Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to rise to speak on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2017, which performs a vital community service insofar as it agrees to continue to support the wonderful medium of digital radio. Digital radio, as we all know, is an incredibly important service, over and above radio as a standard transmission that has provided information and entertainment in Australia for over 90 years, back in the day when it was known as the wireless. Of course, wireless means something completely different these days from what it meant back in the days of The Sullivans.

In government, Labor introduced digital radio in Australia to supplement rather than replace traditional analog AM and FM radio services. Digital radio offers many features and benefits, including an enhanced choice of stations, clear reception, exceptional sound quality, song and artist information, and pause and rewind functionality. In order to receive digital radio services one needs a receiver or digital device with a DAB chip in it. For those at home not familiar with a DAB chip—I understand 'dab' can mean many things. The dab was made famous by Usain Bolt. I will not demonstrate one in this chamber, because it would be awkward, quite frankly. But in the context of digital radio, DAB means digital audio broadcasting.

Digital radio services from commercial radio broadcasters and national broadcasters have been operating in the metropolitan licence areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth since 1 July 2009, as well as in Canberra and Darwin on a trial basis. We know that the rollout of digital radio across regional Australia involves significant cost and complexity, and it is being planned by the Digital Radio Planning Committee for regional Australia, which was formed in September 2015 following a federal government review of digital radio.

I'm delighted to rise in support of the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill. It is another step in the chain of a long line of consistent actions taken by the federal Labor Party which demonstrate unwavering support to the medium of digital radio. Before the 2016 election, following the May 2016 budget, it appeared that the Prime Minister and those conservatives who yearned for simpler times were seeking to cut $5.6 million from community digital radio across the country. What that was likely to do was pull the rug out from under the feet of my local radio station RTRFM. I would like, at this point in time, very much to put a big shout out to RTRFM. RTRFM is a fantastic local radio station. Its premises are located in Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley, and it has gone from strength to strength for over 20 years in that space. As a matter of fact, I remember quite clearly back in my earlier university days—again, I'm on the verge of sounding terribly awkward—having long hair and a You Am I T-shirt, rocking out the first ever In The Pines event that was hosted by RTR in the Summerville Pines Auditorium at the University of Western Australia. Weren't those the days!

In The Pines has survived, as RTR has survived, a not-for-profit radio station, but it had to adapt and progress into the 21st century. There was a real risk that this funding of $5.6 million over the course of four years, or $1.4 million per annum, would mean that a not-for-profit community radio station like RTR, which provides a service to many Western Australians, many of them living within in my federal electorate of Perth, would be jeopardised. So I was very pleased to be one of many to campaign to make sure this funding was restored, back in 2016. I was very pleased, back on 2 June 2016, to be able to that announce it was one of federal Labor's election commitments to ensure that that funding was restored. It was our way of making sure that digital radio, from a community point of view, was maintained and thousands and thousands of Western Australians, particularly younger Western Australians who really are into the sort of music that RTRFM puts on—it's mostly independent music—could continue to enjoy it.

The reason it is so important that we maintain investment in digital radio, which is the reason why we agree to support this bill, is that it not only means we stay competitive insofar as an ever-shrinking global economy goes but also means that local stations like RTRFM in Mount Lawley continue to offer a foothold into the industry for those who are trying to establish themselves in the sound and music arena. RTRFM continuing on for so long means that budding sound engineers get their first go, up-and-coming rock bands get their first go and DJs get their first go—all in an environment where a not-for-profit community organisation pulls in volunteers who keep the show on the road. I am very pleased to say that the commitment to support digital radio at RTRFM is a commitment that is also matched by the state government. My great friend and colleague Simon Millman, the member for Mount Lawley, campaigned to support RTRFM prior to the state election. He was successful in securing a funding grant, in the range of $120,000, to ensure that RTR could continue to survive and prosper.

While the In The Pines event has been going for 20 years, it is really dwarfed by the genesis of RTRFM, which has been going for 40 years. It was vital that community radio and digital radio received the level of support that we're seeing in Western Australia from all levels of government—local government, $120,000 from the state government and campaigning to restore the cuts to digital radio at the federal level. So, to Stu MacLeod and to Rewi Lyall and to all the troops at RTRFM, it is important that they know that, even all the way over here in sunny Canberra, we continue to support local ventures like not-for-profit community radio stations.

This bill stems from reforms identified by completed statutory reviews of digital radio. The measures in the bill arise from consultation with the key digital radio industry stakeholders and recommendations contained in the Digital radio report, following the completion of statutory reviews of digital radio. One of the recommendations was that the government consider minor amendments to existing digital radio regulatory regimes to create a simpler, more flexible process for the planning and licensing of digital radio in regional Australia. Can I suggest that it is simply the way forward, in terms of managing that interface between government and many of these radio stations who survive on the smell of an oily rag, to make sure that we do everything we can to create a simpler framework, particularly as we move into that digital platform space.

This bill contains a package of measures designed to simplify the digital radio framework and help expedite the rollout of digital radio to regional Australia by shortening legislatively prescribed time frames associated with the rollout. That's something that my good friend and most eloquent colleague the member for Bendigo will probably speak more on, given regional Australia is, perhaps, more her bailiwick than mine. If I started to describe the federal seat of Perth as being, remotely, a regional framework I would be in all manner of trouble.

It is most certainly not a regional framework, but it does require the same sort of support, particularly in relation to making sure that our not-for-profit local community radio stations are supported. We need to be consistent in relation to that measure. We need to be consistent in relation to making sure that, as we evolve into the 22nd century and more and more Australians receive the benefit of digital radio, the platform is supported.

In closing, I'm very pleased that Labor will support the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2017. It is yet another sign of our unwavering support to bipartisan politics in this place, which we see happening time and time again for the benefit of this great country. We have that support, in an unblinking fashion, both for the city and the country, and we will see that continuing ever more, particularly in the digital radio space. To finish, I offer one more shout out for the great people at RTRFM. Long may their services reign in all manner and method of broadcast, and we will continue to support them at all levels of government.

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