Minister pushes for more channels in the bush for Access 31

01/03/02
State Development Minister Clive Brown will press the Federal Government to allocate additional channels to regional centres so that Perth's community television station Access 31 can broadcast across regional Western Australia.
Speaking at the forum of Ministers Responsible for Communication in Adelaide this week, Mr Brown said he would ask Federal Communications Minister Richard Alston to approve the allocation in principle, thereby giving the green light for feasibility studies into firm expansion proposals.
"Access 31 is a successful model for community television across the nation and wants to explore the possibility of expanding outside Perth," Mr Brown said.
"It has provided wide-ranging benefits to a diverse section of the community in Perth."
The Minister said the first step involved support from the Commonwealth in making additional channels available.
"I will be strongly lobbying the Federal Government to change its attitude to community television, thus opening up the opportunity for people right across WA to enjoy these benefits," he said.
"I will be putting a strong case to Senator Alston for allocating them to a successful new service."
Mr Brown emphasised that technical studies had yet to be undertaken into the broad expansion proposal, which envisaged utilising local community transmitters formerly used for SBS broadcasting. A number of regional centres had expressed their interest in receiving Access 31.
"In several centres there are community transmitters now standing idle, having been made redundant by new SBS transmitters, and this represents a great opportunity for the transmitters to take up a new television station," he said.
"Several of these centres with transmitting facilities have approached the State Government and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) about wanting to re-transmit Access 31's programs.
"As a result, the State Government will approach Senator Alston seeking special approval for the allocation of additional channels."
Minister's office: 9222 9699