Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

September is indeed a cherished month on the Australian sporting calendar.

It marks the commencement of the Rugby League and AFL finals series, a time to gather with friends and family to barrack for your team as they pursue end-of-season glory. Indeed, sometimes it is known as 'white line fever,' which is contagious. Or, in my case, as a Brisbane Lions season ticket holder, to look on enviously at the success of others, although we have still had a pretty good century so far!

We truly are a nation of sports lovers. And the great thing about Australian sport is that the biggest matches of the most popular sports are free and accessible to all on free-to-air television. This is no accident. It is only made possible by Australia's strict antisiphoning laws. These laws protect Australian viewers from pay television broadcasters buying the rights to iconic major sporting events, such as the NRL and AFL grand finals, before free-to-air broadcasters have the opportunity to purchase the rights.

And, importantly in the context of this bill, the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Primary Television Broadcasting Service) Bill 2015, the laws require that any listed events be televised first on the broadcaster's primary service.

Antisiphoning laws are just one small part of a suite of laws that regulate the programming that can be shown on free-to-air television. Other examples include the mandating of Australian content and of a captioning service. These laws exist for a reason and are broadly popular.

As Chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications I can attest that communications technology is evolving at a rapid rate. Two decades ago it would have been inconceivable to access television on a personal computer. A decade ago it would have been inconceivable to access television on a mobile phone. And we are still just beginning to scratch the surface with respect to what can be done to harness this technology.

Regulators and governments do not possess crystal balls. Try as we might, we cannot foresee the future. We can only react to the circumstances of the present. And so, as a natural consequence, we sometimes find ourselves with laws that are rendered obsolete by the progress of technology.

This bill deals with one such example. It removes the requirement for free-to-air broadcasters to provide their primary television service in standard definition. This law once had a valid purpose. It dates from a time when most viewers did not have access to high-definition formats and thus sought to protect those viewers from losing access to free-to-air programming.

These days, high-definition television equipment is commonplace. In his remarks the Minister for Communications noted that, by February 2014, 96 per cent of Australian households had a television or set-top box capable of receiving high-definition content. Clearly, there is no longer a need for primary television services to be broadcast in standard definition.

There are also clear implications for the broadcast of sporting events on free-to-air television. This bill means that, for the first time, sporting events on the antisiphoning list will be able to be shown in high definition.

The benefits of this are twofold. There will be an obvious benefit to viewers who will enjoy better picture quality on the primary service, which is particularly important for sporting contests.

However, for free-to-air broadcasters themselves this is just as important. In a rapidly changing entertainment market, having the choice to broadcast their primary channel on high definition will help them stay relevant and competitive with pay television and, increasingly, with internet-based television providers such as Netflix, Presto and Stan.

This bill removes red tape by liberating free-to-air broadcasters from obsolete restrictions and providing them with increased freedom—freedom to choose to broadcast primary services in high definition or, if they prefer, on standard definition. Other restrictions, such as mandated local content and captioning, are unaffected by this bill.

The timing of this bill is no accident. The government has brought it forward with the express intention of having it passed in time to enable broadcasters to show the NRL and AFL grand finals in high definition on their primary channels.

Whether their teams win, lose or draw on the day, all football fans, including the member for Herbert, will be winners in the long run from this bill, and I commend the bill to the House.

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