Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Let me begin with the member for Eden-Monaro, who asked questions about mobile coverage. She informed the House of her commitment to reliable coverage. The government shares that commitment, and we welcome Labor's latter-day conversion to this cause—a cause in which they showed zero interest over their six years in government. Thanks to the Mobile Black Spot Program, which the Liberal-National government delivered and which is now being very capably administered by my friend and colleague the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, I can advise the House that to date 34 base stations have been funded in Eden-Monaro, of which 21 have been delivered in Anglers Reach, Araluen, Avonside, Adelong, Bodalla, Central Tilba, Delegate, Mannus, Nerriga, Nethercote, Numeralla, Tomboye, Towamba, Barragga Bay, Wee Jasper, Tathra, Forbes Creek, Muzzlewood trail, Rosewood and Yass River. I make the point that each one of these mobile base stations that have been completed provides connectivity to local residents. It gives them greater assurance of safety in the case of a road accident, a natural disaster or a farm accident, and of course it allows people to stay in touch and do business. How many of these would have been delivered if the matter had been left to the Australian Labor Party? The answer is zero. So I welcome the member for Eden-Monaro's latter-day conversion to this cause. It's a cause that our government has been very serious about since 2013, and we say to all who want to get on the train with us: you are very welcome.

I was also asked about SBS coverage in Bermagui. The member is right to identify that there was an issue in relation to the loss of an SBS signal in Bermagui linked to matters to do with a company called RBAH and whether SBS and ABC would make commitments to support maintenance costs. I'm pleased to say that the SBS signal is back on the air in Bermagui. That's because our government pursued the matter with SBS and ABC and indicated to them that we expect those organisations to pay their fair share towards the cost of maintenance for these transmission facilities. The member is relatively new. She appears not to have had the chance to look at the numbers in relation to ABC funding, so I remind her that in 2018-19 the ABC received $1,045 million, in 2019-20, $1,062 million, the following year, $1,065 million, and the following year, $1,070 million. So it is not right to say that ABC funding is dropping. ABC funding is increasing—

Mr Josh Wilson interjecting—

I hear the member for Fremantle interjecting. If you'd care to look at what happened to the CPI in 2019-20, you will find that the CPI went down, so the increase in real terms was even bigger than the increase in nominal terms.

While I'm on the case for the member for Fremantle, the member for Fremantle ran a ludicrous claim that in some way the government do not understand or accept the importance of the arts as a sector of our economy. On the contrary, we have announced almost $800 million in funding for the arts in addition to $750 million in business-as-usual funding, including $400 million in the location incentive. This is already attracting substantial international productions to Australia such as Young Rock, Joe Exotic, and Irreverentall to film in Queensland. That's a thousand jobs in Queensland, and there will be jobs around Australia. We recently announced that Liam Neeson is coming to Australia to film a production, again supported through the location incentive.

Of course we have committed funding of $50 million under the Temporary Interruption Fund. The member for Newcastle, I think, incorrectly said that no money had flowed. In fact, that money has been allocated, and the consequence is that productions are already occurring. Film and television productions are already occurring. Some 20 have received commitments. Around eight are already in production. That's Australians in film and television hard at work. Again, I welcome the member's reminder to the House of the economic importance of the arts sector. Our government is very committed to that. That's why we have committed such a very substantial amount of funding to the arts sector. We will continue to support that sector, as we have throughout this COVID pandemic.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

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