Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in favour of this private senator's bill put forward by Senator David Pocock, the Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Play for Radio Play) Bill 2023. The Greens are wholeheartedly in support of dealing with this issue. In 1968, when the original deal was done to cap the amount of earnings and licence fees paid to performers for sound recordings, it was a sweetheart deal done for the commercial radio stations and the big media companies across the country. That's what happened in 1968, and 55 years later it is what is still occurring.

I found it extremely interesting to hear the arguments put forward by the opposition just now. They know that this is a problem—it has been a problem for 55 years—but they are also under extreme pressure and lobbying from the commercial radio industry. I want to dispel one of the myths or one of the fears that has been put forward this morning, and that is that if this bill were to pass all of a sudden there would be an immediate hike in costs for commercial radio stations, and in particular, as we have just heard from Senator Cash, those in rural and regional areas. That is simply not true. This bill removes the cap and allows for both parties—the commercial radio sector and the recorded music sector—to negotiate. There's no imposition of a particular fee. There is no percentage by which current licence fees would be paid. There is no dollar amount that is enforced. It simply allows a fair and balanced playing field in order to ensure that there is fair negotiation. This is about creating a set of regulations that can oversee the negotiation for a fair market rate. That's what this is.

Senator David Pocock spoke eloquently about the heart and soul of Australian music. If we think about our most treasured and loved musicians in this country, most Australians would expect and understand that they should get fair pay for their performances and fair pay for their recorded and played music. Unfortunately, the current rules, as they are, are just not fair. The radio caps are legislated limits on what radio pays for the use of sound recordings. Let me explain this clearly. The cap doesn't apply to songwriters; it is for the use of the sound recording. Take Cold Chisel: Jimmy Barnes, as a performer, has his royalties restricted by these caps, whereas Don Walker, as the songwriter, doesn't. That is not fair. We need to rebalance the playing field.

A cap is set at one per cent of gross revenue for commercial radio. But, in fact, under those conditions and just in the last 2021-22 financial year, the entire radio market paid a measly $4.4 million for the use of all sound recordings. Think about all the musicians that radio stations play—all the wonderful songs that, as Australians, we're singing along to in our cars as we drive to work or do the school pick-up or drop-off, or the songs we're humming to while we're in the supermarket and the radio is playing from the speakers above our heads. All that was paid by the commercial radio sector to broadcast and play those songs and that music was $4.4 million.

Music is the underpinning foundation keeping commercial radio alive in this country. Commercial radio that plays music has the biggest ad revenue, the biggest stars and the biggest audience numbers. If they didn't have music to play, no-one would listen. It's time they started paying for the right to play the music. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. It's not a charity. They play music on their radio stations because it makes people listen. It's what audiences want to hear. When you think about the impact over the last few years, Australian artists broadly but particularly Australian musicians have copped it hard. We know that, when COVID hit, musicians and performers were the first to immediately lose their gigs and have their business models and their jobs shut down literally overnight. Festivals were cancelled, gigs were cancelled and pub shows were gone. And they are still struggling from that March 2020 deadline to get back up on their feet.

Of course, the business models of the music industry have changed significantly over the last few years, notwithstanding COVID, with the trend towards streaming of music rather than buying individual albums or singles. More and more musicians are forced to have to get paid for their music through those performances and touring, and it has been extremely hard to do because of COVID. But this particular issue relating to the radio caps has been a problem for 55 years. It is not new, but it is time we fixed it. There has been review after review of this issue. There have been five reviews and all found that there was no reason for the cap to remain in place.

I know the Albanese government have a new-found interest in the creative industries in this country. That is a good thing, because under the previous government it felt as though the Prime Minister and his frontbench couldn't even say the words 'art', 'music' or 'artists'. So the bar was pretty low. But what we have had in Tony Burke is an arts minister saying he wanted to reimagine what Creative Australia looks like and who has ushered in a new cultural policy. Part of that includes Music Australia, which the Greens called for. We are very proud that that has occurred. We took that as a policy to the last election and we are happy that it has happened.

But it can't just be policies on paper. We actually need to make the legislative changes required to ensure that we look after our artists, that we give them their rights and that we fundamentally ensure that they have the best environment for them to do their jobs. We've heard some of the fearmongering from those in the commercial radio sector already that this is going to cost money and therefore cost jobs. What about artists' jobs? What about the jobs of musicians? What about the jobs of performers? Do their jobs count? Well, they should. That is why we need this legislative reform.

We'll hopefully soon have the establishment of Music Australia. They are simply going to be a body to advise and to implement the policies that are set by this place, and so we will still have some heavy lifting to do. Australian artists and musicians have been left out in the cold for far too long. Not only are they not getting fair pay for when their song is played on the radio; they don't even get a minimum fee for a performance. What other job in this country can you rock up to not knowing whether you're going to get paid or not and there is no legal enforcement?

Musicians and artists keep us full of spirit. They're essential for the heart and soul of our nation. They inject joy and light into our homes, into our workplaces and into our social occasions. They enable us to tell stories about ourselves that we're proud of and that help us feel and understand. Artists' jobs are real jobs and we need them, and it's time we ensured they got paid fairly.

Removing this radio cap is just one small step in helping to balance the playing field and ensure a fair market rate can be negotiated, and a fundamental indication that this parliament, and, if the government were to adopt this change, the government, actually understands the importance of artists being paid for their work. Jimmy Barnes deserves to be paid because Cold Chisel is playing on the radio, and he deserves to be paid a fair rate for it—as does every single Australian artist in this country. I know the commercial radio sector, which of course is becoming more and more concentrated and more and more influential, is knocking on the doors of politicians in this building this week demanding that people don't vote for this bill. Don't be hoodwinked by the fearmongering and the resistance of change. For 55 years the commercial radio industry have had a good go, and it is time now they started paying a fair share. Australian musicians deserve better, audiences expect better, and it's time this parliament did something about it. I commend the bill to the Senate.