Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I intend to speak on two matters involving what I believe to be the manifest failure of Senators Conroy and Carr to perform their duties as ministers. The first matter is the tragic death of a young man working at the Midfield Meat plant in Warrnambool and Senator Carr’s repugnant politicisation of this very sad event. Aaron Willis was an apprentice at Midfield Meat, and on 31 May 2005 he suffered, according to the coroner, a probable epileptic seizure, similar to ones that he had previously suffered while he had not been taking his prescribed medication. As he slumped at his workstation, he fell into the tray where the meat offcuts were left. The coroner found that there was no head injury. On 26 May 2006, nearly one year later, Mr Willis died of what the coroner determined to be natural causes.

Sadly, Senator Carr and the Labor Party in Victoria have chosen to play politics with the tragic and untimely death of Mr Willis. In an effort to continue making points about occupational health and safety, Senator Carr has attempted to link the epileptic episode in 2005 to Mr Willis’s death in 2006—12 months later. Senator Carr has distorted the facts with comments such as: ‘young Aaron fell three metres into a mincing machine’; ‘he hit his head and suffered serious injury’; ‘he remained unconscious for 18 hours’; and ‘what is apparent to me is that the accident that preceded his illness occurred at Midfield Meat’. Senator Carr’s Victorian colleague, Mr Steve Herbert, has made similar comments detailing this supposed sequence of events and clearly linking the epileptic episode to the man’s death.

The fact is, the coroner clearly states in his report that the two events are separate and unrelated—that is, that Midfield Meat did not play a role in the death of Mr Willis. Despite this, Senator Carr has continued to make shameful and frankly slanderous assertions, highly damaging to a local and successful Victorian business and highly stressful and emotional for the family—yet there is not one piece of fact in what he has said. This craven attempt to smear a small business to advance the interests of the union movement’s stance on occupational health and safety is a dangerous development and unbecoming of a minister of the Crown. Thuggery, lies and intimidation may work when you are hammering out factional deals during preselection at the Trades Hall, but they are a disgusting indictment on a minister. I call on Senator Carr to apologise for the distress he has caused the family of Mr Willis, the distress he has caused to Midfield Meat by the attempted ruining of their reputation, and the distress he has caused in the Warrnambool community.

The second matter I wish to raise is on a slightly lighter note; nevertheless, it is an important issue. I refer to the attitude of Senator Conroy to the community television sector, especially Channel 31 in Melbourne. Unlike the ABC or SBS, community television is completely self-funded and offers the community the chance to produce quality programming and have it put to air, offering a variety of groups, people and interests the opportunity to express themselves publicly. It provides a unique opportunity, started and run by a talented group of people dedicated to providing the service. The nub of the issue is that community television in Melbourne is currently an analog service which will cease to operate when the digital switchover occurs. Senator Conroy and the Rudd government have made repeated public commitments to assist community television to prepare for the switch-over. The ABC received $136 million in the last budget to fund its third channel, yet Channel 31 receives not one cent. Channel 31 produces more local content than any other broadcaster in Australia, with 95 shows produced each week. It provides an incredibly valuable training ground for the sector, both in front of and behind the camera. I was delighted to see in the Age Magazine of 14 June 2009 some glowing testimonials to the success of Channel 31. The article, by Melinda Houston, states:

Community television does all kinds of important and largely invisible stuff. It connects people with their ethnic and racial communities. It connects different communities with each other and it provides a mainstream voice for the marginalised.

It is an incredibly important training ground for all aspects of television, from electricians to directors and everything in between. And because it is voluntary and so much of the program is grounded in those groups, it allows people from those communities to learn the ropes and join the wider broadcasting community.

Indeed, Mr Greg Dee, who until a couple of weeks ago was general manager of Melbourne’s community television station, Channel 31, is now the new Melbourne-based executive director of ABC TV Arts. A couple of weeks ago I visited Channel 31, and a more productive, thriving and happy workplace you could not imagine. So, it is an incubator of local talent, with luminaries such as Rove McManus, Peter Hellier and Corinne Grant emerging from it, as well as the well-known radio couple Hamish and Andy, who also started out at Channel 31.

It is time to give Channel 31 a fair go. In a time when it is seemingly nothing to spend $43 billion on an economic stimulus, why not spend the miniscule amount required to provide for digital conversion for Channel 31, a place that generates hundreds of jobs locally and does not require recurrent funding. The continued failure to do this is placing a great strain on the ability of the station to generate sponsorship as its audience shifts to digital ahead of the switch-over. Delay and indecision are causing chaos in the sector and the minister must bear some responsibility for this. Senator Conroy could also easily assign one of the three unused channels in the digital spectrum to Channel 31. With this valuable community service to underrepresented community groups and those sections of our community that cannot access this type of content anywhere else, this must be done. Senator Conroy has made promises to the sector, the hundreds of people employed and the 1.4 million viewers who watch Channel 31 that he will look after them. It is about time he did. I can only urge him to give some attention, time and funding to Channel 31.