Daryl Williams in election mode at ABA conference

Communications Minister Daryl Williams says it’s “an exciting and challenging time for the media”.

Speaking at the ABA conference Williams identified digital broadcasting and media ownership as two key areas which the government and regulators are interested in, and spoke about the Howard Government’s “significant achievements” in broadcasting policy.

In an ‘election mode’ speech, Williams criticised opposition positions on a couple of media issues and talked up his government’s successes.

Speaking about the merger of the ABA and ACA to form a new regulatory body, Williams told the conference:


“One of the key responsibilities of governments is to build a responsible regulatory framework… so we will establish ACMA by merging the ABA and ACA… It will be able to deal with issues that stretch over the fields of telecommunications, broadcasting and internet.

“It is neither practical or responsible to have two bodies doing the same thing in this time of convergence…”

The current regulatory framework remains “appropriate” for broadcasting according to Williams, so there are unlikely to be wholesale regulatory changes that come with the formation of ACMA. He expects the new body will be able to “better respond” to changes in technology and policy in the long term.

Williams challenged the opposition claim that the government is looking at budget savings from the new organisation, aiming to pocket $75 million. He says the government has no intention to use the merger as a cost saving exercise.

In another swipe at Labor, he criticised Mark Latham’s comments on regulating junk food advertising to counter childhood obesity, saying his government is aware of the problem but would rather work with the various stake holders to solve it rather than put in place an advertising ban.

He also spoke about the Media Ownership Bill, which is once again before the Senate and said that the government plans to regulate so that any decision on a 4th television licence will be taken by parliament, not the regulator.

Amongst a wide ranging set of topics mentioned by Williams his main comments about radio related to Digital Broadcasting, where he revealed that he has now received a report from the recent study group looking into digital radio’s progress. He said:

“Digital technology is driving developments in radio… The Digital Radio Study Group report is currently being considered by government and will form a good basis for further negotiations with broadcasters.”

Williams will announce how the next steps in that negotiation process will proceed “soon.”

Touching on the ABC and the current issues over complaints and bias monitoring, Williams says monitoring is “a matter for the ABC Board,” but that he thinks it is “appropriate” for the ABC to conduct such monitoring.

“I am pleased that the national broadcasters are looking at better complaints handling mechanisms…

“Meeting their charter obligations, especially for News and Current Affairs, and a proper complaints handling mechanism is good for public confidence.”

Other topics in Williams’ speech included the roll out of digital tv, child protection on internet enabled phones, and content regulation.

AM Presenter Tony Eastley spoke to radioinfo and also commented on bias monitoring. He said:
“Who within Rehame will be deciding what is and what is not biased. I hope they have employed some senior journalists to make those kind of decisions and that it’s not some junior casual worker making a judgement on what we are doing. I hope Rehame is employing good people to do this job.”

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