Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I absolutely recognise that the environment for free-to-airs is more challenging and there is greater competition than there was five, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years ago. I agree that the playing field is not level. That is one of the reasons why we are looking to get rid of the 75 per cent audience-reach rule and one of the reasons why we are looking to get rid of the two-out-of-three rule. This will enable Australian media organisations to configure themselves in ways to better support their liability, so they can be in a better position to compete with global players. It is one of the reasons why we do have the measure that is before us: to reduce licence fees for radio and TV by 25 per cent. As I indicated in my earlier contribution, when you combine that with the licence fee reductions that TV previously had, it is a 62.5 per cent reduction in licence fees that the free-to-airs will have had in recent times. I should observe that the free-to-airs do have support in the consumer interest in the form of the anti-siphoning regime. So, yes, the landscape has changed significantly. Licence fee reductions are in part an effort to address that, as is the proposed abolition of the 75 per cent audience reach rule and the two out of three rule.