Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

For those viewers unable to access these digital TV services from a local transmitter, the government funded viewer access satellite television service, or VAST, provides an alternative. The VAST service delivers all 16 commercial and national digital channels throughout Australia. VAST is a cost-effective solution which ensures that many Australians who have poor or non-existent analog reception can now get the same number of channels as those in capital cities. Tomorrow I will join Ministers Plibersek and Snowdon to launch the rural health channel, a major initiative of the Rural Health Education Foundation to close the health gap between urban and rural Australia. Until now this service was available to health professionals in their clinics or workplaces for only two hours per fortnight and the foundation had no way to reach members of the wider community. (Time expired)