Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Will the minister update the Senate on the options being considered by the government to bring Australia’s media industry into the digital age? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fierravanti-Wells for the question and for her longstanding interest in the state of Australia’s media. On 14 March 2006, I am very pleased to say that I released a discussion paper outlining a range of options for reform of Australia’s media industry to help it meet the looming digital challenge. Anyone who follows these issues with any particularity is well aware that traditional media services are constantly being challenged by new digital technologies and that new players are emerging with content, services and delivery platforms that no-one could have even dreamt about 10 years ago.

For consumers, these changes can mean new sources of information and entertainment. For the industry, of course, they mean a range of new challenges and opportunities. To ensure that consumers can make the most of these new sources and that industry can meet these new challenges, the regulatory regime imposed by the government certainly needs to be revisited. We must consider models which move away from simply controlling market structures—who can enter and what they can do once they get there—and allow for some efficiencies of scale and scope for existing industry players whilst encouraging new entrants, new investment and new services. The package under consideration would introduce new and innovative services and gradually relax regulatory restraints on the industry whilst at the same time protecting diversity. Consumers will, of course, benefit from enhanced digital services while the industry will enjoy new opportunities.

Whatever form the media reforms take—because this is just a discussion paper—the government is committed to ensuring that important consumer safeguards remain to ensure live and local voices in rural and regional communities and to continue to ensure there is diversity in the media industry in Australia. Despite the comments from some in the opposition, the role of the internet in the diversity equation simply cannot be overlooked—it simply has altered the way in which the market in media works. Some argue that the internet does not add diversity because some of the most popular sites on the internet are owned by companies that operate in the traditional media. We must not confuse, however, diversity with popularity. Diversity of opinion is about having a variety of news and views available and accessible; it is not about trying somehow or other to drive people to particular new sources, and nor do all sources have equal audiences.

Whilst the government has continued to develop policy and to consult widely on these issues, Labor of course has been up to its neck doing other things. It has been up to its neck in a failed purge of sitting ALP members. While the government has been out encouraging public debate on these issues, Labor has been desperately fighting off—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister has the call.

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was saying that while the government have been out there consulting, of course we know what Senator Conroy has been doing. He has been desperately fighting off calls for him to be dumped from the ALP leadership team. The Australian people simply deserve better from the opposition than a horse-and-buggy attitude to the media. Labor claim to be in favour of diversity when it comes to media but certainly not when it comes to the Labor Party. Labor claim the government will centralise power in the media industry, but that is about what they have been doing over the last couple of months, especially Senator Conroy. So the issues are going to be vital for a vibrant future culture— (Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.