Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk in the Australian parliament about my concerns with Fairfax Media wanting to cut regional journalism. One thing about country communities is that they need to be able to tell their story. The Wimmera Mail Times and the Stawell Times News are successful, profitable businesses. They are good papers. The move by Fairfax Media that will take away jobs and take away photographers is, I think, very short sighted.

I, as a proud National Party member, have a vision for growth. I have a vision for everything that our country communities can be. People in these communities want to buy their paper and be able to see photos of their children and their grandchildren playing in local sporting events and engaging in local community groups and telling their story. It is very clear that, if you want country towns to grow and inland cities to develop, they need to have access to good education, good public transport, good health services and good jobs. But it is also critical that their story is being told.

I have written to the CEO of Fairfax Media, Mr Greg Hywood. I have not received a reply yet, and I ask him whether he has the vision that so many regional MPs have for the regions and whether he will look at how they can grow the management of Fairfax Media and put them in the regional areas, grow the job opportunities and continue to allow us to tell our stories through our local newspapers?