1.1
The Australian Greens believe the Government has missed an important
opportunity to progress meaningful reform of the Australian media landscape,
and has instead settled on a simplistic deregulatory approach that will do
nothing to improve media diversity.
1.2
All witnesses to both iterations of this inquiry, in May and October
2016, agreed that the media landscape is changing rapidly, and that online
delivery of content is one of the key drivers of change. Media regulations
drafted in the pre‑internet age have not kept up with the pace of
technological innovation or changing habits of content consumption and creation
by the public. Australia also has one of the most highly concentrated media
ownership structures in the world, which makes support for public, community
and independent broadcasters and publishers all the more important.
1.3
Instead of grappling with these complex issues in a meaningful way,
after nearly three years of consideration the Government has done nothing more
than taken the path of least political resistance, the bare minimum that the
handful of commercial broadcasters and publishers could agree on, to propose
the abolition of two regulations originally intended to protect media
diversity.
1.4
Despite the emergence of online content and news delivery forming the
basis of the Government's rationale for this bill, nowhere does the bill
provide any form of support for these emerging sources of diversity. The
Government's attacks on the funding and independence of respected public
broadcasters ABC and SBS have been subjected to sustained criticism. Ongoing
neglect and crippling funding shortfalls for community radio and television
broadcasters have severely limited the potential of these important sources of
media diversity. In addition, responses to the large-scale structural changes
to the global media environment canvassed in the 2011 Convergence Review remain
entirely unaddressed in this legislation.
1.5
Lastly, a number of submitters made the self-evident assertion that
access to fast broadband services to deliver new sources of on-demand content
remains dramatically uneven across the country. If anything, the 'digital
divide' between those with access to rapid telecommunications services has
worsened under the Abbott-Turnbull Government's hopelessly incompetent handling
of the National Broadband Network. This has put fast broadband out of reach for
millions of Australian households; even if a flourishing mix of local and
international content were being produced for consumption, access for millions
of Australian households will be out of the question for the foreseeable
future.
1.6
It is therefore the view of the Australian Greens that the bill should
not pass in its current form, and that the 2/3 rule should remain at the bare
minimum. Until such time as the above preconditions for healthy media diversity
have been met, the 2/3 rule provides a flawed but necessary bulwark
against further consolidation of media ownership in Australia.
1.7
The Greens do agree that the abolition of the reach rule and marginal improvements
to local content rules could be supported under the condition that the 2/3 rule
remains in place, but contend that until such time as the Government is
prepared to directly engage with the larger issues at play, the bill as a whole
represents a step backwards. It exemplifies the approach of this Government
more broadly: upholding the interests of commercial actors at the expense of
the broader public interest, dressing up a counterproductive deregulatory
agenda as though it represents genuine reform. It is our view that the bill
should not pass the Parliament unless the schedule abolishing the 2/3 rule is
removed from the legislation.
Senator Larissa Waters
Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens
Senator for Queensland
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