Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

My question today is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology. It follows on from Senator Scullion’s question earlier on the issue of cross-media ownership. Does the minister recall her comments that: ‘85 per cent of regional Australia will not be affected by these changes’? Can she clarify whether this is 68 per cent, as she has just stated, or 85 per cent? Can the minister confirm that under her proposals the number of media owners could fall from six to four in the following regional markets: Albury-Wodonga, Ballarat, Bundaberg, Dubbo, Gladstone, the Gold Coast, Mackay, Maryborough, Mildura, Nambour, Newcastle, Orange, Rockhampton, Shepparton, Toowoomba, Townsville and Warwick? Will the minister now stop trying to con regional Australians and her National Party colleagues about the impact of her plans on media diversity?