Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the committee agrees to the amendments made by the House of Representatives to the bill.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Chairman, I might need some procedural assistance with this as it is getting on to five past one in the morning.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I might need some too!

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we are dealing with is a little complicated. I inform the committee that the coalition agrees to government amendments (1) and (3) as moved and adopted in the House but we reject amendments (2), (4), (5), (6) and (7). I suggest that we seek to deal with amendments (1) and (3) separately and deal with the rest as a block. I am in the committee’s hands.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Minchin, you can request that that happen, that we deal separately with those amendments that you wish to deal with separately and that the others be dealt with as a remainder.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Chairman. I will speak on the coalition’s position on this bill. What the Senate did was agree to amendments to this bill which we believed did significantly improve the bill. They provided for a mechanism by which the minister would be required to establish readiness criteria before at any stage switching off the analog signal in any area of Australia and, as well, provided for a mechanism by which there would be regular reports to the people and the parliament on the efforts to ensure that ‘black spots’, as they are called, are kept to a minimum with respect to the transmission of the digital signal.

What the government has done in the lower house is reject the Senate’s amendments and then impose an alternative government amendment with respect to the Senate’s position on the black spots matter. In our view, the government is entirely wrong in rejecting the Senate amendments with respect to digital readiness criteria. The government is seeking to preserve a position which gives the minister extraordinary authority to determine—on no established public criteria whatsoever—when he, as in this case, is ready to switch off any particular area he likes.

The bill does not set any timetable for particular regions or any schedule. It just says that the minister will have the freedom to determine to switch off the analog signal in any area at any time without any mechanism by which the readiness of that particular region can be assessed. We do not believe that that is good enough. We believe that that gives far too much power to the minister. That was an argument that the Senate accepted and adopted.

However, the government in the lower house has rejected that set of amendments—the ones described here as (1) and (3). We regret that very much. We think that these are amendments that the government should have accepted. We think that it is very disappointing that the government is not prepared to establish publicly the criteria that it will follow before it ever switches off any particular area. Nevertheless, in the circumstances that we are faced with, and not wanting to be accused of holding back the move to digital in Australia—a proposition that was initiated by our party in government; we are the ones who set Australia on the path to digital TV—we will not propose that those particular amendments be insisted upon.

However, I give notice that we will be paying very close attention to the minister’s behaviour, particularly with respect to the first two areas targeted for switch-off—that is, Mildura and regional and rural South Australia, which is dear to the heart of me and the Chairman of this Committee. If it is in our view the case that either of those two regions—the two targeted for switch-off before the next election—are not ready for switch-off, then we will move disallowance of the legislative instrument upon which the minister must rely in endeavouring to switch off any particular region. So I give notice to the government.

I want to reassure tonight the people of Mildura and rural and regional South Australia that, despite this government washing its hands of any responsibility for publicly declaring criteria that it will follow in relation to the switch-off of the analog signal, we will be ensuring that those regions are ready. If we believe that they are not, we will be moving disallowance in this Senate of the legislative instrument upon which the minister relies to switch off their analog signal.

If I may, I wish to speak to all of the matters before us tonight—it is better that I do that at once. We reject government amendment (4) and will therefore need to make a consequential amendment as per sheet 5701, which I will deal with in due course. What the government has done in the lower house is delete our proposed amendment with respect to the reporting requirements that the Senate placed on the government with respect to infrastructure relating to the transmission of the digital signal and impose an alternative amendment of its own. We believe that our initial amendment is a much more satisfactory and appropriate amendment and we will be insisting that our amendment stand. We will be suggesting to the Senate that it reject the government alternative.

Our amendment provides for a much more regular report on digital black spots. It was an amendment that we devised in close consultation with the broadcasting industry and with a view to the consumers of the television signal, who must at the end of the day be held supreme in this debate. It is their viewing that we are concerned about and their capacity to receive the digital signal that we want to preserve. We believe that our amendments are a much better way of ensuring that there is regular reporting to the parliament and to the people of Australia on the endeavours of the government to ensure that transmission infrastructure is upgraded to take the digital signal.

At the end of the day, what is fundamental in this transition to digital TV is that no-one in Australia who currently receives an analog signal will miss out on a digital signal. It is fundamental to this that we do not have a situation in which thousands of Australians are suddenly faced with a blank screen when the minister, of his own accord, decides to switch off the analog signal. That is unacceptable. What we have put in place through our amendment, which we do insist on, is a much better mechanism by which the government is held to account than what is proposed by the government in its alternative. So we reject the government’s amendment. We maintain our initial amendment. We urge the Senate to vote on this matter in support of the amendment that the Senate passed originally and to reject the government’s very second-hand and very poor alternative.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I indicate that, following discussions with the government and indeed Senator Minchin, my position in relation to these amendments is this: in relation to the first set of amendments that were passed yesterday—

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It all melts into one.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It does all melt into one. In relation to the criteria as to whether analog could be switched off, I understand the concerns of the government. On reflection, I believe that they have merit. Therefore I will not be supporting the opposition on those amendments in relation to the criteria in respect of switch-off dates. However, my view is that the more important amendment was in relation to black spots. I prefer Senator Minchin’s amendment on the issue of black spots. I believe that it is much more comprehensive and makes more sense for consumers in terms of providing useful information. There is a vagueness in the government amendment. Therefore, I will be maintaining my support for the opposition’s amendment in relation to the monitoring of black spots.

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to confirm that the Greens—as we did yesterday, or whichever day it was—will be supporting the government amendments that have come back. I will probably leave it at that. We were not taken by the argument around the readiness criteria, so we will be supporting the government amendments.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will address my comments to all of the amendments, as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate did. I thank the opposition for not pushing the minor amendments (1) and (3). However, what has now transpired and seems to be clear is that the three remaining, which have the support of Senator Xenophon, may put the bill in jeopardy as we prefer our amendment, which deals with black spots in our terms. We urge Senator Xenophon to consider his position in respect of that.

More broadly, on the totality of the amendments that have been pursued here tonight, the government recognises that there are numerous television reception black spots in Australia and that there is some community concern as to how these black spots may be addressed in the lead-up to switch-over. Under the government’s amendments, the ACMA will be required to report on transmission infrastructure issues. This will align reporting requirements to existing obligations for broadcasters under the commercial and national television conversion schemes and place the reporting responsibilities on the government entity required to formulate and oversee the conversion schemes. This will more effectively and efficiently achieve the apparent policy intentions of the Senate amendments to the bill.

The government amendments will also require the minister to report to parliament every six months on progress made in converting existing self-help retransmission facilities and on progress made in addressing digital transmission black spots. It is a position that the government is serious about progressing. If the amendments of the opposition on this matter are supported and get up, the bill will not be acceptable to the government and it will fail.

I will deal briefly with the opposition amendments that were passed by the Senate requiring that minimum analog switch-off readiness criteria be determined by the minister and that the switch-over readiness of local market areas be assessed against these criteria. These amendments have the potential to delay digital switch-over in Australia. This is because the switch-over readiness criteria would be likely to delay analog switch-off in a particular area unless the readiness criteria had been met. This would mean that the original switch-over date would not be perceived as a firm switch-over date by industry, and viewers, believing there was no firm switch-over date, would not prepare themselves for the switch to digital.

It seems clear that, where you do not provide that certainty, you will not get the switch-over. The community—the viewers—and the industry will not take that as a given and start to switch over from that date. The research in the UK indicates that 16 per cent of people will not make the switch to digital where there is no firm switch-over date. There is no impetus to do so. It seems quite clear, certainly from the government’s perspective, that a firm switch-over timetable is important to give certainty to industry and consumers. This has been the overwhelming experience in overseas countries that have already gone through or are in the process of switching to digital.

Australia is already substantially behind the Western developed world in switching to digital TV. Digital TV was introduced by the previous government in 2001, and after eight years it is in only 42 per cent of Australian homes. These amendments as they stand will adversely affect switch-over. Switch-over is an important communications issue. It will bring better quality TV and more channel choice to viewers and it will also free up spectrum for new communications services.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that amendments (1) and (3) be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

I now put the question that amendments (2), (4), (5), (6) and (7) be agreed to.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I indicated my support for the issue of the black spots. Is that what we are dealing with now?

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is.

Question put.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a consequence of the actions of the Senate this evening, I move consequential amendment (1) on sheet 5701:

(1)    Schedule 2, page 7 (lines 16 and 17), omit “after the making of the first determination under subclause 5G(1),”, substitute “from 1 April 2009”.

This amendment flows from our agreement to the government’s amendments, which effectively remove the trigger for the reporting that the Senate requires on transmission black spots. We need to substitute a new trigger date. Very simply, our amendment substitutes a trigger date of 1 April 2009 so that, every quarter after 1 April 2009, the government will be required to lay on the table of each house of the parliament quarterly reports as set out in our original amendment 5H, Reports on Transmission Black Spots. As I say, it is a technical but necessary consequential amendment to ensure that the legislation provides a start date for the quarterly reports which the Senate, in its wisdom, has deemed appropriate for the parliament to follow.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will not oppose the amendment.

Question agreed to.

Resolution reported; report adopted.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate adopt the following statement of reasons for not agreeing to amendments made by the House:Amendment no. 4 deletes a clause, inserted on the motion of the Opposition, which would require the Government to report to each House of the Parliament the action taken to identify and rectify digital transmission blackspots. The Senate considers that this is a necessary accountability measure which will aid in ensuring that adequate levels of coverage and reception quality are achieved in the switch-over to digital television broadcasting.The other government amendments seek to put in place alternative reporting arrangements. The regime inserted in the bill on the motion of the Coalition provides more accountability than the Government’s alternative. It provides for more regular reports on digital blackspots; specifically identifies the regions and the numbers of households affected; and reinforces the objective of achieving an equivalent level of coverage to households after the switch-over to digital television.On this basis, the Senate does not accept these amendments.

Question agreed to.