Tony Crook (O'Connor, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since parliament has resumed, we have seen an outpouring of emotion over the disasters of this summer, with many members relating heart-rending accounts of what they and members of their electorates have lost and endured. As for me, I have watched and listened from afar and cannot begin to imagine what these communities have gone through. I offer my heartfelt condolences for their losses.

Closer to home, there have been the Gascoyne floods, the Lake Clifton bushfires, the severe thunderstorms in the wheat belt and the recent fires in the Perth Hills. Although I have not been directly affected by these events, I do have friends close by and so I have seen firsthand the impact and the anxiety, and that has been compelling. I would like to recognise the role that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, in conjunction with ABC radio, made to the natural disaster events in my state. I have no doubt that the timely and accurate information provided by the FESA website and the regular ABC emergency warning bulletins contributed largely to the preservation of life during these emergencies. Often lack of information is a regular criticism of those involved in emergencies; however, for the first time on talkback radio I listened to callers praising our media outlets and FESA for the role they played in managing the information released to the community.

Like most Australians, my information came from the same forum—local ABC radio during the day and TV at night. Many members have thanked the media for their commitment to this tragedy, and I take this opportunity to do the same. However, it is local ABC regional radio that I want to talk about today. This service is vital to regional areas, and it is the local content that is critical to ensuring the longevity and integrity of regional ABC radio. We must ensure that local content continues at the highest level and that we do not allow our regions to become too widespread and lose the local edge that the ABC, particularly regional ABC, has. It is too easy to have non-local news bulletins that have no local relevance. The state based Country Hour programs are a classic case in point. They provide regional Australia with up-to-date agriculture and resource information, weather and market reports as well as stories of interest to regional Australia. Entered in the Guinness Book of Records as Australia’s longest running radio program, the Country Hour continues to offer invaluable information and news to rural Australia.

The ABC is a renowned training ground for journalists, producers and technicians, and this should be continued. In my home town of Kalgoorlie, new staff have come from all parts of Australia to deliver our ABC. These people bring a new dimension to many local communities and often a different view of the world. The events of recent months have further highlighted the value of our local ABC radio stations across the nation, and I applaud them for their service.