Tuesday, 10 September 2019

 Mr ATKINSON (Eastern Metropolitan) (13:44): Channel 31 in Melbourne and Geelong has been a significant broadcaster of free-to-air television services for the community since the 1990s. It has done some remarkable work showcasing many of the multicultural communities, community organisations, sports groups and so forth while also providing a very valuable training vehicle for young producers, journalists and technicians associated with Channel 31.

There is a concern at this stage about the transmission licence for Channel 31 going forward, due to the federal government looking at broadband width and new technology. The spectrum that is available for that broadband width is not yet adequate to actually implement the government’s policy or ambition in respect of moving broadcasters to the digital space, and Channel 31 is caught in the middle because it needs to have its transmission licence extended beyond June 2020, which is when it will expire at this point. In Victoria’s interests I am hoping to see that the minister actually supports that extension of the transmission licence because of the vital role that it plays, particularly for multicultural communities.