Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Regional Commercial Radio) Bill 2012 amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to ease the regulatory burden on regional commercial radio broadcasters which has arisen as a result of the operation of provisions introduced in the former government’s 2006 media reforms.

This bill makes changes to the regulatory arrangements for regional commercial radio licensees to reduce their overall regulatory requirements while ensuring they continue to provide local content for regional audiences.

It also provides appropriate exemptions for remote area, racing service licensees and the small number of licensees operating outside the Broadcasting Services Bands. It further revises provisions relating to certain types of changes of control of a licence known as a ‘trigger event’, including to allow improvements to business practices and reduce unintended consequences.

Regional commercial radio localism requirements

The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006 introduced a range of new obligations for regional commercial radio licensees relating to levels of local content, minimum service standards for local news and information, local presence requirements and changes of control known as ‘trigger events’.

Broadly speaking, there are two separate obligations.

First, there are provisions that apply to all regional commercial radio licensees requiring them to provide minimum amounts of ‘material of local significance’. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has defined ‘material of local significance’ in the Broadcasting Services (Additional Regional Commercial Radio Licence Condition—Material of Local Significance) Notice of 19 December 2007 as material that is hosted in, produced in, or relates to a regional commercial radio licensee’s licence area. The minimum amount of material of local significance required to be broadcast by each regional commercial radio licensee differs. Most licensees must provide three hours on each of the five business days of each week, while lesser amounts apply for smaller broadcasters and racing radio.

Second, there are a series of additional and overlapping requirements that are imposed after certain changes of ownership—known as trigger events. The trigger event related provisions were introduced to guarantee minimum levels of local news and information, and ensure that changes in ownership did not result in high levels of syndicated content on regional commercial radio.

Following a trigger event, a licensee must in perpetuity meet minimum standards for local news and information, submit to the ACMA local content plans and annual compliance reports, and maintain a defined level of local presence (which includes staffing levels, and use of studios and other production facilities).

The commercial radio industry, Productivity Commission and the ACMA have all expressed concern with the inflexibility of the current legislation, noting that these regulatory requirements for regional commercial radio licensees are affecting the operation and viability of regional radio services.

These concerns were also borne out by respondents to the review of localism requirements which was undertaken in 2010. In some submissions licensees even said they had not employed extra staff for regional radio stations nor made additional investments in capital equipment because of the requirements.

Of particular concern is that once a broadcaster is subject to a trigger event, under the current legislation they are forever locked into maintaining the levels of local staffing and use of studios and facilities that existed prior to the trigger event. This is regardless of changed business or economic circumstances, changed audience demand, or technological developments.

With many regional commercial radio licensees already struggling to maintain profitability, these onerous requirements—as well as the administrative reporting burden associated with them—significantly reduce the ability of licensees to adapt their business to deal with new or changed market conditions.

The ACMA reports that 90 broadcasting licences have been affected by trigger events since the provision was introduced on 4 April 2007.

Providing flexibility and consistency while maintaining local content

The changes proposed by this bill will provide greater flexibility for regional commercial radio licensees in meeting their obligations to ensure minimum amounts of locally relevant content is available to regional audiences.

The bill takes into account the limited on-air staff available in some regional areas and the difficulty obtaining short-term replacements for staff on leave. The current requirement to comply with the local content and minimum service standard for news and information for 52 weeks of the year fails to take into account industry working arrangements such as the entitlement of some employees such as journalists to six weeks annual leave and radio announcers to more than four weeks leave in exchange for working Sundays and public holidays. While not all employees receive six weeks annual leave, reducing the compliance period by five weeks will assist the industry while maintaining local content for audiences.

The bill also provides those regional commercial radio operators affected by a trigger event with flexibility in the local presence and reporting requirements after a 24-month period. As mentioned earlier, the current legislation maintains these limitations in perpetuity and limits the ability of licence holders to adapt to changed business or economic circumstances.

The operation of this 24-month ‘sunset period’ on the local presence and reporting requirements will be considered as part of the statutory review of the provisions undertaken every three years. A transitional provision will cap the obligation to 24 months from the commencement date of the legislation for licensees affected by a past trigger event.

Licensees affected by a trigger event will still be required to provide local news and information and emergency warnings, ensuring that localism is still provided to regional audiences.

The government also recognises that the current legislation is not well suited to some categories of regional commercial radio licence holders, particularly those: operating in remote areas; providing predominantly racing services; or operating outside the broadcasting services bands (referred to as section 40 licence holders).

The wide geographic area covered by some licensees or the highly specialised nature of their content makes compliance with the current legislation particularly burdensome and this bill exempts these operators from the operation of the local content provisions. It also ensures consistent treatment of these categories of licence holders with respect to exemption from the application of the trigger event provisions. These changes will only affect a small number of licences and have a minimal impact. The bill also provides a tighter definition of the circumstances in which a trigger event takes place, so as to:

The ACMA will be given discretion to determine the extent to which the trigger event provisions apply so as to avoid or reduce unintended consequences from events which are not initiated by licence holders (including involuntary administration, bankruptcy and court orders).

Conclusion

This bill eases the regulatory burden on regional commercial radio broadcasters which has arisen as a result of the operation of provisions introduced in the former government’s 2006 media reforms. It provides greater flexibility to the regional radio industry while maintaining the government’s commitment to local content for regional audiences, and I commend the bill to the House.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Regional Commercial Radio) Bill. The coalition recognises the importance of strong, profitable regional radio stations. Radio has played a key role in the development of Australian society, beginning with the first commercial radio broadcast by Sydney's 2SB in November 1923. From that first broadcast, Australia's commercial radio industry has matured quickly and has served our nation well for almost 90 years.

There are now 261 commercial radio stations on air in Australia, including 224 regional commercial radio licences. The ownership of regional licenses is concentrated, with stations owned by only 32 operators; 80 per cent of stations are linked to one of 12 networks. Radio is still the preferred means of accessing local information, news and weather for millions of Australians living in the regions. Radio is the only medium that is accessible in almost every situation and location. All over regional Australia at any time of the day or night radio can be heard in cars, trucks, on building sites, on farms and in tractors and headers. Radio is also the key source of information during emergencies.

Regional commercial radio stations hold a privileged position in their communities because they have the right to use radio frequency spectrum, which is a public resource. With this right comes a responsibility to serve local community with the provision of local content. The Howard coalition government enshrined this responsibility in legislation with the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006. These radio local content rules were introduced as part of the government's broader reform of media and industry regulation. The intention of the local content rules is to ensure that local radio stations continue to broadcast local material using local facilities and local people.

My colleague the member for Hinkler, who is here in the chamber today, has been a great champion of regional radio, and he championed the local content rules in 2006. He maintains a keen interest in this sector. The 2006 changes also introduced rules to ensure that regional radio stations could not be purchased and then stripped of staff and production facilities and the programming moved to a central broadcast location.

The 2006 legislation introduced the concept of a trigger event, which occurs when an interest in a regional radio licence is transferred. Stations that have experienced a trigger event are subject to certain obligations in addition to those imposed on other regional radio stations. These so-called trigger event rules and reporting requirements have proven to be a regulatory burden on regional radio stations. This bill removes some of that burden and levels the playing field for stations that have been subject to a trigger event.

The coalition's approach to this issue is all about balance. We recognise that licensees need freedom to compete and flexibility to react to the dynamics of the market. We also recognise the importance of maintaining strong local content rules. We believe this bill strikes an appropriate balance.

I would like to turn my attention to the important details of the bill. Items 2 through 4 of schedule 1 clarify the definition of regional racing broadcasters and remote broadcasters. Item 6 is particularly important because it reduces the local presence requirements for a station subject to a trigger event to 24 months. At present a regional commercial radio licensee must maintain in perpetuity the same local presence in terms of staffing and use of studios and other production facilities in the licence area that existed three months prior to the trigger event. This rule means that a station cannot reduce its staffing levels following a trigger event, even if the business is struggling and advertising revenues are down. The rule has the potential to discourage employment and investment in the radio industry. This new 24-month rule is a reasonable compromise which discourages new owners from stripping away local staff and facilities from a town, while allowing sufficient flexibility for owners buying for the long term. Item 7 exempts racing and remote broadcasters from the local presence requirements I have just noted. This amendment recognises the unique nature of these broadcasters.

Item 8 allows regional commercial radio broadcasters to take a five-week holiday each year from the local content requirements. At present most stations are required to broadcast three hours of locally significant material each business day, stations in smaller licence areas have a 30-minute requirement and remote broadcasters a five-minute requirement. This item recognises that many regional radio stations are not large enterprises. Stations need the flexibility to allow presenters and production staff to take annual leave over Christmas and the new year period. Many stations also struggle to find qualified and available replacement staff for this period. This amendment allows ACMA to specify when the five-week period will begin. If ACMA makes no determination, the five weeks will begin on the second Monday in December each year. It should be noted that nothing in this bill limits the amount of local content a station may broadcast. Many stations will choose to continue broadcasting local programs, news and weather during the new year period, and there is nothing in this bill to prevent this happening. Indeed, my experience is that most regional commercial stations are a key source of local information, entertainment, news and weather.

Item 9 exempts remote and racing broadcasters from the local content licence condition. Items 10 through 12 deal specifically with the interaction between Australia's local content rules and the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement. The coalition had significant concerns with this part of the bill and the government agreed to remove items 10 to 12, after prolonged negotiation. I thank the government for cooperating with the opposition in this matter.

Schedule 2 introduces some clarity and precision to the definition of a trigger event. Items 1 through 6 of schedule 2 insert or amend various items defining different family relationships for the purpose of the Broadcasting Services Act. Item 10 amends the definition of a trigger event. A trigger event currently takes place when a regional commercial radio broadcasting licence is transferred. These amendments will broaden the definition of a trigger event to include a change of control of a regional commercial radio broadcasting licence, rather than a change of ownership. Item 10 also deals with intergenerational change. This item includes a new provision which excludes inheritance as a trigger event in most cases. If control of the licence is transferred to a near relative for no financial consideration—which is most likely in the case of an intergenerational change—no trigger event is deemed to have taken place. Item 10 also allows for exemptions to the trigger event provision if a change of control of a licence happens as a result of circumstances beyond the control of the person controlling the licence. An example would be of change in control due to a licensee contracting a medical disability and not being able to continue running the station. In such a case the subsequent change in control would not be a trigger event. Item 10 also allows exemptions to trigger event rules through regulation. This measure would permit regulations to cater for matters like corporate restructuring when new holding companies or subsidiaries are created but the ultimate control of the affected licence does not change.

Item 11 amends trigger event rules as they apply in the event of the creation of a registrable media group due to a decision by ACMA to vary details of a licence area. In practice this means that a trigger event will not take place simply because ACMA merges licence areas or varies a determination in relation to a licence area. Lastly, item 12 amends the trigger event rules as they apply in the event of certain changes in control of a registrable media group. As the rules currently stand there are a wide variety of situations that constitute a change of control of a registrable media group, which can lead to many trigger events. As a result of this item the changes in control of a registrable media group brought about by circumstances outside the control of the group would not constitute a trigger event. This would include circumstances such as a court-ordered divestment transfer. In conclusion, although it will remain an important part of our society for many years to come, the role of radio in our society is changing. Digital radio has been introduced in the capital cities and will eventually be rolled out in the regions. The convergence of different media types is affecting the way we interact, access information and receive advertising and a huge range of music available on demand. Radio needs to be able to compete in this environment. These amendments provide some important regulatory relief to commercial radio while preserving measures that guarantee the continued broadcast of local content. We support the bill as amended by the Senate.

Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am not going to follow as technical an argument as the minister and the shadow minister have. I just want to review this story of regional radio, because it is a very interesting story. I have been committed to regional radio for most of my life. I have taken a great interest in it, and that became no less so when I entered parliament.

To hold a radio licence is a privilege, and we should recognise that it carries obligations. I think it would be fair to say that in the period leading up to 2006 there was ample evidence that the responsibility aspect was being diluted. We saw the concentration of ownership of radio stations. Although you could not own more than two radio stations in a market, there was still a buying-up of radio stations into corporate groups. The London Daily Mailthe DMG organisation—was a big purchaser. The Grundy organisation, RG Capital, was also a big purchaser. There were also a number of activities going on in the capital cities while this was happening in the country. Those ownerships then came together, especially DMG and RG Capital, under the banner of Macquarie Regional Radio, which was a particularly big group. And as it then owned more than two stations in some markets, that caused some divestment, and other groups formed. Today, even the merger of Southern Cross and Austereo has resulted in another group of 70 radio stations. That is 70 out of 260-odd. That means that one company or group owns over a quarter of the nation's radio stations. I do not say that with any criticism, but I would like to flag it so that we are all aware of what concentration of ownership of media can mean.

There has also been a tendency, leading up to 2006, when the original legislation was put in place by the Howard government, to strip country radio stations of a lot of their services, their staff and in some instances even the physical hallmarks of a radio station. In fact, I know of one particular town in Queensland where the new group moved in and even removed the control desks from the studios. For someone to say, 'We're still going to provide localism, and we've taken the desk out,' is tantamount to saying, 'We're not.' That sort of thing was happening, and that is when I and a number of others started to agitate, as the shadow minister has just said, to put some regulation into ownership and into what ownership was going to mean into the future. As I said, the control of a radio licence carries with it both privilege and obligation. Australians have grown up with radios since 1923, and it has been a particular part of the development of regional Australia. That is not a motherhood statement; there is a real, live connection between radio and how the bush developed, from all sorts of points of view—in particular, the cohesion of communities, and within that things like local information, sporting information, local news, local rural broadcasting and commodity prices. All those things became part of the fabric of the town, and the radio station became a very important beacon to those communities—perhaps more so than in the capital cities, where there has been a choice, even in the early days, of five or six radio stations. The ABC, to its credit, developed along similar lines, with its network of capital city stations and then regional stations. In more recent times it has gone out into other fields, like FM, Fine Music Radio, Radio National, 24-hour news and the like. And then there is triple J, of course.

All these things were very important, but the commercial country stations and the ABC regional stations were very much a part of the fabric of regional and remote rural life. When these big stations then became networked—when these conglomerates were bought up—there was a tendency to hub the stations, to put this cluster of 20 or 30 stations through a capital city or a provincial city. This, too, is not said with criticism. There were hubs in places like Townsville, the Gold Coast, Albury and Bunbury, and various networks operated out of these hubs. There was then a tendency to hub the news, and we saw some terrible examples of the wrong news going to the wrong areas and journalists not understanding the geography of these bigger areas. That goes on even today—silly statements that do not truly reflect what is going on in a community.

When I was the chair of the communications standing committee some years ago we held an inquiry into regional radio. That revealed some very interesting things, one of which was the absolute paucity of community announcements, especially in times of trouble. We received evidence of incidents in which people had to break into radio stations, when they were hubbed back to the capital city or to the hubbing network, so that they could make a local announcement. In one instance, in a provincial city, there was a very dramatic event—if I remember correctly it was a petrol tanker or chemical tanker turning over—and the local manager of the radio station could not be found, so the phone call eventually went to the hub station. The response, from a very junior staff member, was, 'No, we never break into a network program; you ring up your local SES'—to be so dismissive of the community in a dangerous situation like that was quite frightening. Before we had finished that inquiry the ABC, commercial radio interests and a third body, of which I forget the details, all got together and developed a code of practice for emergency broadcasting. I am sure that was because they wanted to have their hands clean by the time the report was tabled. That is just another illustration of the sorts of things that regional radio can do.

In this concentration of radio stations, there were also some very poor practices. One of those was to use section 61 of the Broadcast Services Act, which allowed someone to own more than two radio stations in a market for a short period of time. In that time, when they might have held the three or four licenses on a temporary basis, instead of allowing the residual stations that they did not need to continue as radio stations they removed them. They eliminated them as competition. One way, of course, was to sell them or lease them to the TAB networks, which meant they effectively went out of the competitive market. There were practices like that going on as well. That is when the coalition came in—and I played a prominent part in it, I still make no apology for it—to get some rules in place that defined what a regional station would still be required to do. Amongst those was three hours of locally devised and presented broadcasting and 12½ minutes of local news of weekdays—about the same thing as the ABC was doing. It included weather bulletins and emergency warnings. They also had to give ACMA a local content plan of how they intended to run the station.

To make this happen, the department came up with the idea of a trigger event. As has been explained when ownership moves from one entity to another that causes a trigger event. That trigger brought into place those various obligations. I will admit that some of them have become onerous. For example, if there is an inheritance problem, where the ownership is moving substantially to the same family entity—someone has died but the son is taking over the business, or something like that—that should not cause a trigger event. I am prepared to concede that. Also, one of the provisions of the 2006 legislation was that radio stations could not just move in and gut a radio station. They had to maintain the staff levels, the character of the station and of the broadcast facilities of the station. That too has perhaps become onerous in this sense, that with the digital economy, with high-speed broadband, production does not necessarily have to occur in every radio station everywhere. It can now be done over the phone or the internet line. So in this 24-month window that the amended bill contains, it will allow radio stations at that end of that period to rationalise some staff measures.

I make the appeal to the radio stations, that that should not be a signal for gutting radio stations and for a new wave of hubbing. If that was to occur, that would be a betrayal. That would be a betrayal and I do not think it would enhance the quality of radio. There have been some great regional radio operators who have been very close to their communities and have been great citizens in those communities. I would hope that that would continue. I think too that hubbing should be treated judiciously. There have always been syndicated network programs. I am not criticising those. You can go back to the days of the quiz shows of Bob Dyer and Jack Davey, the Lux Radio Theatreand Mobil Quest. All those sorts of things. They were all good. They were networked. No-one denies that. Nor is it wrong to have a regional network—I am not saying there is anything wrong with that either—or even a national network, providing that that is not to the exclusion of localism and always providing that the community is well informed. It is important that the radio station, as we have said, for at least those three hours a day on the weekdays, with 12½ minutes of news, is engaging with its community and being part of the vibrant life of that community. I thank the minister for maintaining most of the things that I have always cherished in this bill. There is one little thing to be sorted out, and he has given me an understanding that that will happen. I hope that this regional radio will go on to serve this nation well as it has for the last 19 years.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak to the Broadcasting Service Amendment (Regional Commercial Radio) Bill 2011. This is a bill that goes some way to amending the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. It is of particular interest to me coming from a part of regional Australia—although for many I suspect Gold Coast would not be considered to be regional Australia, but we are certainly not a capital city although we are the sixth largest centre in the country. That said, I am pleased to report that the Gold Coast has a very strong and very vibrant radio industry.

We have a number of stations in the form of Hot Tomato—and these are commercial stations—Sea and Gold FM, which are owned by Southern Cross. In addition to that there is of course the local ABC radio station, community radio stations and a number of radio stations that encroach on the Gold Coast and around the Gold Coast in what is probably one of the most heavily contested radio markets in the country. There is spillover, for lack of a better term, from Brisbane radio stations, from radio stations to the west of the Gold Coast and from radio stations along the Tweed northern New South Wales coast.

The result of all these media influences is that the Gold Coast media market is a very heavily serviced market with a great number of operators and stakeholders that participate in it. I think, ultimately, that it is for the benefit of all Gold Coasters. There can be no doubt that in a city of 600,000 the opportunity to be able to listen to such a vast array of radio stations is in the interest of consumers. There is no doubt that the ensuing competition that arises as a consequence of the vigorous desire by each of these broadcasters to attract local Gold Coast advertisers is also in the interest of advertisers. These all work in unison to ensure that Gold Coast listeners are very well serviced.

The flip side of that coin would be that those that are the stakeholders—those that hold the radio licenses—may prefer that it was not quite as vigorous as it is. There can be no doubt that there are very slim margins associated with the radio business on the Gold Coast, especially when you take into account a lot of the sunk costs built around, for example, the spectrum that they use. That notwithstanding the Gold Coast is perhaps uniquely placed with respect to other regional centres for which these amendments will have a much greater impact than they would specifically on the Gold Coast. We have seen a continued level of investment into the Gold Coast market by those that have radio licences and, as I said, that is in the interests of Gold Coast consumers and radio listeners.

I look forward to the coming advent of digital radio on the Gold Coast. I think there are many people who take the view that this could not happen soon enough. We wait as the progressive rollout takes place across the country.

I particularly want to acknowledge the good work that is done, especially with respect to local content, which I would like to touch upon in more detail—and I am talking predominantly here about the commercial radio stations being Hot Tomato, Gold and Sea FM. That said, ABC should not be discounted because they too also have very strong local programming content and it is excellent. It is often and regularly shared with the Sunshine Coast, but Gold Coast radio listeners, together with Sunshine Coast radio listeners, could not complain about that quality of local content that is received, again, within the Gold Coast radio market.

Having put all that on the table, with respect to the operation of the amendments contained within this bill, it does a number of key things but specifically with respect to local content requirements. Other speakers in this debate before me have touched upon where local content came from and the reason local content is a requirement on local radio stations. It is one of those things, again, which perhaps is not resonating as strongly on the Gold Coast as it would in other regional markets because we have a population that can service and sustain a number of commercial radio licences on the Gold Coast. Local content serves to ensure that, with syndication across radio markets, there is some degree of local content to service local communities. As I said, in a city of 500,000 people that is not as much of an issue and I recognise that. I recognise and respect that, in many ways, in smaller regional radio markets the need to have local content is an important consideration to ensure that you do not get blanket syndication, which would effectively result in the local media market being fed a diet of news and information from other places not located in the geographic vicinity of that market. That is the rationale for local content.

That said, it is not an issue on the Gold Coast and not a consequence of the operation of local content requirements. Rather, it is a commercial decision that is taken by those operators in the market and a commercial decision built around the fact that there is clearly a desire and an appetite in the Gold Coast regional radio market for there to be a very strong level of local content. We are well serviced by morning crews—that is the commonly used term—on Sea FM, Gold FM, Hot Tomato and local ABC radio as well as community radio stations, which also have local, morning based presenters. All of this, as I said, services the Gold Coast community exceptionally well.

However, broader than that, I have had concerns raised with me—and this bill does address some of those—specifically around the operation of a trigger event. Again, speakers prior to me have touched upon some of the reasons concerns exist with respect to trigger events, what causes a trigger event as well as the application of the trigger event from the time of the event.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Didn't you listen to my speech? I went through all the triggering.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the minister at the table that others have raised these concerns. On that basis, clarification around what is a trigger event and the way in which a trigger event would maintain existing levels for a period of 24 months provides clarity and certainty to the industry, which I think is a positive thing.

Again, notwithstanding that this is not particularly germane to the Gold Coast, concerns have been raised by commercial radio licence holders with me about the impact of trigger events. This would have particular relevance in my city because of the fact that the radio market on the Gold Coast, being as strongly serviced as it is for the reasons I outlined earlier, has wafer-thin margins. That is also a consequence of the economic downturn that my city is experiencing. There is no doubt that the decline in tourism and construction activity across the Gold Coast means that the local radio licence holders are finding it particularly difficult to maintain a profitable business. They are finding it particularly difficult to attract new investment in radio advertising at a time when so many businesses are being forced to tighten their belts, reduce their budgets and limit the amount of marketing that they undertake.

In that context, it is obvious that, were a trigger event to occur which required a radio station to have a higher level of staffing than it otherwise would have under a new owner—which could in fact be all the difference in whether that particular radio station was profitable or not—the certainty that it is afforded by this bill is a positive step forward. That is why the coalition is very pleased to support the bill together with the government. The coalition is also pleased that the minister was willing to listen to the points that were made by coalition members and to remove from the bill certain items that dealt with the interaction between the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the specific operation of the bill.

Having covered all of that territory, this bill is a step in the right direction. It builds upon the Productivity Commission's finding that there was a high compliance cost associated with local content requirements and dealing with the legislation. In my view, any reduction in compliance requirements—any reduction in red tape—is generally a good thing, and I am pleased that the bill addresses that. In addition, I take this opportunity to congratulate the licence holders and the staff and stakeholders associated with the Gold Coast regional radio market. It is a vibrant market that is well serviced by people with a strong connection to the Gold Coast who understand the significance of local content for the Gold Coast. I am pleased that my listeners, meaning my constituents, have the chance to be so well serviced by such a vibrant market, and I look forward to continuing in the future, ideally at a lower cost as a consequence of the operation of this bill and the support of the coalition.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank those members who contributed to the debate on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Regional Commercial Radio) Bill 2012. This is a bill that seeks to ease the unnecessarily onerous provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 which were introduced as part of the previous government's 2006 media ownership changes. Once again, it is this government fixing up problems created by the former government. While local content is important for regional areas, the current legislative provisions place unreasonably onerous and inflexible requirements on regional radio which, if left in place, will affect the viability of some local services. These requirements and the compliance burden have been strongly criticised by the industry since their introduction. The government's changes do not abolish the requirements for regional commercial radio broadcasts to provide local content. The changes are intended to better reflect the realities of radio broadcasters' operational practices and to reduce regulatory burdens, which provide little actual benefits to listeners in regional communities.

The bill will provide flexibility and consistency while maintaining local content by taking into account the limited on-air staff available in some regional areas and the difficulty regional licensees face in obtaining short-term replacements when staff are on leave. The bill broadens the trigger event definition to include a change in control of a regional commercial radio broadcasting licence to reflect consistency with media control principles outlined in schedule 1 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. Additionally, the bill provides those regional commercial radio operators affected by a trigger event with flexibility in the local presence and reporting requirements after a 24-month period. I commend the bill to the House and thank those members who participated in this debate this morning.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.