Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, I present the committee's advisory report into the Broadcast Legislation Amendment (Digital Dividend) Bill 2013.

In accordance with standing order 39(f) the report was made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—On 13 March 2013, the committee met and resolved to adopt an inquiry into the bill, which was referred to the committee by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport for report by today. The bill was also referred to the committee by the House Selection Committee. In its referral the selection committee provided the reason for the referral:

There is concern about bandwidth issues arising from the bill, particularly as it might affect community groups.

The committee held a hearing on 14 March 2013 with the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Media and Communications Authority, and accepted three submissions to the inquiry.

The bill would make a technical amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1992, and was described by one witness as a housekeeping bill. The bill fits into a broader digital dividend policy which will make use of radio frequencies freed up by the switching off of old analog television broadcasts. The bill will make it possible for a telecommunications company to make use of space vacated by analog television broadcasts before the final switch-off of analog television at the end of 2014, without being subject to the same regulation that applies to broadcasters.

Concerns about the broader digital dividend policy were raised with the committee, particularly in relation to the so-called white spaces that are being used by wireless audio technology. This technology is used by many companies and community groups around Australia and the committee will keep a watching brief on the progress of policy to address the concerns of the Australian Wireless Audio Group, which made a submission to the inquiry about this concerns.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members for their work on this inquiry, particularly given the short time frame. I would also like to thank the groups that made submissions to the inquiry at very short notice. I would certainly like to thank the secretariat for their prompt attention to this issue as well. The committee has recommended that the House now pass this bill.