Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I can barely believe my ears. They must deceive me! For years and years, the Liberal and National parties were trying to kick community television off air. When in opposition, I sat in estimates after estimates and put questions to the then minister, questions to the department, where I was told, over and over again, there was no cost in keeping them on air and no alternative use for the spectrum, yet they wanted them gone. They were trying to boot them off air. That is the truth of what has happened over the past few years in community television broadcasting. That is the truth. It cost you nothing to keep community television. You had no other plan for them. You just wanted them gone. It was an ideological attack by the Liberal and National parties against community television. It was absurd on any level you can think or measure, and those estimates hearings were absurd. Absolutely absurd.

The good people who work in community television, the many volunteers in community television, the members of my community who rely on community television to tell their stories, they know the truth. They know the truth, that you were coming after community television. You tried and you tried and you tried, and we stopped you. We stood shoulder to shoulder with community television in this country, in Adelaide and in Melbourne. We stood shoulder to shoulder with them against these attacks because we knew their value, we know their value.

In my community, during the pandemic it was community television which broadcast religious services of many different faiths. It provided that hugely important connection for people in my community to their faith at a time when they couldn't go to church, they couldn't go to temple, they couldn't go to those religious services. That was hugely important, as was the critical information in a range of languages which matter deeply to my community.

In South Australia, community television is there. It shows up when we're sad, when we're celebrating, when we have those key and critical events across our state like the Fringe. Community television is there because it is a part of us; it is a part of the fabric of our community. And I have sat with members of our station, year after year, as they have grappled with an inability to get the fundraising dollars they need, the advertising revenue they need to provide security to their employees, who are passionate about the work they do, and security to their volunteers.

You could barely find a famous comedian, actor or presenter in Australia who didn't get their start in some way on community television or community radio. My community loves community television. They get it, and they don't believe the nonsense I've just heard tonight. They know the Liberal and National parties wanted them gone for no reason. Do you know what? All community television have been asking for is transparency in their future, and some kind of reasonable, logical, rational pathway. They are making great strides in their work to get online. They have launched an online platform. It is an amazing thing. But the absurdity was during the pandemic, during these years, when they did not have that certainty. In fact, they were being threatened with being kicked off every few months. 'Indecision' is the wrong word. The Liberals and Nationals wanted them gone. This bill is not about getting rid of community television; this bill is about giving transparency and security in the future of community television.

On this side, we get the value of community television. We stood up to the Liberal and National parties in the face of the absurdity of their conviction against community television. There is so much to value in this bill. I know it means a hell of a lot to the people who work in community television, to the volunteers in community television, to the people in Adelaide and Melbourne who watch community television and who love community television. It is a good bill, it does a good thing and it reverses the stupidity and callousness of the decisions the Liberal and National parties took—year after year after year, estimates after estimates after estimates—when they said, 'It costs nothing to keep them there. We have no plans for the spectrum. We just want them gone.' That is what they did. This bill is taking a very different path. I am proud of it. Let's have some truth in the debate. I commend the bill to the Senate.