. Unless they have got a satellite dish that they can tune in to that particular satellite and make sure it does not wobble around and only get a pixelated signal, there will be no signal in the area. What the councils are proposing, and this is the core of the issue, is that they be able to do the rebroadcast themselves, as they have done for years in funding and running the analog rebroadcast system. They would like to use the money that otherwise would be spent on the satellite receiver dish, pool that money and use that to install the necessary equipment to change from analog to digital signal. But the minister says no, he will not allow that. They have to have a satellite dish solution.

The other question they want answered by this minister is the fact that they would like a licence to be able to do this delivered from ACMA. It seems that ACMA do not want to do it and it seems the minister will not do it. These local council areas would in fact fund it and run it themselves. All they want now is the licence. I call on the minister to instruct ACMA to give these councils in remote parts of Australia in my electorate a licence to rebroadcast digital television through a terrestrial signal. (Time expired)