Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

No, that sounds so reasonable. The problem is that it was that reasonable approach which handed control of the agenda to stakeholders who had an incentive to do nothing. This amendment would achieve that. It would hand back the incentive to go slow.

The opposition also proposes that reports be issued every three months, until 1 September 2014, on transmission black spots. The Digital Tracker program announced in March 2008 will provide this information to the public on a regular basis throughout the switch-over process. We already have in place a mechanism to deliver the very outcome that is being suggested. The Digital Tracker will provide national and switch-over-area-specific results for actual conversion, intentions to convert, understanding and awareness, amongst other performance indicators. The combination of these four factors will establish the percentage of the population that is ready for switch-over—that is, the number of viewers who have or will convert and are aware of the digital switch-over in their area. The proposed amendments would create unnecessary process, given that the Digital Tracker has already been established to provide this information. The process would also deprive both industry and consumers of certainty in switch-over, highlighted by the former government’s Digital Action Plan as being so important.

Let me be clear: the work done previously said, ‘Look, you’ve got to do this,’ and we have responded. The bill already provides for switch-over to be delayed in a particular area by up to three months to take into account specific local market issues that may arise. I note that the opposition’s amendments do not propose to extend the time that the government could delay switch-over. The government will be required to consult ACMA before making or varying a switch-over date and will be advised by the Digital Switchover Taskforce on decisions to vary switch-over dates within the six-month window.

The absence of publicly defined targets does not preclude the establishment of internal targets which will facilitate and promote effective management of the switch-over program. This will include using data obtained from the Digital Tracker program. The Digital Tracker will become part of the overall risk management approach to be adopted by the government. The tracker will provide a continuous source of publicly available data on which to base this assessment. Rather than delaying switch-over due to lower than expected levels of readiness in an area, the tracker will be a powerful management tool for both government and broadcasters to ensure that the original switch-over date is met.

The switch to digital television is important to Australia. Digital TV provides the potential for new digital channels to be delivered with vastly improved picture and sound quality. Digital switch-over will also free up valuable spectrum capacity for a range of next-generation communications technologies, including wireless telephony and broadcasting services.

This bill makes the necessary amendments to the existing legislative framework to ensure a smooth, well-managed transition to digital-only television for the benefit of all Australians. I know that Senator Ludlam has raised a number of issues around community television. While I am not able to reveal all of the information that I think he would like, I assure him that the government recognises the important place that community TV holds in the Australian media landscape. This bill aims to set in place the framework by which the government can achieve digital switch-over in keeping with the original legislative framework. It is not intended to provide a pathway for community television to switch to digital.

The previous government’s Digital Action Plan provided no firm pathway for transitioning community TV from analog to digital. Unlike the previous government, the Rudd government is committed to ensuring that community TV has a future in digital broadcasting. We have actively engaged with the community TV sector on this issue. Community TV’s representative body, ACTA, has a representative on the Digital Switchover Taskforce Industry Advisory Group. That is how seriously we take the role and importance of community television—we have included them in the process.

In the interim, I note that most digital televisions in Australia are capable of receiving analog services, including community television, and also that analog televisions that receive digital through a set-top box can continue to receive analog community television. But, again, to reassure the Senate, community TV is an integral part of Australian broadcasting and the government is committed to its future. We have had extensive conversations. I have met with community TV as a group two or three times over the last 12 months and with individual stations on a number of occasions. I have written to the Western Australian Premier, the Queensland Premier and the South Australian Premier to assure them that we will be delivering a pathway to the community television sector and they should not consider whatever funding arrangements they have in their own states as something that should be withdrawn on the basis that there is no future. So I have taken concrete steps to reassure Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, where there have been a number of difficulties over the last 12 months or so—not so much in South Australia, but they are a fledgling organisation. I have spoken with a number of premiers and ministers directly to reassure them that there will be a transition path for community television. We take it very seriously. In fact, in the last 48 hours, I met with one of the state based community TV organisations to discuss these very issues. So our door, unlike the previous government’s, is wide open to the community TV sector, and we take very seriously our obligations.

Community TV provides valuable training, valuable educational information and valuable entertainment. We do not resile from our commitment to deliver a pathway. It is complex; it is not possible to set down one national pathway at this stage. It may be that the individual states are dealt with on an individual basis because the available amount of spectrum in some areas is limited. In Perth—as I am sure you are familiar with, Senator Ludlam—they actually have a surplus of spectrum. It is an easier solution, ultimately, for community television in Western Australia than in, say, Brisbane. There are complex issues and competing claims. A whole raft of issues were shoved under the carpet by the previous government, who were interested not in finding solutions but in bumping them off and moving them somewhere else so they could flog off spectrum to the highest bidder, and they did not really care what happened to community TV after that. That was a very active consideration. Well, that is not the approach being taken by the Rudd government.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.