Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor does not oppose the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Foreign Media Ownership and Community Radio) Bill 2017 but, for the record, Labor notes that the measures in this bill were negotiated by the government and One Nation in exchange for One Nation's support for the Turnbull government's damaging repeal of the two-out-of-three cross-media control rule last year. Not only is this bill yet another example of the cosy relationship between the Turnbull government and Pauline Hanson's One Nation party but it does precious little to fill the void left by the repeal of the two-out-of-three cross-media control rule. Australia already has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world, and removal of the two-out-of-three rule, under this government, undermines media diversity by permitting an even greater concentration of media voices in this country.

The Howard Liberal government abolished foreign media ownership limits in 2006 in recognition of the need for foreign investment to support media diversity in Australia. The recent CPS acquisition of the Ten Network demonstrated the power of the two-out-of-three rule in fostering competition and diversity just prior to the abolition that was achieved in the deal with this government and the One Nation party. This acquisition showed the utility of foreign ownership as a safeguard on media concentration by improving access to capital and increasing the pool of potential media owners. This bill will provide some further information about foreign ownership of media in Australia, which is already considered to be a sensitive business.

The community broadcasting sector needs all the help it can get, given the Turnbull government has been so inconsistent with the sector on certainty of funding for community radio and certainty of access for spectrum for community television to broadcast over. Community radio services play a very important role in informing local communities and providing community members with the opportunity to have their views heard. Labor, along with the CBAA, supports the intent of the bill to strengthen local community radio broadcasting and understands the need for the proposed changes to strike a balance between providing clarity for the sector and avoiding overly prescriptive or burdensome requirements. Labor notes that the CBAA is concerned about the wording of the bill as it currently stands, and we encourage the government to address the CBAA's concerns to ensure clarity and certainty for the sector.

Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will endeavour to be brief but I do want to take the opportunity to speak to the community radio aspect of this legislation. I'll put on the record that I have an interest in this issue, in the multiple different meanings of the word 'interest'. I still currently serve as a board member on a community radio station in Brisbane. Radio station 4ZZZ was actually the first community radio station in Queensland back in 1975. While there are many legacies of the Whitlam government that perhaps have greater recognition and resonance nationally, that is one small legacy of the Whitlam government—the establishment and issuing of that very first broadcasting licence—for which many people, to this very day, have great gratitude. It's an organisation I have previously served as chair of the board, so I do have a direct interest and I put that on the record.

The previous speaker noted the concerns of the CBAA about this, and I guess that's something that will just continue to unfold and be a matter of continuing discussions between the government and the CBAA. But in regard to the stated intent, it is worth putting on the record the measure in this bill relating to renewals of community radio broadcasting licences. It is something which, not surprisingly given what I have just said, I have had direct involvement in. It is good to see on the record the important role community radio services play in informing local communities and providing opportunities for community members to have their views heard. In my own experience, people hear of local community artistic, creative and political activities as well.

In my view, given the significant challenges that the commercial media sector faces at present, community radio, community broadcast and community media more broadly are actually going to become more important. As an adjunct to that, I would like to say it is doubly significant, important and relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander broadcasting. I had the opportunity to go to another ground-breaking community radio station again recently in Alice Springs, CAAMA Radio. It plays an important role, as did the National Indigenous Radio Service as it used to be called.

I take the opportunity to put it on the record and pay tribute to the late Tiga Bayles and the amazing work that he did, along with so many other people less recognised, in building that Indigenous radio service. It is so important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be able to hear their own stories and their own views, in their own languages in some cases. It is welcome to see an explicit recognition from this government about the crucial role that community radio plays, as it is often just dismissed as a bit of a thing on the side of no great consequence but it is actually central. It might not get the big ratings but it is central for that level and that issue with regard to local voices and local issues.

The stated intent of the component of the legislation that's before us is to encourage community radio broadcasters to provide greater coverage of local issues, and I can most certainly say that is something I very strongly support. Even if it has come about via a deal between the government and One Nation, and some other bad things happen as a consequence, this at least is a good thing—and I'll point to that good thing and acknowledge that good thing.

Greater coverage of local issues is something that has clearly been lost, quite drastically in some cases, over the last decade or so. If it were not for the ABC there would be no local coverage in many areas. To have that capacity for extra support for local participation and greater coverage of local issues is really important, and that includes in producing and hosting local production. I think there are some issues around the definitions of 'produced' and 'hosted' et cetera, but this is going to go through unamended, so that's just something that will continue to need to be explored. But at least the stated principle of encouraging that is something that is very much welcomed and certainly supported by the Greens.

The idea and the ideal of ensuring that there is more capacity to provide services and material of local significance is something that, I think, is to be welcomed—and, in the context of community radio, in particular, reinforces why this is a sector often undervalued that really should be given much more support and acknowledgement for the role that it plays. So, inasmuch as this legislation does that, it is something that is certainly welcomed.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contribution to the debate and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.