Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Milne, move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   deplores the actions of WIN Television in Tasmania, which has cut its weekend statewide news service, leading to:

     (i)   some 10 Tasmanians losing their jobs in the state's media industry, jobs which would have become future jobs for young Tasmanians, and

     (ii)   a marked cutting of media diversity in the state on weekends, with only ABC TV and Southern Cross Television providing local news and nightly bulletins; and

  (b)   notes that:

     (i)   WIN Television in 2010 celebrated 50 years of television history in the state, but in its 51st year WIN has cut the 'guts' out of its local coverage with no weekend news services, resulting in a loss of 28 per cent of the weekly news coverage, local news, local sport and local politics,

     (ii)   Tasmanian viewers, some of whom have been loyal to WIN Television for the full 50 years of its existence, are now being served up an irrelevant news service, broadcasting Victorian news on Saturdays and Sundays; and

     (iii)   this makes Tasmania the only state in the WIN Television network without a home-state-based weekend news service.

Question agreed to.