Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Will the minister update the Senate on the options being considered to bring Australia’s media industry into the digital age in a way that protects diversity in rural and regional Australia? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Scullion for the question and for his interest in what is obviously a very important issue. The government is aware of the need to review media policy and to respond to the challenges of the digital age. Of course, protecting diversity in rural and regional Australia will be a central plank of any new policy this government espouses on media. So-called live and local media is vitally important to a regional community, and the government is well aware of its importance. Whatever response the government makes to the discussion paper, important consumer safeguards will remain.

The proposal I released last week includes a range of measures to protect diversity in regional markets. As I travel around rural and regional Australia, it is very clear that Australians need and enjoy access to locally relevant news and information. That is why the proposal includes a floor of four separate media groups in regional markets compared to five in mainland state capitals. This means that for 64 per cent of regional licence areas there can be no change at all. No mergers of any kind would be permitted in these markets unless a new player first entered the markets. Even in larger markets, where some mergers would be possible, they are by no means assured. Four players is a floor; it is not a target. We need to understand that the ability to restructure is in some cases a very good and necessary thing for those businesses. Often regional broadcasters face higher costs and lower revenues than metropolitan counterparts due to factors such as higher transmission costs and the lower advertising revenue that is available. Being able to expand and grow gives media companies an opportunity to be profitable without resorting to cost cutting and reduced services.

ACMA and the government will continue to monitor the provision of local content in regional television licence areas and in regional commercial radio services and will consider extending local content licence conditions to regional commercial radio broadcasters if local material declines. The government is taking the needs of regional communities very seriously and consulting widely on these proposals.

I was asked about some alternative policies. Unfortunately, I have searched in vain to find some. I did see, however, one media release from the ALP yesterday encouraging the protection of media diversity in regional Australia, but it was not from the communications spokesman—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ferguson interjecting—

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are right, Senator Ferguson—it was from someone he knows well; it was from Mr Simon Crean. Unfortunately, the opposition, by and large, retain a very outdated approach to media ownership. They want to restrict investment and the expansion of the Australian media sector and favour foreign investment over diversified investment by Australian investors. This horse and buggy approach to the media ignores diversity and the opportunity delivered by the internet and new technologies. The government is committed to reforming Australia’s media industry while protecting public diversity in one of the fastest growing areas of the Australian economy.