Click here for video

Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (16:03): I am very, very pleased to have the opportunity to speak today on the member for Shepparton’s matter of public importance. It is lovely to hear my friend Craig Wilson being acknowledged by the member for Ripon, and I certainly have been up to Ararat and am very interested to see the good work that Craig is doing with the Ararat Advocate. But that is the end of me talking about Ripon; I will now talk about Wendouree.

I strongly support a strong and diverse regional media and believe that it is a key pillar of my community and, more broadly, a democratic society. Our local media is an important feature of Ballarat life and needs to be supported so that we can continue to share our stories, raise issues and hold a mirror up to our community.

We are fortunate in Ballarat and western Victoria to have a diverse, enthusiastic and professional media landscape. I regularly engage with WIN News Ballarat; 9 News Western Victoria; the Ballarat Courier; the Ballarat Times, local radio stations 3BA, Power FM, ABC Ballarat, ABC South West Victoria and Voice FM; and more recently News Corp’s digital masthead the Ballarat News.

Rather than competing for news, these journalists and outlets have their own perspectives and often depict our local stories in unique ways. Our local TV, radio and print journos, the editors, the camera operators and the photographers are engaged and care about our community. I am thinking of reporters like the Ballarat Courier’s Greg Gliddon and WIN News’s Jordy Wright. It is wonderful to see young journos gain experience and cut their teeth in Ballarat before sometimes moving to larger cities with bigger papers and TV networks or other comms jobs, like Ollie Haig, Alex Keefe and Crys Ja.

Former Ballarat media-trained success stories include Candice Wyatt, formerly of ABC Ballarat and ABC South West Victoria, now on Network Ten. Justine Mackenzie, as WIN News watchers knew her, now Justine Conway, is now a reporter on the Nine Network, and we often see her on our tellies. They were both trained in Ballarat.

Our weekly free paper, the Ballarat Times, has an ethos of focusing on uplifting and positive local stories—

Ms Thomas: And so many of them.

Ms ADDISON: So many of them. Reading the Ballarat Times every Thursday is an opportunity for people to stay in touch with their community and check out who they know in the paper for the week, and I know lots of people love to look through it.

The Ballarat Times team, including locally educated Ballarat women Edwina Williams and Ruby Staley, do an outstanding job reporting local news and keeping us informed. The print run of 25 000 copies per week of the Ballarat Times and the Golden Plains Times dropped to around 15 000 at the height of COVID, with cafes and restaurants closed, but it is now trending up again. When they were not able to deliver the hard copies to local seniors centres there was a spate of older people seeking assistance from family and friends so that they could work out how to access the free content online, because Ballarat loves its local media and wants to access it.

I was interested to learn that even people who used to live in Ballarat—they might be expats around the world or just around the country—are also followers of the Ballarat Times, wanting to keep in touch with the great city of Ballarat.

It is well known that regional media provides essential services and support for regional communities during times of bushfire and natural disasters. What is often not known is the huge amount of community work that our regional media do week in, week out.

For example, Ballarat radio stations 3BA and Power FM have a basic philosophy that they are part of the community and have a responsibility to care for and communicate with the people of Ballarat. As well as their annual Christmas and winter appeals, they help get the message out for dozens of local organisations and events each week. In fact it is estimated that they deliver over $1 million worth of messaging free every year for community organisations. What a great thing for our community—$1 million worth of promotion for community groups in our city.

When COVID hit us in March the stations doubled down on the positive community messaging. They continuously provide uplifting messages about mental health and supporting each other while encouraging the community to stay safe and follow the guidelines. The 3BA We’re Still Here campaign has provided local businesses with additional visibility and given them the opportunity to promote their takeaway options or amended business hours—such important support for local business when they need it the most.

Station manager John Fitzgibbon places a real emphasis on the relationship between the listeners and the station. With a licence area that takes in 130 000 people, around 80 000 people tune in weekly to 3BA and Power FM—huge numbers, absolutely huge. I love it when listeners call in to 3BA or Power FM. Whether they engage with Brett Mac, PT or Jules and Kris, they are given the opportunity to speak and be heard, and that is one of the greatest things about regional radio—that local voice constantly coming through.

By supporting regional journalism we are supporting media diversity. Our local journalists work tirelessly to uncover and develop local stories for local audiences. They are professionals who corroborate the information they bring to us—the facts on issues that are central to the lives of regional Victorians. Ballarat journalist Caleb Cluff, who is well known to anyone involved in politics in Ballarat and western Victoria, said:

Not everyone wants to hear what a journalist says, but if we do our job properly, then we can change society for the better.

We have seen innovation by our regional media outlets to stay afloat during this very challenging time. The Ballarat Courier, which has been in circulation for over 150 years, has actively embraced the Save Our Voices campaign and has run powerful advertising of their journos really delving into what it means to them. The Courier has almost 6000 digital subscribers and approximately 30 000 unique users who access its content every day.

Importantly—and this is what regional media do—the Courier made sure that additional content was offered for free about COVID during the pandemic, once again to support our community. And according to the Courier’s editor, Eugene Duffy, his aim is to show the whole of Ballarat in its complexity, so whilst there are uplifting stories about schools and families, there is also scrutiny of government and our courts and a responsibility to cover the darker side of our community, whether it is the scourge of family violence, homelessness or drugs and alcohol. Essentially their mission is for Ballarat to see itself.

The member for Shepparton calls on both the federal government and the Victorian state government to support media diversity and provide the financial support to ensure the continued viability of our regional media, and I am proud to say that the Andrews Labor government is doing this.

We know how important the role of media is, and that is why in April this year, at the outset of the COVID crisis, we announced an additional $4.7 million in emergency support for our regional print media to survive. The survival package was through Victorian government advertising in over 100 media outlets, with the dual goal of keeping Victorians informed and keeping strong local journalism afloat. We guaranteed that the Victorian government would book one page of print advertising and digital advertising per week for six months. We have delivered on this, and I have heard from local media outlets that the state government advertising through COVID has been a lifeline.

Regional media supports regional identities. It supports discussion and debate over issues that are integral to the lives of regional Victorians. It creates jobs in regional areas for photographers, like Kate Healy, Lachlan Bence and Adam Trafford, as well as journalists, and it provides training, as I have already talked about, and experience for journalists to develop their skills on the ground.

So in closing, I thank the member for Shepparton for raising these very important issues. Regional media is at the very heart of regional communities, and at this pivotal time we must support it as it supports us. As Courier journalist Jolyon Attwooll said:

Good reporting holds power to account and celebrates our most inspiring people. On its day, it’s the greatest job in the world.

You do hold us to account. You do ask us awkward questions. But we are so grateful that you are with us.

 

Click here to read more of my contributions in Parliament. To access further Hansard transcripts, head to the Parliament of Victoria website.