Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank honourable members for their support of this bill. Mr Deputy Speaker, you may ask why the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources is summing up on this bill and not the minister representing him. He is in the main chamber at the moment where they are summing up and debating the bills on other aspects of broadcasting legislation.

The members that have spoken to this bill have raised a range of issues regarding broader digital television matters, including the pace of digital take-up by consumers and the implementation of digital conversion. One thing that is quite disappointing is some of the comments from members opposite who do not seem to understand the issue at large. The general take-up of digital television in Australia has actually been quite good. The conversion to digital is the most fundamental change that the broadcasting industry has seen since the introduction of television itself some 50 years ago. This government is working hard to ensure the smooth introduction of digital television in Australia. We are committed to ensuring all Australian consumers have access to the new services that digital technology will bring into our homes.

Mr Deputy Speaker, you may be aware that over 95 per cent of Australians can now access at least one digital television service with the purchase of a set-top box or digital television. The government is encouraged by the most recent industry estimates that, at the end of June 2006, over 1.7 million digital television receivers had been supplied to retailers and installers. Around 48 per cent of these were supplied in the 12 months to June 2006, which represents a household take-up rate of around 20 per cent. These achievements are all down to the Howard government’s willingness to take the lead and to establish sound legislative frameworks to support the smooth introduction of digital television into Australia.

The claims by members opposite that the take-up is lagging behind that in other countries is not true. Let me disabuse opposition members of the view that Australia lags behind other nations in switching off the analog system. In fact, Australia’s new target for switch-over of 2010 to 2012 aligns itself with most comparable countries. As you may be aware, Germany will be completed by 2011, France is aiming for 2011 region by region, the US is looking for a nationwide switch-off in February 2009 and the United Kingdom is switching off region by region between 2008 and 2012. So claims opposite that Australia is lagging behind in this approach are without any foundation when Australia is compared to other leading nations.

But we do have a plan and, notwithstanding the considerable progress to date, the government continue to drive digital take-up. The Howard government have introduced legislation to comprehensively reform the media industry in Australia and to allow the Australian media sector to move from the old analog based regime into the dynamic new world of digital content. Under this legislation, a range of new digital services will be gradually introduced.

The legislation provides that, from royal assent, national broadcasters will be able to provide an increased range of programming on their multichannels, and I am happy to note that the opposition agrees with this approach—something new for them. Commercial broadcasters will be able to provide a high-definition television multichannel from 2007 and commercial broadcasters will be able to provide a standard-definition television multichannel from 2009, with full multichannelling from analog switch-over. The legislation will also facilitate the allocation of two unassigned digital terrestrial channels throughout Australia, as soon as practical in 2007, for the new digital services that do not resemble traditional TV. The allocation of these channels for new and innovative digital services will contribute to diversity, provide extra content and services for viewers and potentially assist with the digital take-up. As part of the new framework, the Howard government is developing a digital action plan for release later this year, to expedite digital conversion and bring the simulcast period to an end. Increased digital take-up will also be facilitated by further public education and a range of other measures to facilitate conversion to digital television under the DAP.

I note criticisms of the government over the progress of the passage of this bill. Since its introduction, unrelated amendments have been proposed to the bill by non-government parties. It is disappointing that this has resulted in delaying the framework for the introduction of new services to viewers in remote areas. I know, Mr Deputy Speaker, that in your position as the member for Page you would be aware of how hard it is sometimes for people to get access to digital TV reception. This bill works largely towards improving services, so it is interesting to note that the opposition are the main people putting up the barriers each and every step of the way.

This bill provides a framework to implement the model agreed with WIN and Prime for the conversion of their commercial television broadcasting services in remote and regional Western Australia from analog to digital. The bill facilitates, as a part of the conversion model, the joint provision by WIN and Prime of a third digital commercial service under section 38B of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. For the first time this will provide viewers in non-metropolitan Western Australia with a choice of programming commensurate with that in Perth by allowing the broadcasters to multichannel three digital services on a single channel, with an exemption from any high-definition television requirements that might be applied to remote areas.

The Howard government is providing them with significant cost savings that will help to underpin the continued viability of the remote broadcasting services. This is in addition to the significant funding assistance of $19.36 million over eight years that the government is providing to WIN and Prime, under the regional equalisation plan, to further assist them with digital conversion in remote Western Australia. Broadcasters will have the option of commencing high-definition television services in the future should they desire to do so. The bill also extends the same benefits to the commercial broadcasters in the other remote licence area, remote Central and eastern Australia, should those broadcasters choose a similar digital conversion model for that market. REP assistance will also be made available. The debate and discussions on this bill have gone on for long enough, and therefore I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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