Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

BROADCASTING SERVICES AMENDMENT (REGIONAL COMMERCIAL RADIO AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2020

Bill 2020 (the Bill) includes a range of deregulatory measures that will allow regional commercial radio broadcasting licensees to satisfy their local content obligations in a more flexible manner.

The Bill makes minor amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) which will ease the regulatory burden on, and make regulatory compliance easier for, regional commercial radio and regional commercial television broadcasters.

Local content obligations for regional commercial radio broadcasters are designed to support the availability of local news and information that regional Australians value. The Bill will introduce greater flexibility and lower the compliance burden for licensees in meeting their local content obligations, while ensuring the continued availability of local content to regional Australians.

The Bill also includes a measure which will amend the Australian content multi-channel quota obligation for regional and remote commercial television broadcasting licensees. This measure is intended to assist licensees to satisfy their obligations when they have affiliation agreements with metropolitan broadcasters which mean that they have limited or no control over the amount of Australian content they broadcast.

The measures that the Bill proposes will provide licensees with greater flexibility and certainty in delivering broadcasting services in regional areas to provide greater sustainability of regional voices, preserving greater choice for regional audiences.

Commercial radio measures

The BSA places a range of local content obligations on regional commercial radio licensees, in order to support the ongoing availability of local content in regional Australia. This includes the general obligation to provide a minimum amount of material of local significance (local content) per business day.

The regional commercial radio industry has informed the Government that it considers a number of the requirements associated with the local content and minimum services standards obligations to be inflexible, impractical or overly burdensome.

The measures contained in Schedule 1 of the Bill, will provide industry with more flexibility in acquitting its local content and minimum service standards obligations.

The Bill makes amendments to the exemption period provisions for both the local content and minimum services standards obligations so that they are more flexible. These provisions currently provide default five-week exemption periods for both obligations, over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. However, these are not the only times of the year licensees may face similar staffing and resource pressures.

The Bill also removes the requirement for trigger event licensees to develop a local content plan, and replaces this with a requirement to prepare and publish a local content statement.

Commercial television measures

Currently, the BSA requires commercial television broadcasting licensees to broadcast minimum levels of Australian content: at least 1,460 hours of Australian programming across their multi-channels during between 6 am and midnight.

Metropolitan television networks provide regional and remote commercial television broadcasting licensees with content under affiliation agreements. Some licensees in regional and remote licence areas have faced barriers to providing the required amount of Australian content if they do not carry the full suite of multi-channels that metropolitan networks deliver. This is especially likely where metropolitan affiliates decide to schedule a significant portion of their multi-channel Australian content on a channel not carried by all regional and remote licensees.

The Bill will also permit regional and remote commercial television broadcasting licensees to be deemed to have complied with the multi-channel quota obligation under certain circumstances, even if they have not broadcast the required 1,460 hours.

The measures that the Bill proposes will provide licensees with greater flexibility and surety in delivering broadcasting services in regional areas to provide greater sustainability of regional voices, preserving greater choice for regional audiences.

Importantly, the Bill will not lower the amount of local content that is currently available to regional audiences on commercial radio.

Likewise, the Bill will not affect the multi-channel Australian content obligations placed on metropolitan television licensees, whose content forms the basis of multi-channels broadcast in regional and remote Australia. The Bill also will not affect the current Australian drama, children's and documentary quotas, which continue to apply whether that content is broadcast on primary channels or multi-channels.

I commend the Bill.

HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT (ADMINISTRATION) BILL 2020

The Bill amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 to make minor changes to Australian Government administrative processes relating to Medicare. These changes do not affect the existing arrangements for patients or health professionals.

Medicare subsidises access to health services by providing a 'benefit' for clinically relevant services performed by an appropriate health professional. Currently, there are almost 6000 services listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. The legal basis for most of the Medicare Benefits Schedule exists in regulations which contain tables of medical, diagnostic imaging and pathology services.

The Health Insurance Act 1973 currently provides that these regulations cease to be in force annually. As a result, they need to be remade each year to ensure that Medicare benefits can continue to be available to patients.

The annual sunset period has been in the Actsince the inception of Medicare and was used to provide an up-to-date record of Medicare items each year. This process is now unnecessary, as the Legislation Act 2003 requires compilations of all legislative instruments to be published on the Federal Register of Legislation.

The Bill removes the annual sunset period to reduce unnecessary administrative work and mitigate the risk that an error during the remake process could affect patient entitlements to benefits under Medicare.

The Bill also removes several redundant provisions in the Act which are no longer required. This includes removing references to the establishment and operation of the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee which has not been active for more than 20 years, removing calculations relating to Medicare benefits which are no longer used, and removing references to historical requirements for optometrists to reflect modern administrative arrangements.

To conclude, the Bill makes minor administrative changes to improve the operation of the Health Insurance Act 1973. The Bill does not affect which services are available on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, who is entitled to Medicare benefits, or the amount of Medicare benefits.

SOCIAL SERVICES AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (OMNIBUS) BILL 2020

This Bill make minor technical and administrative amendments to social services portfolio legislation and consequential amendments to other legislation.

This Bill amends secrecy provisions in social services portfolio legislation to require the Department of Social Services and Services Australia to comply with compulsory notices issued by Royal Commissions where such notices cover information protected by those secrecy provisions.

While the Department of Social Services and Services Australia choose to comply with Royal Commission notices that seek access to information covered by secrecy provisions, it is appropriate for the department and Services Australia to be compelled to provide information, rather than having a discretion to do so. This will safeguard the provision of information to allow the important work of Royal Commissions. Royal Commissions must use any information provided in response to a compulsory notice in accordance with the Royal Commissions Act 1902.

The Bill makes minor amendments to two offence provisions in the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 relating to the reckless provision of false or misleading documents, or the reckless making of false or misleading statements, to clarify that the offences can apply where Services Australia assesses a claim by using an automated process.

The Bill also include numerous amendments that will remove obsolete provisions, correct errors, update legislation and improve the operation of legislation.

Correcting errors, providing clarification and repealing counterproductive, unnecessary or redundant provisions assists with ensuring the law is easily accessible, while continuing to deliver on policy outcomes.

VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (SUPPORTING THE WELLBEING OF VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES) BILL 2020

Today I present legislation to the Senate that is designed to improve the wellbeing of veterans and their families.

The Wellbeing Bill addresses three key elements — it implements the Government's commitment to create a Veteran Family Advocate, announced on 5 February 2020.

It provides changes to better support the transition from ADF service to civilian employment.

And finally, it ensures all recipients of the Gold Card are treated equally in terms of their benefits.

Earlier this year, the Government announced two key roles — the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention, which will be complemented by the Veteran Family Advocate.

The Government has brought forward legislation to establish the National Commissioner, while this Bill will establish the Veteran Family Advocate as a new Commissioner to work as part of the Repatriation Commission and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.

These Commissions are responsible for supporting the administration of veterans' legislation and providing advice to Minister and Government in relation to these Acts.

The Veteran Family Advocate will work with veterans' families to build our understanding of risk and protective factors relating to the wellbeing of veterans and their families, particularly during transition from the ADF.

They will be responsible for directly engaging with the families of veterans, to help shape policy, improve the design of all veteran programs and services, including mental health supports and services.

In addition to performing the statutory function of representing the perspectives of veterans' families within the Commissions, they will:

The Veteran Family Advocate will support the Government's commitment to enhance the health and wellbeing of the veteran community.

They will do this by ensuring that every part of our veteran support system is focused on veterans' mental health and suicide prevention.

Only families can understand how a veteran feels at a particular moment and the nature of the particular problems their loved ones face.

The Government cannot solve the complex problems faced by veterans without the assistance of their families.

It is the start of a partnership between these Commissions and the families of veterans.

We all want to support veterans to the best of our ability, whether we are family or Government.

By working together we can achieve better results for our veterans.

Schedule 2 of the Bill facilitates flexibility in the way programs can be designed to assist the transition from the ADF to the civilian work force.

This will allow for the established of new programs, such as the Support for Employment Program through the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Regulations 2020.

The Regulations will contain the details of the employment assistance or benefits, as well as who they will be provided to and in what circumstances they can be provided.

Once established through the Regulations, this program will provide eligible veterans with both pre- and post-employment assistance.

This includes career advice, coaching, assistance with skills translation, resume and interview preparation, and coaching to adapt to the structure and styles of communication in civilian employment.

This will ensure similar employment support is available to recently transitioned veterans as is currently available to transitioning ADF members.

Schedule 3 of this Bill rectifies an unintended omission that has meant that the Energy Supplement has not been payable to some Gold Card holders because they are covered under different legislation.

It extends the provision of the energy supplement to Australian participants in the British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force and Australian residents who worked as part of Australian surgical-medical teams in Vietnam, ensuring that all Gold Card holders are treated consistently.

Our veterans were prepared to make great sacrifices when we needed them. As the Australian Defence Veterans' Covenant states: 'For what they have done, this we will do'.

This Bill supports the wellbeing of veterans, their families and the wider veteran community.

I commend the Bill to the Senate.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.