Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It seems a fair proposal: a code to ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public interest journalism in Australia. But, like so much with this government, the difference between what is talked about and the reality of the impact it has on people and businesses is vast. It's that vast gap between reality and delivery that's the hallmark of so much of what this government does.

Like many Australians, I woke up on Thursday 18 February and started flicking through my Facebook news feed, and it quickly became apparent that there wasn't a lot of news in my feed. It wasn't just the mainstream news organisations whose posts were missing; it became apparent that many, many organisations were no longer visible. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, which uses its Facebook page to deliver climate updates and severe weather warnings, was blocked. So too were fire and emergency service pages and state health departments, where daily coronavirus figures and information about potential exposure sites are listed. They were deleted, as was the official page for the governments of the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania. Homelessness services, crisis centres, legal services—all blocked. First Nations organisations in the arts, health, media and community sectors all found that their news feeds had been blanked. Thankfully, a lot of these pages have been reinstated, but the pages of many First Nations media organisations are still blank and are likely to remain so, caught in the crossfire of what has become—pun intended—a face-off between the government and a multinational tech giant. Organisations such as NITV, the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, CAAMA, Bumma Bipra, 3KND, the National Indigenous Times, the peak body First Nations Media Australia and so many others have all had their social media voices silenced. Ironically, First Nations media organisations are in many ways the very definition of public interest journalism. They tell our stories in our way, keep our language and culture strong and alive, and reflect us out to the wider community as well as to ourselves.

Back when I started as a cadet with the ABC, way back when, there were very few First Nations people on television and on radio. Stories about First Nations issues, people and communities were usually negative and didn't receive a lot of prominence—certainly not on a national level. And while this is changing, largely due to the work of the trailblazing First Nations media workers and organisations, it's not just the big headline stories and issues that are important. Our community based media organisations tell the stories that mean so much at the grassroots level.

I don't know how many of you have ever watched ICTV, for example—Indigenous Community Television. ICTV is an independent, not-for-profit First Nations media company based in Alice Springs. Most of its content is contributed voluntarily by production companies, organisations and individuals who are in remote communities or providing services to remote communities. Over 50 per cent of their content is in an Indigenous Australian language, and more than 50 language groups are represented. ICTV's television service broadcasts for 18 hours per day, seven days per week, on channel 601 VAST across remote Australia and on free-to-air digital services on Channel 41 in Alice Springs, Broome and Roebourne. Their core purpose is to improve the lives of First Nations people, especially those living in remote areas, by providing media distribution outlets that enable the active sharing of stories, culture and language.

They also produce some of their own content, such as the wonderful Our Bedtime Stories, which presents stories for children in language, using traditional storytelling techniques together with animation, music and film. If you aren't fortunate enough to have a set-top box or to live in one of the free-to-air regions of ICTV, you can catch their programming on ICTV Play online. And I certainly urge you, senators, to jump on and enjoy some of the content produced in some of our very remote communities. While you're online, jump on to indigiTUBE, a project of First Nations Media Australia, that is an amazing resource of audio and visual content from around the country, including documentaries, music, animation, podcasts and much more. Just these two services will give you a taste of the rich variety of stories that glimpse into the lives of First Nations people around the country. These services fortunately still have their social presence, but they will be impacted by this media code. It could bring them benefits, if this government does its job properly by making available funding that will support their work and the work of other organisations in the First Nations media sector.

Debate interrupted.