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

We have converted over 38,000 pensioner homes for digital television across regional South Australia and Victoria in the 18 months since it commenced the Mildura-Sunraysia region. Under the scheme, a government contracted installer visits the household and installs and demonstrates a set-top box specifically chosen to meet the needs of the elderly or those with a disability. Installers also conduct any cabling and antenna work where necessary. Centrelink performs checks to ensure the installations are working properly.

I note that those opposite supported our amendments to the Social Security Act in 2009 to enable this scheme. In fact, Senator Minchin said at the time, ‘For eligible households, such as pensioners, this measure will provide some certainty about their capacity to access and utilise the equipment needed to deal with digital pictures’. In the other place, the member for Mayo— (Time expired)