Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is very important that when the government puts out some communication and non-government political advertising that it reaches those whom it needs to reach. There are often times that the Australian Commonwealth does need to communicate to the general population. It does concern me that, for quite a while, many of our small newspapers have not been eligible or have been missing out on receiving that communication.

One of the things that unites small, local communities is a newspaper and that sense of community that comes from having their story told, and a lot of these little newspapers run on a shoestring. One time I added up over 30 newspapers in the electorate of Mallee, which is fantastic. Some of those are weeklies, where the person who is the photographer is also the owner of the business and the editor and the person who prints the paper. They might only have a circulation of 4,000 or 5,000 people weekly, but every single page, every single word, is read by those 4,000 or 5,000 people.

It does concern me that those papers are not able to access government advertising at the moment. If we truly believe in community, if we truly believe that these little businesses count, if we truly believe that we need to reach every Australian with our government advertising, I think we do need to consider how we disseminate our advertising so it is not just in the Herald Sun, it is not just in The Australian, it is not just in The Australian Financial Review. A journalist from The Australian once asked me for some comment and I said, 'Well, you can't buy The Australian in the electorate of Mallee, and those who do probably won't vote for me anyway.' That just goes to show the importance of the small to medium outlet that local newspapers provide.

I have actually written to Christopher Pyne because he is Leader of the House and leader of House business and it comes under his portfolio, surprisingly enough. I was a little bit disappointed with the reply. I will be writing to him again to put this case because I think it is essential that country people have that sense of community that comes from local papers. This also comes into a broader discussion when it comes to broadcasting. Recently, Mildura lost its WIN news. When you look at the act that was made in the Hawke era, back in the eighties, north-west Victoria does not have to have local content as part of the licence conditions; it is a kind of quirk in the act. There is a push on at the moment, through a campaign running on television called Save Our Voices, being run by PRIME, WIN, Southern Cross Austereo and Imparja, to try and remove the reach laws restricting their broadcasting.

I understand their argument. Their argument is essentially that, with the internet, there has come to be a more multimedia platform, and so the reach laws are perhaps antiquated. I have written to the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, saying that in principle I give conditional support to have that reach law removed from the Broadcasting Services Act, on the condition that north-west Victoria is re-written into the local content laws.

It is very important, not only for my local community but also for all Australians, that, when we think about broadcasting, we ensure that we draw the links between what is going on in regional Australia to what is going on in our coastal towns and our cities. I have a strong belief that we have much to be proud of as Australians, that there are great stories to tell and that good news is the best news. Ultimately, as we look at changes to broadcasting, we should ensure that that link is drawn so that regional voices are heard in the city and city voices are heard in the regions. I also have a strong belief that, when governments think about where they spend their advertising dollars, they should make sure that every Australian has an opportunity to hear the stories of what is going on. So, for those reasons, I will once again write to Christopher Pyne, the minister responsible for government business, and put the case for our local papers being able to access our non-political government communication advertising.