Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. Can the minister inform the Senate about measures the government is taking to improve access to television for all Australians?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Cameron for his question. The Gillard government's digital switchover program is ensuring people in regional and remote Australia have access to the same number of digital television channels as people in capital cities, for the very first time. When the switchover is complete—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And you invented it, no doubt.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, but I did something about it. When the switchover is complete, in 2013, all Australians will have access to metro-equivalent TV services, whether they live in Bourke or Bundaberg or anywhere else. This is something that those opposite failed to achieve for regional and remote Australia, despite digital TV being available in capital cities since the year 2000.

Under the Labor government's digital switchover program, free-to-air broadcasters have embraced the opportunity to provide a greatly increased number of channels to Australian viewers. The increased channel choice from switching to digital television is a historic outcome for people in regional and remote Australia, where many people have had limited television choices for decades, some with as few as four analog television channels. This is now changing as a result of Labor's commitment to regional Australia.

The government has provided assistance to enable commercial television broadcasters in parts of regional and remote Australia to deliver the full range of digital TV channels to their audiences via terrestrial broadcasts. For those viewers unable to access these— (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate about any other services that will be available on VAST on top of the commercial and national broadcaster channels?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For those viewers unable to access these digital TV services from a local transmitter, the government funded viewer access satellite television service, or VAST, provides an alternative. The VAST service delivers all 16 commercial and national digital channels throughout Australia. VAST is a cost-effective solution which ensures that many Australians who have poor or non-existent analog reception can now get the same number of channels as those in capital cities. Tomorrow I will join Ministers Plibersek and Snowdon to launch the rural health channel, a major initiative of the Rural Health Education Foundation to close the health gap between urban and rural Australia. Until now this service was available to health professionals in their clinics or workplaces for only two hours per fortnight and the foundation had no way to reach members of the wider community. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate about any other measures the Gillard government is taking to improve access to television?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to inform the Senate that just today legislation was passed in this chamber that will greatly improve access to television for people with hearing impairments. It is expected that by 2020 hearing loss is likely to affect more than five million Australians. The bill passed today introduces new legislative requirements that will increase the amount of captioning on commercial, national and subscription television broadcasters. The bill will mandate that emergency warning broadcasts on television must be transmitted in the form of text and speech. It also requires the ACMA to determine quality standards for captioning in terms of readability, comprehensibility and accuracy. These measures come on top of a technical trial of audio description to be conducted on the ABC which I announced in February of this year. (Time expired)

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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