Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Regional media matters because local stories matter. For more than 60 years, NBN News has been part of the fabric of the Hunter. It's been through floods, fires, factory openings, factory closures, footy grand finals, school achievements and community heartbreaks. It's how the people see themselves reflected on the screens all around the Hunter. So it's encouraging to see regional media being invested in. The recent purchase of NBN News by WIN Network is a reminder that local broadcasting still has value. But investment must come with a clear commitment that local content must stay local.

People across the Hunter are rightly concerned about what change might mean. They don't want a scaled-back service, they don't want stories replaced with content from somewhere else and they certainly don't want to lose the hour-long local bulletin that has kept communities informed for generations.

Regional media isn't a nice-to-have; it's essential. It holds decision-makers to account. It tells the stories that won't make it onto capital city news, and it gives people confidence that what matters in their towns, their streets and their workplaces actually counts. Keeping strong locally-produced news alive means backing local journalists, backing local camera operators and backing local voices. If we care about strong regions, we must care about strong regional media and we must make sure it stays truly local.

See this speech in context