Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I have a proposed amendment in relation to the Communications Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Bill 2024. I can assure you that, like many other things in this place, this bill can be improved with a bit of thought about the best interests of Australians rather than the best interests of big business, just for once this morning. That'd be delightful to go on the winter break with. My amendment will seek to strengthen the prominence and antisiphoning framework to help Australians easily access free-to-air television programs and sporting events. Seriously, it's a no-brainer, because Australians deserve to see what is free and to be able to see the sport and the teams that they love without having to sign up to a streaming service. The government will not be supporting these changes and I can tell you that neither will the other side, the blue team. They've already done the deal together. They don't care. They don't care that you're going to pay more. They don't care about your kids and the sporting heroes that stand in front of them.

The average Aussie household already spends around 50 bucks a month on streaming services. I imagine that will get less, because things are extremely tight out there. Your government over there has been promising to lower the cost everywhere it can, right across the board. You're not doing a very good job of that. There's a lot of talk and no action. You should be doing everything that you can to lower streaming prices and the cost of living for people around this country, rather than encouraging households to fork out money to watch sport and other programs for your own benefit because you're too scared to take on the Murdochs. That's the truth of it about both of you. Both of you don't want to take on Murdoch. God forbid they might put something terrible about you on the front page of the Australian! Most people don't give a stuff about the Australian. I'll be honest with you: they couldn't care less. Most people don't read the rubbish. Most people don't read newspapers across Australia anymore. They just don't care. They are more interested in the Kardashians than they are in Murdoch.

Under the current bill, the prominence rules will make it easier to find new sport and Aussie shows on smart TVs. But get this, Australians—it's a great day for you today—it will only apply to people who have enough money to buy a brand-new TV. That's right: you may be doing it tough already, but hey! Race out and get a brand-new TV! I'm sure that would be great for the inflation rate, eh? These changes completely ignore the fact that—you might want to do your homework—just one in 10 households have changed their TV in the last six months. There's no money. Normal people out there don't have spare cash, and you don't want them spending anyway—remember?—because that's what drives up interest rates. You call yourselves great economists over here. Blow me over!

My amendment will mean that prominence rules apply to existing television devices rather than just new devices. This means that, when Australians switch on a smart TV, the home screen will include free-to-air application icons alongside paid streaming services. My amendment will make sure that free-to-air television will be easily accessible on TVs, which will benefit many Australians who cannot afford to buy a new smart TV. You're struggling to put milk and bread on the table to feed your kids, and they want you to buy a new smart TV. How disconnected are they from what is really going on out on the ground in society around our great nation?

My amendment also extends search functions on smart televisions so that Australians can easily find what they are looking for and easily find what is free to watch on TV. It's pretty simple. Although the bill doesn't stop streamers like Amazon, Apple and Disney from buying exclusive broadcast rights, it doesn't put the same protections on broadcasts through the internet. My amendment means that free broadcasting and digital streaming rights must be acquired by a free-to-air broadcaster before that event can be bought by subscription providers.

Watching free sport on TV is part of the Australian way of life. How could we get to paying to watch Australian sport on TV? How could we get to this? If my amendment doesn't pass, I want to tell you what's going on in America. I want to make this very clear when it comes to paying for services. The Guardian recently reported that, if American NFL fans want to watch every game, they must pay $1,600 a year for that privilege. That is what they're paying for the privilege to watch the NFL in America now. That's how much they're paying. Australians, wake up! If you think you're not going to pay for your AFL, if you think it's great to spend family time sitting with your kids in the lounge room on a Saturday afternoon and spending time with them, watching the good old footy without paying for it, then those days are over. To all the young kids out there who love the Matildas: your mums and dads are going to be paying for them. They will have to pay to watch them.

How is this supposed to inspire our kids to stay off drugs and alcohol and to become great citizens instead of going into youth crime when they have no idols they can watch on TV for free? You talk big on youth crime, which, by the way, you've done nothing about in the two years you've been here. You haven't done a damn thing! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Now you're going to take those sporting idols off our kids, and they may have encouraged them to stay on the right side of life. You're going to make them pay. How is that helpful and for what? It's so you don't end up being named and shamed on the front of the papers. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but it happens every day to you. It's already happening. If they had made such a big difference to voters in this country, Clive Palmer would have bought up newspapers years ago. Wake up to it! God forbid! No idea!

I want to guarantee that every Australian has the right to watch free sport in this country—not just today and not just this year but next year and the year after. I want our kids to spend time with family. I want those in public housing who can't afford it—those mums and dads—spending time with their kids. I want to see them spending time with their kids. They will be less likely to run into trouble when they become teenagers. They will be less likely to run around with knives through our shopping malls or out there driving cars at 13 and killing people. This is a deterrent. You're taking something else away from them. People have no idea about youth crime and how to fix it in this country, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're doing nothing. There will be no more freebies for those families out there who are feeling it tough. You are completely disconnected from them. Australians have always had free access to sports like AFL and NRL, cricket and the Olympics, but global streamers are now buying them up and putting them behind a paywall, like the cricket on Amazon.