House debates
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
Bills
Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024; Second Reading
12:20 pm
David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I rise to speak on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024. Why is this called the 'Regional Broadcasting Continuity Bill'? The reason it's called that is because the continuation of regional broadcasting has just stopped in Mildura. In Mildura, one of our great centres in Australia, as of yesterday, Channel Ten is no longer being broadcast. Channel Ten in Mildura is a joint venture between WIN and Channel Seven, and the companies have said that for some years now the cost of running that business has exceeded the revenue, and that they had been trying and trying to come to some sensible resolution with this government which would enable them to continue to broadcast in Mildura. They said that no such resolution was provided—or, frankly, even an idea—by the government and that consequently they have shut down that service.
The issue about Mildura potentially closing has been on the agenda for a very long time. This is not a new issue and it's something that WIN has discussed over a significant period of time. WIN announced that the closure would occur on 30 June. When did the government introduce legislation related to the closure of Mildura, which was slated to occur on 30 June? When did the government actually introduce legislation to deal with this issue? On 26 June—four days before. That's when the government introduced the legislation. And what does the legislation say? It's quite extraordinary legislation, and I'll come to the detail in a moment. But I have here a letter that was sent to the Prime Minister on 18 June and signed by, it appears, all the television networks in Australia. It has Jeff Howard, the chief executive of Seven West Media; Mike Sneesby, the chief executive of Nine; Beverley McGarvey from Channel Ten; John Kelly from Southern Cross Austereo; Andrew Lancaster from WIN; Amy Wilshire from Imparja Television; and Bridget Fair from Free TV Australia. Those executives said to the Prime Minister that the closure of Mildura shows that things are getting desperate for regional television in Australia and that they needed his assistance to keep the lights on—to allow those broadcasts to continue.
They talked about the many pressures facing the industry, but what they pointed to in particular was what's known as the commercial broadcasting tax. This is a tax charged by government to broadcasters and it raises about $46 million a year. Because it's charged based on how much of the airwaves you use, regional broadcasters pay a disproportionately large amount—regional broadcasters, obviously, cover large areas and so they pay a disproportionately large amount of this $46 million. The CEOs wrote to the Prime Minister in good faith and said: 'We don't want to close Mildura and we don't want to close other regional broadcasters. What we need is a three-year moratorium on that commercial broadcasting tax.' Of course, that dovetails with policy that's already been announced by the coalition, and in fact was announced in last year's budget reply back in May, where the Leader of the Opposition said alongside the reforms that we would introduce to remove gambling advertising from live sport we would get rid of the commercial broadcasting tax. So one side of politics said, 'Yes, we are going to do this thing that is so important.'
So the CEOs write their letter in good faith, 18 June, and, to my knowledge, have not received a substantive response. On 30 June, what happens? Mildura television closes down; channel 10 closes down. If you live in Mildura today and you try to flick onto channel 10—nothing. Gone. This bill, which the government introduced four days before the closure of the Mildura service, is the government's attempt to address that issue. It is pretty remarkable what the government is suggesting here.
What this bill does is basically say, 'If you live in Mildura and you can't watch channel 10, we have a solution for you: you can get a satellite service.' Okay, but there is fine print which is, to get the satellite dish, you have to pay about $800. Imagine you are in Mildura, no more channel 10. Many people will access it through digital means but, if you can't access it through digital, you can't access it through the air waves because it is no longer there, so what does the government say to you four days before the thing is going to be shut down? 'Go and pay $800, buy a satellite dish just for the purpose of watching channel 10.' Look, channel 10 has a lot of fantastic programming—no doubt—but how many people are going to pay $800 so they can watch Ready Steady Cook? I don't know but I suspect it is not going to be a large number of people who are going to be particularly excited—Project fans though they may be—to go out and spend $800 on a satellite dish. This is the solution that this government has come up with four days before switchoff.
The network CEOs have very clearly stated there is a solution here and it is to provide tax relief on the commercial broadcasting tax, which hits the regionals really hard. If you are a regional broadcaster, obviously it is a much smaller market than if you are broadcasting into Sydney or Melbourne, so you have much lower advertising revenue, but, through this commercial broadcasting tax, you are paying quite a lot of tax. So the broadcasters are saying, 'Give us some relief from that tax.' This government said, 'No, we're not going to do that. What we're going to do is say, "Hey, people of Mildura, why don't you go and spend $800 on a satellite dish just to watch channel 10? You don't need it for nine or seven or other channels because they still work but channel 10 doesn't."'
The member for Mallee, who is in the chamber, I suspect, would have a better idea on this than me, but if you did a poll on the streets of Mildura and said, 'How do you feel about paying $800 to watch channel 10?' There would probably not be a lot of enthusiasm. But that is this minister's solution. Her solution is to say to the people of Mildura, 'You can still watch channel 10, but we want you to pay $800 for a satellite dish and you only need it for channel 10 because everything else will continue to work.' That is just very, very concerning. This is in the middle of Labor's cost-of-living crisis. As we know, many people in regional Australia are on lower incomes than people in metropolitan Australia. Who has a lazy $800 in Mildura to spend so they can watch channel 10? I don't think there would be many people in that position.
The lack of foresight, the lack of rigour, the lack of planning, the lack of strategic focus on the part of this government and this minister means we are in this situation in the parliament four days before switchoff. And, of course, we're only debating it today. It's actually two days after they switched it off, on 30 June. So two days after it's been switched off we're debating what to do.
Free TV has been quite scathing on this. Bridget Fair, always a very passionate advocate for the industry that she represents, said:
This legislation merely allows Mildura viewers the option of installing a satellite dish at their own expense to receive the remote area VAST service to replace their Network 10 services.
While this gives Mildura residents an option to replace their lost services, it is not a fair or reasonable solution, new satellite installation can cost upwards of $800.
She went on to observe, with great clarity:
In a cost-of-living crisis this is simply not realistic for many Australians just to access the television services that are available for free to everyone else.
It's extraordinary.
The member for Mallee has been articulating with such passion the situation that the residents of Mildura find themselves in, because this is actually unique to Mildura. Now, the fear is—and the CEOs talk about this in their letter—it might not be unique to Mildura in the future; this could easily happen in other country towns. And is the government's response to those towns seriously going to be, 'Hey, pay $800 to get a satellite dish to keep watching Channel 10'? The CEOs, in their letter, talk about the issues that are arising here. They say that we are now in a position where regional licensees have been forced to start turning off unprofitable licenses. The shareholders of Mildura Digital Television can no longer subsidise the losses incurred. They also say—and this is an important point. I mentioned before that, unfortunately, Mildura may not be the last. In their letter to the Prime Minister, the CEOs say, 'Decisions such as those in relation to Mildura and other challenged markets can be expected to continue into the future.' So Mildura is not going to be the last, and this proposal is a three-year relief on this bill.
But it is sometimes hard to understand the positions taken by the communications minister on so many different issues. Obviously, it's the judgement of the minister that we talk about here, given that the minister has put this legislation before parliament. As we've seen today widely reported in the media, this is the same minister who welcomed the NBN price increases of up to 14 per cent in eight months as great news for consumers. This is the same minister who, in response to the eSafety Commissioner's call for a trial of age assurance technology to protect children, wrote, in a letter to the Prime Minister in July last year, that that would be an unnecessary distraction, only to adopt that position some nine or 10 months later. It's part of a pattern of very concerning conduct by this minister.
The other part of the bill which I should mention is a sensible change to enable broadcasters to use effectively less spectrum when they broadcast, should they choose to do so. That is technically not allowed under the rules at present. So what this bill would do is enable that to occur. This is a sensible thing. It's good for the networks, it's good for the government and it's good for the efficient use of spectrum management.
This is a very concerning situation. There are some 70,000 viewers in the Mildura region who will no longer be able to see Channel 10, and the minister's response is, 'Pay $800 for a satellite dish.' It's very difficult to understand. I know the member for Mallee will have a lot more to say about this, given that this so directly affects her community. Unfortunately, this same issue may affect other regional communities in the future.
12:35 pm
Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I rise to speak on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024. Mildura and the wider Sunraysia region are ground zero for the vanishing future of regional free-to-air television broadcasting, which is in stark contrast to the trailblazing position Labor claimed Mildura held back in 2010—more on that in a moment. The 1 July closure of Mildura Digital Television Pty Ltd and, thereby, the transmission of Channel 10 and affiliate channel content must become a critical juncture for regional television in our nation, and it demands more than a bandaid. Regional Australians need and deserve a comprehensive long-term strategy to secure sustainable regional broadcasting.
Mildura residents can no longer watch Channel 10 or its Bold and Peach channels on free-to-air television, as Mildura Digital Television has now shut down. MasterChef is off the menu, and Mildura is sadly and undeservedly in the cheap seats. One constituent who rang my office was quite emotional. No longer will she be able to watch The Bold and the Beautiful.
The sad reality of this unwanted first is that in 2010, the Sunraysia region welcomed the then communications minister Stephen Conroy who read out the countdown for gathered media as Sunraysia became the first region in Australia to switch from analogue to digital. On board the PS Mundoo paddle boat—a fabulous paddle boat in the Mildura region—Minister Conroy, on loudspeaker over the phone, told technician Rob Kovac at Yatpool to flick the switch to switch off the analogue signal. As the analogue screen flicked to white noise, Minister Conroy then said, 'Today, Mildura makes history again as it becomes the first region in Australia to make the switch to digital only TV.' How sad that just 14 years later Mildura takes the unwanted first of being the first in the nation to switch off a digital TV signal. Indeed, Sunraysia residents are now the first in the country to cease having access to one of the nation's five major television channels. It's little wonder that the Labor spin doctors have called this bill a continuity bill. The only continuous thing from this government is weakness, incompetence and robbing regions to buy votes in the inner cities.
I raised the alarm about Mildura Digital Television's decision when I first heard about it in early May. I wrote to the communications minister, Minister Rowland, asking for assistance or intervention, bearing in mind that some of our older viewers may not have had the TV to access the digital alternative or may not have the digital literacy to do so. The panellists on The Project expressed similar concerns on Sunday night. I also spoke to both WIN, who co-own the Mildura digital TV operation, and Channel 10. In a peculiar arrangement, 10 are powerless to stop their programs from going off air due to a decision by the co-owners of MD TV's affiliates, Seven and Nine.
A constituent wrote to me about the loss of Channel 10 locally. She said:
As a long-time viewer, I am deeply distressed by this decision, as it impacts not only me but also many other residents in the area who rely on Channel Ten for news, entertainment and community connection.
Another constituent told me:
If they let Channel Ten close its services to Mildura, it will cause a cascade of changes across all networks—
How true—
Look at the banks, one closes in a small area and others follow.
My partner and I often watch 10 when we come home from a long day.
The second constituent is right about a cascade of changes that will follow, as we saw with bank branches. Free TV Australia has called for reform to establish a stable, long-term footing for regional television broadcasting. As regional Australians begin to lose access to television services, the availability of local trusted news, local advertising opportunities for regional businesses and Australian content in regional areas are all under threat.
Most regrettably, Mallee knows this all too well. Mallee has not one single television journalist or news service presented in the region. I remind the House that that is over one-third of the geographical area of Victoria. On the Mildura Digital Television shutdown, Free TV CEO, Bridget Fair, told ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: 'This has been a long time coming and the government has been aware of it, so they should have maybe had a bit more time to come up with a plan.'
David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Four days.
Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Yes; four days is all we got. This bill before the House today merely allows Mildura viewers the option of installing a satellite dish—at their own expense—to receive the remote area VAST service to continue receiving Network 10 services. The Sunraysia Daily, a local newspaper, generously called the minister's bill 'a last-ditch effort to provide access to the Channel 10 broadcast'. Sure. This bill gives Mildura residents what you could describe as a technical option to replace their lost services, but it is neither a fair nor reasonable solution. The cost of a new satellite installation, which is up to $800, is simply not realistic for many Australians, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.
Without urgent substantive action by the government, more regional digital transmission areas are likely to cease. Over the past five years, regional broadcasting has been the subject of numerous detailed government reviews, but we still have no plan from the Albanese Labor government to ensure a long-term sustainability of this critical media sector.
Regional commercial broadcasters spend millions on local content every year and comply with significant local news content quotas that do not apply to any other platform. In the financial year 2023, they spent $35 million on local news bulletins—$5 million more than the previous year. Regrettably, Mallee voters don't see the benefit of that as there are no local commercial TV news journalists or bulletins. Even so, while Mildura has taken the first hit in this latest round of signal closures, this is about regional Australia because the Nationals stand for regional Australia. All commercial television broadcasters also comply with additional regulatory requirements, such as the 55 per cent Australian content obligation and accessibility requirements.
Despite the public interest benefits they deliver, Australian commercial television broadcasters pay the highest spectrum taxes in the world—known as the commercial broadcasting tax here in Australia. This tax is a significant impost on regional broadcasters ability to fund content and infrastructure costs. The commercial broadcasting tax was introduced as a temporary measure in 2017 and, as the shadow minister has outlined, should have been abandoned years ago.
Solutions to keeping the lights on for regional TV are squarely in the hands and control of the Albanese Labor government. The coalition did its part during COVID-19 with the Public Interest News Gathering program, or PING, to help regional media, including regional television, to apply for grants totalling $50 million in value to help with staff wages, training technology or website upgrades. The coalition also provided spectrum tax-fee relief for 12 months to assist the regional media sector from 2020 to 2021.
Regional television now needs direct funding support for markets where services are not commercially viable. Regional and remote communities are now faced with the equivalent of a mobile blackspot—call it a 'broadcasting blackspot', if you like. The federal government provides funding for commercial telecommunications operators to ensure locals can receive their signal, yet this government has not ensured that regional Australians can continue to have access to high-quality TV services.
Regional broadcasters know their audiences love local news, community stories and sport, and that local businesses need regional TV to reach local customers. Without the government's long-term support, more services are at risk and the social and economic benefits for regional Australia will be lost.
Let me touch on the role of the ABC. As some members might be thinking, they are there to fill gaps like the one created by the demise of Mildura Digital Television and the Channel 10 signal in Sunraysia. The ABC's resourcing in regional Australia is problematic. One of the upsides of commercial broadcasters is that they get direct feedback on profit and loss statements, whether their content is fit for purpose and whether their local regional audiences like what they're broadcasting. If advertisers love your local content, they will advertise. If they hate it, they stop paying the bill. It is the best market-driven way of ensuring accountability to your local audience. Arguably, the ABC lacks that form of direct accountability, so the ABC is not adequate as the fallback solution.
I met with Minister Rowland's advisers last week alongside the shadow minister for communications, David Coleman, about the Mildura situation. Despite our efforts, Mildura Digital Television is committed to their closure decision, as we know—it's happened—saying the federal government's commercial broadcasting tax was a major contributing factor. For Channel 10 viewers in Mildura, the signal went off air on 30 June. The coalition is committed to reforming our television arrangements. Shadow minister Coleman and I have discussed policies to support regional broadcasting, including the abolition of the commercial broadcasting tax. In 2023, TV broadcasters were forced to pay over $44 million for this tax that disproportionately affects regional broadcasters, as he outlined. Eliminating this tax will allow broadcasters to invest more in local staff and programs for regional communities.
The Albanese Labor government yet again is robbing regions to buy votes in the inner cities, leaving regional Australia to wither on the vine. The Prime Minister's weak leadership sees the surging power of Meta, Google and social media platforms going unchecked, pushing their content and ideological agenda onto Australians as their primary source of entertainment and news. These foreign giants' unchecked market power is also a major factor in commercial TV's struggle for advertising revenue. Indeed, Bridget Fair, the Free TV Australia CEO, also told ABC Radio in Mildura: 'We've got more competition for eyeballs. Obviously, people are watching streaming and other services, and our services are required to be funded by advertising dollars.' As that becomes more difficult to generate with more competition, it means there will be more challenges for regional television operations.
The coalition has led the way on holding the social media giants to account, establishing the eSafety Commissioner and putting forward reforms to control online content in the national interest, proposing age verification to protect children online. The communications minister has only recently realised the need for action. As the Mildura Digital TV shut down date loomed, one Mallee resident said: 'Country people need to be able to source information and programs from all free-to-air channels. Surely the government can ensure these things are freely available to not only city but country people. Once again, we are the forgotten electors.' The right to access reliable news, local stories and entertainment should not be a privilege based on geography. The digital divide between city and country must be addressed to guarantee that all Australians, regardless of where they live, have equitable access to the same television services.
The Albanese Labor government's neglect of regional Australians is glaring. The needs and rights of regional Australians cannot continue to be overlooked. It is a matter of equity—something this government talks a lot about. The government has a responsibility to ensure that regional communities are not left behind, particularly in an era where information is power. The closure of Mildura Digital Television is a stark reminder of the disparities that still exist. We must ensure that regional voices are heard and that the essential services they rely on are protected and sustained.
12:49 pm
Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I rise also to speak on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024. I do it with a heavy heart. It's the diminishing of regional TV. It's the diminishing of regional choices. And it's another indication that, when it comes to regional Australia, this Labor government just doesn't get it, whether it be WA sheep farmers, irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin or people who live in regional cities who want infrastructure. You can't have a government that just focuses on cities and doesn't care about regions, and, unfortunately, that's what we've got. This isn't a huge example of that but it is an example of that, and it's really disappointing.
I want to support the member for Mallee, who just spoke, and her community in Mildura and surrounds. The loss of any free-to-air broadcasting in a regional area is a poor outcome for the industry, for viewers and for choice. Mildura Digital Television, which carried the Channel Ten signal to 70,000 viewers in Mildura, stopped transmitting on 30 June. MDT, jointly operated by WIN and the Seven network, first went to air in January 2006, but it has run at a loss and the decision was made to wind it up. Without any federal assistance to keep it going, the licence has been handed in. Viewers in Mildura now have to use the 10Play streaming app to watch the shows they previously watched free-to-air—and that's if they have the technology, the know-how and internet bandwidth to stream. Not everyone has that, particularly in regional areas. This bill is a response to the situation in Mildura, but it isn't the long-term solution we need and it isn't the long-term solution to the challenges faced by regional broadcasters.
What does this bill do? It amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Radio Communications Act 1992 to support continued access to television broadcasting services in regional Australia by permitting viewers to access government funded viewer-access satellite television—VAST—or the VAST safety net when a commercial television broadcaster ceases to provide terrestrial services in a given area. That's the case in Mildura, where the Seven and Nine signals will continue to be broadcast but Channel Ten and its secondary channels will no longer be broadcast.
What is VAST? Viewer access satellite television fills gaps in regional Australia where there is no reception or there is very poor reception. Anyone wishing to access VAST needs to purchase a VAST approved satellite set-top box and a satellite dish of at least 65cm diameter. The cost is from around $500 for a dish-and-receiver bundle, plus installation. It's a popular service for many grey nomads, but the portable systems with automatic tracking can cost many thousands of dollars. While creating access to VAST in the Mildura scenario means that viewers can continue to receive terrestrial broadcasts for all channels, they face additional imposts in costs and technological challenges. Therefore, they aren't receiving equality of access with other people in Australia—for example, people who live in cities or even in regional cities. Some might argue it's a cost of living in rural and remote parts of Australia. But Mildura is a regional city on the Victorian-New South Wales border; it's a significant city and I think its people deserve the same sort of access, the equality of access, to terrestrial broadcast television that other Australians have.
The reason for this impost on viewers isn't remoteness or reception, it's a partial failure of the aggregated regional TV market. Continuing to broadcast at a loss was uneconomic for the broadcast licence holder—hopefully, this is a one-off. But, as a parliament, we just can't afford to hope it doesn't happen again to another regional community. It has happened to the member for Mallee. I'm her next-door neighbour in Nicholls, and I have some regional areas that might suffer from this in the future. Or it could spread to Indi. All of us in regional areas suffer consistently from this inequality and the perception that the government somehow thinks we don't count as much as people who live in cities. Thanks to this bill, the Mildura example now has a name: it's a declared 'service deficient area'. Decoded, that means some of the channels which viewers should ordinarily receive free-to-air will no longer be available for them. I think we should seek to avoid this situation.
The way to do that, the long-term solution, is to make regional broadcasting viable. This bill removes impediments to commercial television broadcasters consolidating their terrestrial transmission arrangements and, in certain circumstances, breaking the one-on-one relationship between broadcasting and transmitter licences. This will allow broadcasters to pursue more efficient and cost-effective transmission arrangements. The industry view is that these are tweaks rather than real reform.
Free TV, which represents regional television broadcasters, has called for a comprehensive four-step plan to put regional television broadcasting on a sustainable long-term footing. What is at stake here is access to services, particularly trusted local news; local advertising opportunities; and access to major sports and cultural broadcasts. That's so important because traditionally in Australia we have come together around sporting and cultural broadcasts—all sorts of sporting broadcasts, such as the Melbourne Cup, the Olympics and the AFL grand final. Some of those, obviously, are on channels that will still be broadcasting terrestrially in Mildura, but Channel 10 had some of those too. So there is an issue with access to sporting broadcasts into the future. Abolishing the spectrum tax is one of the suggested measures to reduce costs for regional broadcasters, and it's a cost-saving measure that the coalition supports.
We have lost so much of what we had in regional television, and I think we need to protect what we have left. Three years after television had launched in metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne, the first regional station started broadcasting. The first to launch was TVT6 in Hobart in May 1960 and then GLV10 in Traralgon in December 1961. That's so long ago that my friend the member for Gippsland wasn't even born—wasn't even watching.
Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
That is a long time ago!
Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It is; I agree. A few days later, very personal for me, it was GMV6 in Shepparton. I can remember waking up to GMV6 Six's Super Saturday Show. We only had two channels when I was young: Channel 3, which was the ABC, and Channel 6, which was GMV6. You'd watch the cartoons in the morning, Six's Super Saturday Show, and then at night you'd watch whatever good American TV was imported then—The A-Team or CHiPS. It was part of our childhood, it was great stuff and I really enjoyed it, and we want the same access for young people growing up now. I understand things are a bit different. I have conversations with my kids about streaming. But free-to-air television is still important for a number of families, particularly lower socioeconomic families in regional areas, where streaming is more difficult.
Regional television is part of our lives, and we're tempted to take it for granted, but we shouldn't. Local content has diminished over the years. Local news has consolidated, and that's disappointing. That has an effect on democracy. We used to have GMV6 News and then WIN News, which would report on local issues, it would report on what local councils were doing and it would report on what state politicians were doing and how they were representing their community. Those services have been significantly diminished, and I don't think that's good for our democracy. Now in Mildura the transmission of a whole network is ceasing because it's financially unviable. That impacts access and choice, it deepens the divide between city and country, and it's exactly why the Nationals continue to stand up for regional Australia, where people deserve equity of access regardless of where they live.
We often say in this place that your postcode shouldn't define a number of things—your access to education and to all number of services. It shouldn't define your access to the free-to-air television that people in the cities are getting. We are one country. We used to be more cohesive when we all got around the water cooler and discussed what we saw on the TV last night. I know things have changed, but equitable access to free-to-air television for people across Australia, including in regional Australia, is a really important thing that this parliament should be trying to facilitate.
12:59 pm
Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank all the honourable members who have contributed to the debate on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024. I'm very pleased I was able to be in the chamber to hear the words of the member for Nicholls. It was enlightening. I think there were two things in particular that the member for Nicholls said that are worth reiterating—first, that free-to-air broadcasting is special. It is special. It is the stable, free and ubiquitous platform that means that people in both metropolitan areas and rural and regional Australia have access to that, and I thank the member for bringing that to the attention of the House.
The member also drew attention to the fact that the diminution of services in regional Australia—consolidation, loss of news—has been occurring over a long period of time, which is very true. That's why it is necessary to understand that we are unfortunately in a situation where we've inherited an analogue era of regulation that needs to be updated for the future. We have legislation before the parliament to do that, and, at the same time, we need to appreciate the ongoing commercial decisions and the circumstances in which these regional broadcasters find themselves. But I thank the member for Nicholls for his very thoughtful contribution. I look forward to engaging with him on how regional communications—not only broadcasting but also broadband and telecommunications services more generally—can be enhanced for the benefit of his constituents.
It's very pleasing to see strong support across the parliament for measures that enhance access to free-to-air broadcasting services in regional and remote Australia. The Albanese government is committed to ensuring that all Australians have equitable access to high-quality television broadcasting services. This bill will make a small but meaningful contribution to that outcome.
The broadcasting sector faces particular challenges in regional areas, as the closure of Mildura Digital Television, MDT, makes clear. This bill responds to two recent developments, raised chiefly by the actions of regional broadcasters, and presents practical measures for regional broadcasting: firstly, the May 2024 decision by the board of MDT to cease operations from 1 July 2024 and, secondly, the April 2024 consolidation by WIN Television of the services it provides under two commercial TV licences in the SA licence areas of Mount Gambier / South East TV1 and Riverland TV1.
The decision to close MDT is a very disappointing commercial decision of the free-to-air broadcasters WIN and Seven Network to close their joint venture, which provided Network Ten services in the Mildura/Sunraysia TV1 licence area. The decision, as I said, underscores the significant structural issues that are affecting the provision of digital terrestrial broadcasting services in regional Australia, which is why the government has introduced legislation to expand access to the Viewer Access Satellite Television, or VAST, service.
VAST is a taxpayer-funded safety net which ensures that Australians in regional or remote communities without adequate terrestrial broadcasting can continue to access free-to-air television via satellite. The safety net supports the provision of free-to-air commercial television to over 1½ million Australians. It is a Labor initiative, and the government has extended funding to continue VAST across regional and remote Australia for an additional seven years to 2030-31.
The Albanese government has moved swiftly to address the two recent issues, which I mentioned, that impact regional Australia. We briefed the shadow minister and the member for Mallee ahead of bill introduction last week so the opposition would be in a position to facilitate prompt passage of the legislation on a bipartisan basis. If the coalition choose to delay this bill or refer it to a committee, that is their prerogative, but I would note that any delay to the passage of this legislation would do the following: it would increase the time that the residents of Mildura are unable to access the option of the VAST safety net, and it will increase the time that WIN is potentially in breach of its licence conditions and other regulatory obligations.
The closure of MDT reflects the difficulties of operating commercial broadcasting and transmission services in the contemporary media environment, and it demonstrates, as I said, the consequences of a decade of inaction in the way of meaningful media reform under the previous government. The former government, in 2017, declared that their media reforms heralded a new era for the media, yet regional broadcasting remained significantly challenged. To quote a media release dated 14 September 2017, entitled 'A new era for Australia's media', the Prime Minister at the time, Malcolm Turnbull, said:
The government is strengthening Australia's media industry, enhancing media diversity and securing local journalism jobs, particularly in regional areas.
Flash forward to 8 May 2024, when the shadow minister and the member for Mallee issued a media release about the closure of MDT and, of all things, poked fun at the issues facing regional Australians and the closure of MDT as they did so. This media release entitled: 'Seven West and WIN Mildura, get me out of here' responds to the closure of MDT with a series of thoughtless puns about various 10 programs. Even now, this unedifying media release remains available on the member for Mallee's website.
I have extended the member for Mallee the courtesy of briefings as well as advice on issues affecting broadcasting services in her electorate, including notification in February this year of an upgrade of services from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. I will give the member the benefit of the doubt; she hasn't been here as long as some others. She wasn't here for the coalition's repeal of the two-out-of-three cross media rule, unlike the shadow minister. But it does demonstrate that the coalition, or some in it, are not taking this issue as seriously as they should.
The reality is that the closure of MDT has been under contemplation for some time. In fact, I understand the matter was brought to the attention of the former minister for communications in the coalition government but he failed to engage on the matter. If this is true, certainly, this is something that no doubt an inquiry into this bill might bring to light and I welcome it. By contrast, my office and my department have engaged with MDT several times to discuss their plans. I have engaged with the parties to support an orderly wind down that communicated the decision to the affected audience, and advised them of alternative ways of accessing the 10 service. And, as I said, the Albanese government has introduced legislation into parliament precisely so the residents of Mildura have the choice of accessing the VAST service so they may receive the full suite of television broadcasting services by satellite if they choose to do so. If a resident of Mildura takes up the VAST option, they will have access to a full suite of those services, more than just the 10 services. But consumers do have choice, and many residents in Mildura with an internet connection may choose to watch 10 content over 10 Play app. Because of the Albanese government's commitment to improving connectivity in the regions, many more residents of Mildura will be able to exercise this option.
I am pleased to inform the House that an additional 16,500 residents of Mildura are now able to access high-speed broadband, supported by the Albanese government's investment of $2.4 billion to give an additional 1.5 million premises full-fibre access and that includes more than 660,000 additional premises in rural and regional Australia. This investment is boosting the reliability of broadband services and the productivity of businesses, supporting the way we now work, study and transact.
I note the shadow minister mentioned the commercial broadcasting tax. He said this tax hits regional broadcasters hard. For the record, the commercial broadcasting tax was introduced by a coalition government. It is a Liberal-National Party tax, and the shadow minister was a member of the government that introduced this tax. In recognition of the challenges facing regional broadcasters, the Albanese government has already extended and increased the commercial broadcasting tax rebate, which means regional broadcasters pay less tax for the spectrum they use. Under the Albanese government, the rebate for the broadcasting tax has been extended and increased for the first time since the coalition introduced it in 2017.
I note the opposition have indicated they would remove the CBT. As has been reported in the Australian Financial Review, in May 2023 the opposition wrote to broadcasters offering to remove the commercial broadcasting tax in exchange for the removal of wagering advertising during the broadcast of sport. So it would be misleading for the opposition to now claim they are removing the commercial broadcasting tax to support regional outcomes when their purpose was to make up for lost wagering revenue. I think those opposite need to understand that the CBT can only be offset once, and I look forward to the opposition policy on how spectrum will be valued in Australia. I'm sure the telco industry and all of industry will be very interested to understand this too.
But that isn't all we're doing for the media sector when it comes significant reforms and, indeed, when it comes to this bill. We have funded the regulator, the ACMA, to intimate a new Media Diversity Measurement Framework. We've introduced genuine media reforms into the parliament to modernise Australia's analogue-era broadcasting laws with the Communications Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Bill 2024, which will support access to free local TV on connected devices and free sports coverage in the streaming era. We've consulted publicly on the News Media Assistance Program, and my department has analysed submissions and is working across government to consider a range of measures to support the sustainability of the sector and media diversity. This is in addition to stable funding to ensure regional Australians continue to receive the ABC and SBS services, as well as community radio broadcasting, after a decade of cuts and uncertainty under the coalition. That's in addition to our funding for the AAP and over 200 regional and local independent newspaper publishers under the Regional and Local Newspaper Publishers program, as well as a journalist fund supporting cadets in the regions. Unlike the former coalition government, who wasted a decade, ignored regional broadcasters and now make light of this service closure, this government takes the issues facing regional Australia and broadcasters seriously. We're working hard to fix the mess that the coalition left behind.
As I said, this bill will make amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act to expand access to the government funded viewer access satellite television service for Australians living in areas where there has been a material reduction in the number of commercial television broadcasting services provided terrestrially. Although we know that these amendments to the Radio Communications Act adjust the licensing framework that applies to broadcasters, there is a strict one-to-one relationship between the broadcasting licences that authorise broadcasting services and the transmitter licences that authorise the use of radio communications equipment. Although this remains suitable in many circumstances, it won't permit broadcasters to pursue more innovative and efficient ways of delivering their services, should they wish to do so. That is why this bill will also address this anomaly and allow the ACMA to declare that a specified transmitter licence is taken to authorise the operation of one or more radio communications transmitters for transmitting the services authorised under two or more broadcasting licences.
These measures will ensure Australians can continue to access television broadcasting services in the circumstances where outdated regulations would otherwise prevent it. This is important for consumers and industry, and it will support the government's objective of providing equitable access to media services for all Australians, irrespective of where they live or what they earn. I call on members to support the bill.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a second time.