Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We, as humans, must know how to disagree, debate and deliberate. Whilst we may not always like what the media say about us in this House, we must always fight for their right to say it. Civil discourse is essential for a healthy community. Journalists as close to us as Papua New Guinea have endured a rocky relationship with their governments, notorious for removing freedoms when they criticise their actions. In China, where there is no free press, victims can't be heard. This is where human rights are seriously at risk. The fourth estate plays an important role in regional Australia, campaigning for their communities and holding up a mirror to reflect society onto itself. Just as the local mayor and the local police officer in charge have important community roles, so do local journalists.

The local journalists live in and love the regions they report on. They fight for better roads because they're on the scene at crashes. They fight for bushfire victims because they see their homes destroyed. They fight for small businesses in their towns because they live in those towns and the businesses are what keeps the heart beating in those towns. When it comes to regional media, the more parochial they are the better. It's the local journalists in regional towns, often massively underpaid compared to their city counterparts, who go to every event and every ribbon-cutting. They are photographing and posting and writing all day and into the night and on weekends to meet their deadlines. Rather than focusing on gossip, they're often calling for road upgrades because they hate reporting on vehicle crashes. To them, they're not just another number but a person with a family that they sometimes know. And, unlike some, it's our regional journalists who attack on policy and fight on issues, all with the reader in mind. Readers are all that matter. To regional journalists, their readers are right on the doorstep. If they don't like what is written, the regional journalist quickly finds out.

We could not have delivered as fast and as well as we did section D of the Bruce Highway without the help of our local journalists, especially Shelly Strahan at the Gympie Times and Carly Walker at the Fraser Coast Chronicle. We could not have stopped the Traveston Crossing Dam without the local media being instrumental in the fight against it. Our media have been incredibly effective in highlighting areas of need and helping the community campaign. But times have changed. Sadly, many local media jobs have been lost. It's not enough in this age of congregated style and often fake news to churn gossip into headlines and baselessly attack ideas or individuals, and regional operators know this very well.

The media landscape in Wide Bay has now become more diverse. Noosa Today has returned to print and we have new outlets. The Maryborough Sun, Gympie Today and South Burnett Today are all in print. The Gympie Times, Sunshine Coast Daily, Fraser Coast Chronicle, Noosa News and South Burnett Times have moved to a digital-only format. Local community publications, like Gympie Living, Cooloola Bay Bulletin, Rainbow Beach Cooloola Coast Community News, Kandanga Rag, the relaunched Cooroy Rag, Murgon Moments and the recently established Eastern Beaches News, are a vital part of Wide Bay's diverse media landscape.

The Wide Bay electorate spans two television markets—the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay—and we have local journalists at WIN, Seven and Nine reporting on local issues. We have the ABC, which covers Wide Bay from Bundaberg to the Sunshine Coast and Maroochydore communities, and radio at Noosa, Gympie and Cherbourg. They are all local people and all local journalists, which we welcome and value.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 11:31