Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, , 3:15:01 to 4:31:07
The committee reviews the News Media Relief Program and transitions to the ACMA portion of the hearing. Discussion includes support for regional news and the impact of recent anti-siphoning reforms on free-to-air broadcasting.
Topics: Grants administration, Public service staffing
Speakers: Dean Smith, Samuel Grunhard, Unknown Speaker, Margaret Lopez, Hon Sarah Henderson, Andrew Verdon, Chris Fogarty, Clare Chapple, Jim Betts, Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Nita Green, Speaker 20, Speaker 29, Varun Ghosh
>> I I would be very keen to do that. I'm we've got a small um block of questions from Senator Ananda-Rajah and then from Senator Smith and Henderson. >> Um, so I'm hopeful we can um do that as soon as we can. Um, Senator Ananda-Rajah, >> thank you chair. Um, you might have touched upon this. Just want to talk to you about the news media relief program. We got the right people here. >> Great. Can you just tell us a little bit
>> Um, so Senator, the news media relief program provided grants to regional, independent, suburban, multicultural, and first nations news publishers. Um, it was announced in October 2024 and ran from the 29th of November 2024 to the 31st of March 2025. The news media relief program provided 20 uh, sorry, 12.22 million in grants to eligible regional, independent, suburban, multicultural, and first nations news publishers, creating news content distributed online to assist with the costs of employing eligible eligible journalists working on public interest journalism. Um that program supported 1,161 journalists across 147 newsrooms including 98 regional um 21 suburban, three first nations and 25 multicultural media organizations.
>> So these are small uh local publishers by the science community. >> Okay. And what do you think the impact of this program has been on um journalism, local journalism? Well, I
think as Miss Lopez uh noted that it has supported 1,161 journalists across 147 media organizations and many of those 25 were multicultural media outlets and three first nations and most of them are the local and regional ones which do seem to be impacted by a number of financial pressures. So it has uh been a big impact and that was 12.2 2 million and that's why we're followed up with the journalism assistance fund which is providing 67.6 million and there'll be a a second grant opportunity that we're currently drafting at the moment.
>> What's the second grant is of this same relief program is it
>> uh part of the uh news media assistance program. So there was $99.1 million in sector grants. Uh 67.6 is for a journalism assistance fund which uh Miss Lopez has outlined. uh there's a second great opportunity. We held a roundt on the 13th of November uh with uh 26 uh experts um industry peak bodies and also academics and that was to inform the design of a second grand opportunity which is going to be aimed at business innovation and definitely those sort of local suburban regional uh uh news outlets.
>> Okay, that sounds great. Um and what measures uh is the government delivering to support um our freeto-air broadcast
Um Senator in terms of uh in terms
>> anti-iphoning and access uh the prominence arrangements if you want to elaborate on those two areas.
>> Um in terms of the um in terms of the support that's been provided to free to air broadcasters um they are also um eligible um for um if they're producing core news they're also eligible for the journalism assistance fund. Um they did also um receive support in terms of um television prominence. Um there's also currently um a pause in terms of the commercial broadcasting tax um until June this year. Um as well as um things like uh as you pointed to anti-iphoning um which operates to support um events of national and cultural significance.
U can you give us a sense of what the impact has been regarding changes to the anti-iphening
>> Um the reform strengthened the anti-iphening scheme by extending it to regulate uh online streaming services. That's that those changes affirm that freetoair broadcasting provides a safety net for free access um to nationally important and culturally significant events and supports the likelihood that they will be broadcast on free to air television.
>> Thank you Senator Andrager. Um, Senator >> Um, thank you very much, Chair. Uh, just wanting to quickly go back to the custodian in the period since the 30th of October 2025?
>> I thought we taken on notice to provide you with a full report on that, but we'll run through the headlines. I think
that really will be covered by the progress report.
>> Okay, that's fair enough. I'm I'm happy with that. >> Uh just also wanted to quickly ask about the out of hours roster. I I did ask to be fair with a little bit of skepticism about the 247 out of capability of the triple0 custodian. Uh you provided evidence that yes, you had 247 capability. Uh we were concerned about the nature of the roster. >> Y >> and uh have you updated your out of hours capability since December 2025?
>> Uh I wouldn't say we've updated it. We've perhaps clarified it >> streamlined >> and yeah streamlined it. So, um,
>> I'm just worried about you not getting enough sleep, Miss Chappel. If you're sitting, thank you for >> lying in bed every night with your phone waiting for an alert. >> 24/7 capability. I I' I'd like to just maybe give you the opportunity to give us some more clarity in relation to
>> It I know it will reassure you to hear that it is not just me with my phone. So, we have the the roster does two things. one, it rosters on staff from the custodian during business hours and that happens on a daily basis. We have a different staff member monitoring the inbox, taking the calls. >> Um, and then after hours, we have a separate roster um where staff are rostered on a week at a time. >> They have a phone that has a single number um that Telos can call us at any time to let us know um of an incident. Um and that was used um in the most recent uh iPhone situation
>> Sorry. Sorry. Ch. So just so that phone sits by the bed at night of the person who's on the roster.
>> They take it with them 24/7,
>> right? And are people paid additionally?
>> Yes, they can access an on call allowance. Um those terms are stipulated in the department's enterprise agreement. Um
>> it's currently around about $640 per
>> extra
>> for being on call.
>> We have a on call allowance um allowances in the aviation sector in
curfew requests at airports for example.
>> Yeah. Okay. And so what happens if someone's having a very good sleep because and they don't wake up when the
phone rings. uh they the telos have not just that single point of contact but they also have an escalation point to myself um to other senior executive within the custodian um so there's not just one one point of failure if you like there's multiple ways they can contact but primarily and to streamline it and make sure it's as simple as possible there's one number to call and that should be the duty roster phone
>> so that's a nice handy bonus $646 extra a week to 641 being run up in the middle >> 641
>> I wouldn't characterize it as a bonus senator it's an allowance for being on call out of hours
>> and there are requirements with that you know >> sorry minister
>> no it's not 24/7 the coverage is 247 >> it's an overnight roster
>> the allowance is for overnight yeah
>> I mean people should be paid I'm just interested in the interested in the amount >> interested in the amount of money uh as Has there been any use of that 24/7 roster out of ours?
>> Yes, I think Miss Chappel just mentioned in relation to the most recent outage that we were discussing earlier on.
>> Okay. I know Senator Smith's got some questions. We will put we've got lots of other questions which we will need to put on notice because of the time, but just wanted to
>> I appreciate that. Senator Smith,
>> thanks very much. At the last election, $1.2 $2 million was allocated for a resilience upgrade of 23 mobile base stations across the Perth Hills area everywhere from Mushe in the north to Wendawi in the east down past Bifford in the south and that 1.2 2 million is to be used to uh build capacity uh to provide at least 20 hours um redundancy I think uh as well as install automatic transfer switches and I'm just keen to understand what's the progress on delivering that 1.2 to um million dollars in an area which is very very prone to bush fires particularly this time of the
>> Smith or you do you want to table that map or you just holding it up for social media clips
>> and I can table it but that's a very good idea I might use it for social media you can't use the Would you like to be in the social media clip would you like to be in the social media clip I'll direct a question to you just to give you a special to give you a special appearance we are the communications estimate So, may as well use the
opportunity to social for a moment. Um, as I've said numerous times in this committee, let's keep it to questions and answers as much as we may enjoy alternative format.
>> I'd love to appear on your social media
>> I'm not sure what reaction you'll get. I'm not sure what reaction you'll get.
>> I'm sure your followers
>> I'll do my best. I'll do my best.
>> Okay. Um, thank you, Senator. So, uh, you asked for an update how this one's going. So we, as we discussed last time, we developed draft guidelines for how this grant program will run. We issued those for public consultation on the 23rd of December and closed that closed on the 30th of January. And we received guidelines that were made public. Uh our intention is to finalize those guidelines very shortly, seek the appropriate approvals, and open for applications for the grant program in the second quarter of this year.
>> Second quarter of this year is when you'll open applications for the actual grant itself. >> That's right. Can you uh read out for me the list of those that made submissions?
Yes, Senator. I'm happy to. So, we will as you as per our usual practice, we'll go through the submissions and publish all that we can. We do ask um submitees to identify whether their their submission might be confidential for example. But we will be publishing uh those submissions that we can. Um but as I say, they came from mobile network operators uh what we call MNIPs, the network infrastructure providers, as well as a couple of the local councils, the local government, and some other interested parties. And we'll publish whatever information we can about those
>> And so when do you expect the um resilient upgrade to be um operational?
So, I'll give you help on this one. Senator, with this sort of upgrade, they are typically quite quick to roll out because what they're doing is upgrading the
>> They are or they are.
>> They are because they are upgrading the equipment that's on an existing tower. We're not talking about building new towers. We're upgrading a site that has already been built that uh there's already um a site established. There's already approvals in place. So, they are typically quite quick to roll out. Miss Pidgeon might be able to help me with some more detail about the speed at which these normally roll out.
>> Callie Pigeon, assistant secretary, process because it is only a um contained to a smaller geographic area,
dependent on how much funding um given
years from the contracting did you say
>> that's for a normal round of the mobile
>> So when will when's your expectation that they'll be delivered and >> you surely must be working to some sort of indicative time frame.
>> We'll we'll need to take the U soundings from the Telos when they or the MNIPs when they submit uh their grant proposals to us and that's something we'll consider as part of the contracting process.
>> So there's no time frame for implementation and operational there's not an operational date at the moment.
>> Uh we'll take advice from the grantees but we'd expect them to be rolled out as Miss Pig said reasonably quickly. So,
but you surely you're not going there can't be an open-ended time frame to this. the second quarter of this year. So that's almost uh a year after the commitment was given. So that's 12 months implementation time frame thus far. So can residents across the Perth Hills area uh expect to have this resilience upgrade um in place by next summer? >> Senator, >> next summer. That's 2026, 2027. We'll
we'll um we're happy to update um our public information when we have clarity from the grantees or the potential grantees what that'll look like.
>> Is there any sense of urgency being applied to this particular program or upgrade?
>> Senator, as as we've outlined, we're progressing through public consultation through to final approvals as quickly
>> without any urgency. In fact,
>> as quickly as we can. Senator, >> and Senator, I think Miss Pidgeon did say earlier because it is a smaller round, we'll be working with the grantees to uh identify whether it's possible for it to
>> So, it's up to 23. >> It was 23 sites.
>> Uh the commitment was up to 23 sites.
>> Up to 23 sites. So, does 1.2 2 million get you up get you 23 sites.
>> Senator, that will depend on the on the cost of solutions that people propose to us. That's why it's framed as up to 23. There's 1.2 million available and it will depend to some degree on the cost of solutions that that are
>> will up to will $1.2 million be spent on the resilience upgrade?
>> Senator, it would depend on the nature
there are three different types of
proposals that
will differ depending on what
applicants. So how did the department come to the 23? >> That's the commitment itself. >> The commitment itself. >> So some people might be expecting sites known to them or adjacent to them to be eligible and to be upgraded. But that's actually not correct. Their understanding is not correct.
>> Senator, there the the commitment was to up to 23 sites for 1.2 million. There was no commitment that it that specific towers would be specifically upgraded. So, uh it'll depend on the applications that come to us. We'll assess them for value for money and and against the eligibility as we normally would.
>> Have any concerns been raised with the department about the speed of the implementation of this commitment?
>> Senator, I'm not I'm not aware of any.
>> Have any concerns been raised with the department about the speed of the
I think >> Mr. Grotus has said he's not aware of any we can take on notice. >> We'll check it
>> in response to a question on notice to questions I raised at the last estimates. >> So this is question on notice SQ25002526. >> I asked the question has the local federal member of parliament who I think is Ms. Cook, it is Ms. Cook the member for Bullwinkle made any representations to the government about the speed with the uh speed at which this election commitment is being progressed. >> And your answer is yes.
>> Senator, I think my recollection I'm just looking at the corn now.
>> Have you got the letter from Miss Cook?
>> I I don't have that before me, Senator. I think
>> does someone have the letter from Miss
>> Miss Cook contacted uh the minister's office rather than the department
>> In writing,
>> I believe so, but I'll check that for
>> So, Senator Green, this is your auditioning moment. Um, will you make available to the committee Ms. Cook's letter >> because I think that might shed some light on whether or not representations have in fact been made about the speed of the roll out of this commitment.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Senator. We'll take it on notice.
>> So, there is a letter.
>> Well, we'll take it on notice if there's correspondence and we'll get it to you. But I think we've answered in that quan that there was a representation made.
>> The question was, has the local federal member of parliament, Miss Cook, made any representations to the government about the speed at which this election commitment is being progressed? The answer is yes. I doubt it very much. Yes, >> members of parliament re uh write to the government thanking them, congratulating them on quickness, expeditiousness. So I suspect, correct me if I'm wrong, I suspect that the member for Bullwinkle is complaining about the government's tardiness in implementing this election commitment.
>> So we've taken that on notice to find
out. >> You say complaining, we say advocating on behalf of her community
>> about the slowness of the roll out of this 1.2 to million dollar commitment which is not going to 23 base stations but up to 23 base stations. >> We look forward to the letter from >> If she's watching if she's watching she can flick a copy to me on the email as
>> No, that's right. Yeah. accept that except that I think people are thinking it is 23.
>> That's right.
>> Senator said before it will depend on the applications we receive because there are different types
across the Perth Hills is that 23.
>> So I'm just looking at the media release Senator and it does at the time during the election it does indeed say up to 23.
>> Yep, that's right. And I'm thinking that many people are thinking it is 23. I'm not disputing what the media release says. I'm just letting you know what I think the community expectation is in the Perth Hills. >> Congratulations on your appearance, Senator CR.
>> I can't wait. I'm sure your followers are very kind.
>> I'll boost it. I'll boost it.
>> Wonderful.
>> You can even
WA in Perth Hills.
>> All right. The good people of Perth
Hills will
>> Thank you very much. Um, look, at this stage we're in a position to um release the officials for outcome 5 5.1. Um, I note the time. We're scheduled to currently take our lunch break at 12:45. So, I won't I will um call the officials of ACMA at 1:30 to appear at the table um at the conclusion of that lunchon interval um and we will resume at that point in time. Thank you very much. broadcasting. Uh we now welcome officers