Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all senators for their contribution to that debate on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Regional Commercial Radio and Other Measures) Bill 2020. The bill will amend the local content framework for commercial radio licensees to reduce the regulatory burden on regional licensees. It will also amend the Australian content multichannel quota so that regional commercial television licensees are not left in the position of failing to satisfy their regulatory requirements due to programming decisions beyond their control. The bill amends a number of provisions within the local content framework for regional commercial radio licensees, providing licensees with greater flexibility in complying with the framework. These amendments are relevant to the material of local significance and the minimum service standard obligations.

The bill will amend the local content exemption period provisions. The bill increases the flexibility of the local content exemption period by allowing licensees to split their exemption period to cover multiple holiday periods and by allowing licensees to self-nominate their own exemption periods. The amendment will make the exemption period more efficient for licensees as well as reducing the regulatory burden associated with the local content exemption period provisions. The bill will also remove public holidays from the minimum service standards obligation. Material that must be broadcast under the minimum service standards can also be used to acquit the material of the local significance obligation. However, licensees are not required to broadcast material of local significance on public holidays. Therefore the bill seeks to better align the two obligations by removing the requirement to broadcast the minimum service standards on public holidays.

The bill will remove the requirement for licensees to publish local content plans, which detail how licensees propose to meet the minimum service standards. Local content plans place significant regulatory burden on licensees, but often provide minimal support to increase levels of local content to regional areas. Therefore, the bill will propose that licensees instead use a local content statement, which they must develop after the material of local significance requirement. Local content statements are more streamlined than local content plans, and this change will significantly reduce the burden under the local content framework. The bill will also remove the statutory review provision for the local content framework. The statutory review is considered to be unnecessary, given the ongoing focus on the local content framework on a routine basis.

In the area of regional and remote commercial television licensees, the bill proposes to insert a deeming provision with the effect that licensees are deemed to have complied with the multichannel obligation. This deeming provision will only apply if licensees broadcast the same amount of Australian content on each multichannel they carry as their metropolitan affiliate has broadcast. It takes account of the current realities of delivering multichannel content in regional and remote Australia, noting that it is becoming more commercially unsustainable for regional and remote licensees to carry the full suite of multichannels. The bill provides an important reduction in the regulatory burden for regional commercial radio licensees and regional and remote commercial televisions licensees. It will amend the local content framework to make regulatory compliance easier for licensees. I thank senators for their support and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.