Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I did have a prepared speech but I want to address that contribution from Senator Lambie. The media reform as presented in this suite of initiatives by the government on a very vexed and difficult issue, which befuddled the opposition when it was in power—I remember under Senator Conroy trying to find some way to ensure the sustainability and diversity of our media in the face of incredible disruption—does not mean a pitchfork to the ABC and does not mean media barons. I'd much rather an Australian own a media company in this country than a foreign company own a media company in this country, which is exactly what can occur, Senator Lambie, under current arrangements. I'm happy to walk you through it if you'd like.

What we have in front of us for this debate is a bill with a comprehensive suite of measures to bring the Australian media landscape out of the 1980s, the era of Michael J Fox, Back to the Future, Duran Duran—you might remember it, Senator Seselja and Senator Smith—before mobile phone companies outbid broadcasters to stream the Ashes or other cricket games, netball games, as we've got at the moment, or indeed AFL. That has always been the purview of our TV broadcasters, but they're being outbid for those sorts of rights and initiatives, and increasingly Australians are using their mobile phones in new and innovative ways that mean that the old regulation, the old way we regulated and the framework in which our media environment exists, is no longer tenable.

I was part of the joint committee in 2013 that made very similar recommendations, and I remember that the National Party then refused to support certain changes to aspects of our media laws because we too were concerned about local content in regional areas. We were worried about large media companies swamping our smaller newspapers, radio broadcasters and TV broadcasters. But five years down the track the reality is that I would rather have some Australian media outlets in regional areas than none, and that is what we're staring down the barrel of if we don't give them a fighting chance to deliver the type of diversity that we need and that technology can deliver us over time even.

This was before we had Netflix, Stan, Facebook or Google. The media environment in this country has been severely disrupted, and we've seen a very direct result and impact of that disruption as journalists face job losses, as Australians turn away from broadsheets to Facebook for their news and as regional broadcasters struggle in the face of decreasing advertising revenue and decreasing eyeballs. We must do something to ensure that regional media diversity is sustainable going forward.

The reality for regional Australians, though, in the way we access information is different, culturally and technologically. We don't necessarily have access to the same communications infrastructure. It's not as easy for many regional Australians to interact with Netflix—yet; it will be, but right now it's not. So we needed to ensure in this package that regional media diversity and local content was secured, and I believe that we have a mechanism within this media reform package to ensure that. We have incentivised those companies who have boots on the ground in our communities, who have cameramen at our sporting events, who have journalists living and working amongst us, telling our stories, working with us to promote community events and sharing in the reporting of emergency broadcasts during bushfires, floods, cyclones and drought. This is the reality. Reporting on somebody's lived experience is very different than having it as part of your own. So, ensuring that this package incentivises media companies to keep that physical commitment to regional Australia—to have the journalists, the cameramen and the cadets locally to train up—is something that I am very pleased is part of this reform initiative.

In the two Senate inquiries that went to the heart of this bill there were issues around whether the reach rule would be repealed. Some of the concerns raised were that online streaming services—straight into peoples' homes, not those that require a broadcasting licence—don't have to include any local regional news, don't need to include any local regional advertising, don't include any local community service announcements and are not subject to the commercial television industry code of practice. So it's very rich for senators to come into this place and try and tell senators that live and work and represent regional communities that keeping the current system in place is better than dealing with the fact that right now regional capitals that have the technology infrastructure, like Bendigo, Sale or Pakenham, those live streaming suites and broadcasters, if you like—I mean, it's a very poor definition of what a broadcaster is, but that's a whole other issue which I think I raised in my additional comments to the Senate report—but don't actually have those sorts of requirements on them that we do put on our TV broadcasters right now. Our TV broadcasters, our WINs, our Prime 7s, are often competing against the mother ship, the mother company of 9, 7 or 10, streaming right into the living rooms with the evening news, without those requirements about backing regional small business and backing regional news.

In addition to the video-on-demand services and online streaming of metropolitan broadcasts, Prime, in its evidence to the committee, added that the regional television industry is facing several other significant structural challenges, including: a reduction in the size of regional advertising market; encountering a loss of $65 million over the last three years; a decline in actual audience numbers year on year, with the aggregated markets of Queensland, northern and southern NSW and Victoria losing 6.9 per cent of total audience; affiliation fees payable by regional broadcasters to metropolitan networks, which increase every year. You can't get MasterChef, you can't get Survivor unless you do the deal with the metropolitan affiliate. The fact that those affiliation fees go up and up year on year, despite declining revenue and declining eyeballs, is a significant issue for our regional broadcaster. That is why Mitch Fifield, as minister, has been able to perform the miraculous event at which all media outlets have come together as one to say, 'We need this change. We need this change to be sustainable to compete in the current media environment.'

I want to briefly make comments around the importance of meaningful local content for people living in regional areas. That was emphasised to the committee by the President of the NSW Farmers' Association, Mr Schoen:

It is vitally important to maintain local content in delivery of media services to country areas. It is a little bit like if I went to go to Sydney I would find the news there very alien to me. And if you came to Corowa, I am sure you would find the media that we dish out fairly alien to you. It is vitally important that the content is applicable to the audience that is going to receive it.

I can't back those comments more. That is why I was disappointed by Senator Lambie's comments around the ABC. I am a huge backer of the ABC, particularly local radio, which plays such a vital role in my regional communities—community service announcements; emergency service broadcasts; making sure we have local news and weather; local entertainment. In particular, some of our presenters can be very humorous and keep us laughing. It's the first dial most regional Australians go to. To see, over time, the ABC denuded of its regional voice and staffing, under Mark Scott in particular—I do note the current managing director and board's commitment, through the minister's focus, to actually increasing the level of staffing in regional areas. That is a great thing. It goes to the heart of ensuring local content is available for regional communities.

I want to go to the three-point system. Currently those senators that are opposing these changes are very happy for regional communities to have someone in Canberra read out Senator Urquhart's media releases, Senator Hanson-Young's media releases, Senator Smith's media releases—