Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

News corporations is not a windmill that I particularly want to tilt at, but today I rise to advocate the local newspapers that are under threat around the country and particularly our local newspaper in Campbelltown in the Macarthur region, the Macarthur Chronicle, one of the two weekly print newspapers in my electorate. The Macarthur Chronicle has been providing the community with in-depth local news since 1984, the year I started working as a paediatrician in Campbelltown. Its editorial team, led by Campbelltown local Mandy Perrin, provides an incredibly valuable insight into and service to our community.

It's recently been announced that News Corp is moving many of its local newspapers, including the Macarthur Chronicle, which covers an area from Tahmoor to Ingleburn, out of their local offices and into a centralised Sydney location. For the Macarthur Chronicle that means being disconnected from our local area and the local news and getting rid of local jobs. For the residents in my electorate of Macarthur it means losing the 'local' from their local newspaper. There is no way local news can be covered from offices in the centre of Sydney. What the bosses at the big news corporations like News Corp do not understand is that the local newspapers represent far more than money in the bank. They represent a sense of community. The Macarthur Chronicle is certainly one of those newspapers. It's won awards in the past and has been nominated again as one of the local newspapers of the year. Local newspapers represent a sense of community. They build an identity for our community. Moving their offices out of local areas will destroy this. Maybe that's the point. The Macarthur Chronicle is not a dying, unread local newspaper. It won the Australian Community Newspaper of the Year Award in 2014. In true Macarthur Chronicle fashion, it dedicated the award to the people of the region. The editor of the Macarthur Chronicle, Mandy Perrin, summed up the ethos of the paper pretty well in saying:

Our team of journalists and photographers do more than report the news; they strive to make our community an even better place.

And, indeed, they do. For Mandy and her team, the Macarthur Chronicle is not just a job; it's their way of giving back to their community. They are all locals. They deliver the news while displaying the best that Macarthur has to offer because they want the community to be proud of their area and proud of their newspaper.

They've started a petition calling on News Corp to keep the Macarthur Chronicle offices in Campbelltown. The petition has received hundreds of signatures and they have had hundreds of phone calls of support. It's very clear to me that the people of Macarthur care deeply about their local newspaper. They want it to stay local. I will do everything I can to keep this great resource and local provider of jobs in Campbelltown.