Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very quickly getting a handle on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2007, but Senator Ian Macdonald is ready to make his contribution. I was really only helping out. Senator Macdonald, I am sure you will be far more eloquent than I.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot claim any expertise in these areas—nor, I think, can most senators. These areas dealing with radio and broadcasting are very complex areas. It is a subject which I would like to understand more, but I am afraid it is so complex I cannot really grasp all of the very important issues that are involved in this and other legislation dealing with broadcasting and communications. Senator McLucas, as northerners, you and I would share some of the concerns that we at times have that, in broadcasting, we in the rural areas of Australia do not quite get the same opportunities as those in the capital city areas. I have been concerned over a long period of time that sometimes decisions are made without considering the impact on regional Australia, and I want to take a couple of minutes to talk about that.

I had anticipated that, by the time I got to speak in this debate on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2007 and the Radio Licence Fees Amendment Bill 2007, others would have gone through the main items of the legislation. Of course, we do have the second reading speech in front of us. I expected that, after Senator Conroy and someone else from the Labor Party who is also listed to speak had made their contributions, the parameters of the debate would have been quite clearly set. I want to confine my remarks to how this legislation might impact upon rural and regional Australia.

I mention in passing that we in the bush at times do not think we are properly considered. I recall a campaign I started when Labor was in government to try to get NewsRadio or the parliamentary news service up into North Queensland. I could never get the Labor ministers interested in it. Senator Coonan, the current Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, has taken an interest in this and there has been some action, and we are actually very close to getting a parliamentary news radio service in the north—but it has taken a long time and I do thank the minister for focusing on that. The minister’s staff have been very helpful, and so have the officials from the relevant organisations. There were complexities which I did not fully understand and which I think are being addressed. We are hopeful that we will have the service shortly.

I hasten to add that, in all the Labor years, I could not get any Labor minister to be interested in this. I have to say that, until Senator Coonan came along, I had not been able to get any ministers from our side too interested in it either. Whilst there are complexities, there are always ways of overcoming them, and I am very pleased to say that, following some visits and some interaction with the minister’s office and with the department, that part of the broadcasting area will now be addressed when North Queensland does get the parliamentary news radio. All of those people around Australia who are listening are, I am sure, grateful to be doing that, but the people up where I live and where Senator McLucas lives will not be able to hear us debating this unless they are watching it via their computers. People up our way, if they are trying to listen on radio, will not be able to do it, because we have, so far, never been able to get that service. That is being addressed, and all credit to the minister for that.

Senator Conroy has a very great interest in these matters. I understand that he is the opposition spokesman in this area; but, when the important debates are up, where is he? He has obviously got a party going on somewhere or is otherwise engaged. I am a bit disappointed—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not appropriate to reflect on the fact that he is not here.

Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McGauran interjecting—

Sandy Macdonald (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please address your comments through the chair.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take the warning on that.

Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about Senator Wortley? Where is she?

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wortley has just come in, which is good to see. So we will have some Labor contribution to the debate on this very important legislation. This legislation ensures that digital radio services will be able to commence by 1 January 2009. Digital radio has the potential to deliver a range of new and innovative services to listeners, and its introduction will enable the industry to respond to increasing competition from the new digital platforms, such as the internet and mobile phones. Digital radio does provide listeners with a rich and more diverse radio offering than is possible with the analog mode, enabling listeners to easily rewind and record radio broadcasts; to access streaming, text, news and weather updates; and to access play lists and still pictures. So it is a real advance, and I congratulate our government and the minister for looking forward and introducing these things.

I have mentioned radio in analog mode, as it now is, going into digital, and it does remind me about the absolute mess the Labor Party oversaw when the mobile phone network was being changed from analog to digital. As I recall it, one day we all had analog phones and the next day, under the Labor administration, those phones were practically cut off overnight—without any transition period. It really showed quite clearly that, as with the economy, the Labor Party talk a lot but when it comes to doing things—when they were in a position to do things—they are missing in action. Their record in dealing with the telephone system would make it very difficult to have any regard for them when they make all of these very attractive announcements to voters about broadband and other things. I urge Australians to look at the Labor Party’s record in office rather than the promises they make in the run-up to an election.

I have had some concerns about the legislation before us, as I have had concerns about other broadcasting legislation that has come before the parliament this year. I have been concerned about the narrow opportunity that the Senate has had to look at this legislation and previous legislation. I am grateful to the minister’s office and the minister’s department for answering some of the queries raised by the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, which inquired into this legislation. I think the answers that the committee has received are sufficient to enable me to be satisfied. I will of course be supporting this legislation.

I do want to take a few moments of the Senate’s time to indicate the concern I have about how this legislation might impact on rural and regional Australia. I note that the ABC, in their submission to the committee, had some concerns about the legislation. Whether you like the ABC or whether you do not like them, they do cover almost 99 per cent of the Australian population. They made a submission that indicated they had a concern that the legislation does not stipulate a standard for digital radio in rural and regional Australia.  Their submission states:

… In the absence of a second digital radio standard for regional areas, no incentives currently exist for manufacturers to consider the need for such multi-format receivers …

The concern is that, if left too late, the introduction of a DRM standard for regional broadcasting would find a significant number of DAB-only receivers already in the market. If you understand this a fraction better than I do, you will understand that DAB is the standard that will well look after city Australia and DRM is the preferable standard for rural and regional Australia. The ABC had a concern that we should be going to the DRM standard at this time. The committee raised this issue with the minister and the department and there was a response received that I believe indicated that the matter is in the consideration of the department. I will come to that very shortly.

The other issue that I wanted to briefly raise at this point was that Broadcast Australia made a submission suggesting that the digital receivers should be of a DAB+ configuration, which, according to Broadcast Australia, is a 2007 technology rather than a 1990s technology—which the DAB standard is. I understand that this has been taken into account by the minister and the department in their consideration of these particular issues. As the committee reported, there was broad agreement from all submissions that DAB was the most appropriate technology through which to operate digital radio in Australia. However, there is a recognition that DAB alone will not provide for full national coverage. The explanatory memorandum to the bill recognises this reality and indicates that the government will continue to monitor developments with digital radio techniques, including DRM, to determine whether supplementary platforms may be appropriate to address regional, rural and remote coverage issues.

As I mentioned, the ABC was of the view that an additional digital radio standard that is appropriate for the wide area coverage of rural and remote Australia should be adopted before the provisions of the bill came into effect. I refer senators to page 9 of the Senate committee’s report, where the ABC submission is set out. It is a submission which attracted my attention and one that I was very keen to pursue in the interests of rural and regional Australia. I understand the arguments of the department that the way that it is being approached is the best way and that there are opportunities for the introduction of enhancements as time goes by. Again I say that it is a complex issue and that people not qualified in the technical broadcast area—like me—should be careful about making too deliberative comments about this. But I take this opportunity in what I thought would be a very brief contribution to the debate to emphasise to the minister—and I know that the minister is very well aware of this—that in everything that we do in broadcasting we have to remember that a fair percentage of Australians do live outside the capital cities and the major regional cities, and particularly in my state of Queensland, which is the most decentralised state.

There are not many people in this chamber, unfortunately, who live in the bush, as I do. Very often, things do get overlooked or, when they are not overlooked, advice is taken from people who do not really understand what is happening in the bush at the time. I am satisfied, following my investigations and following the Senate committee’s investigations into these issues, that the government has considered these issues and that there are procedures and allowances within the legislation to address them should they become a problem in the future. But I wanted to take the opportunity of emphasising again that in everything our government or any government does we should be very aware that Australia is a vast country and that there are a lot of us who live in rural and regional Australia. A lot of us sometimes think that we are not as well considered as perhaps we should be. That is particularly so in the state government area, where the Beattie government is totally concentrated on south-east Queensland and could not give one iota of care about the rest of us in Queensland. Our government has been very good with rural and regional Australia. There have been a lot of initiatives from our government for rural and regional Australia, and there were a lot more announced in the budget last night. In the broadcast and information technology area, a lot of work has been done. But we have to make sure that we get it right. I urge the minister to ensure that her department—

Debate interrupted.