Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Sustainable Development and Cities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television Switch-over) Bill 2008, the Rudd government plan is empty in action steps and that is something that concerns the opposition considerably. The former coalition government had a digital action plan and there was a range of key policy initiatives aimed to encourage, enhance and drive the take-up of digital television in Australian homes and in the communities across our vast continent.

You might recall Andrew Townend, a very gifted civil servant of UK heritage who was very involved in the transition to digital over in the United Kingdom. He is a highly respected industry expert and his expertise and experience were recognised and valued by the coalition. We recruited Mr Townend to lead Digital Australia as it worked through the various and, in some cases, complicated issues relating to the changeover. He was going about that work, collaborating effectively, working with industry, with the broadcasters and with consumer groups and taking account of the interests of the vast in number but largely silent viewers. The national interest and the viewer interest were driving Mr Townend’s work and the former government’s approach.

You might recall the fiction of Senator Conroy claiming a saving in the lead-up to the budget, when he was going to disband Digital Australia. All he did was replace the business cards. Andy Townend continues to carry out that role. Rather than head of Digital Australia, he is head of the Digital Switchover Taskforce. His functions are pretty much the same and not much has changed. There was a claim of a saving, which was replaced with new spending. Again, that proved completely pointless and was really just theatre—at a time when serious work needed to be done. The bills were considered by the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts. I feel we are going to an ad break. I seek leave to continue my remarks on this topic at a later hour this day.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.