Tuesday 17 April 2007

ABC Goulburn Murray – Clever Networks program announcement

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Federal Minister for Communication, Helen Coonan, is with us.

Helen Coonan, good morning.

MINISTER HELEN COONAN: Oh, good morning Joseph.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: We'll clear up those pine needles off the ABC floor here. Not to worry.

MINISTER COONAN: That's good. I'm pleased. We want to have very good conditions for all workers, for the ABC.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: And we do, in general. We love working for the ABC. Now you're...

MINISTER COONAN: I love being the Minister for the ABC, Joseph, so we're all happy.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Alright, it's a mutual admiration society this morning.

You're making a special announcement at the Wodonga Civic Centre a bit later on this morning, and I was wondering - because what we have here is, announcement on a successful project under the Clever Networks Program.

MINISTER COONAN: Yes.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Now, I wondered whether you might want to give us a breaking story and an announcement here.

MINISTER COONAN: Well, look, I really don't think we should keep people in suspense any longer, because the successful applicant is such a fantastic organisation. And it's actually Scope, which is a not-for-profit organisation that provides disability services throughout Victoria, and obviously in Wodonga and Albury, to thousands of children and adults who have got physical and multiple disabilities.

So, it's a very good organisation. This is a very well deserved award of some money that will actually help them use broadband Internet, so that the therapists can actually contact clients in their homes and do out-of-office real time consultations, and actually reduce some of the problems of people with disabilities living in rural and remote areas.

So, it's much needed, and I think it will be very well received.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: And something that will benefit those with disabilities locally.

MINISTER COONAN: Yes, definitely. At the moment, I think they, there's something in the order of about 3,500 people who would be covered by this organisation, and they've got about 100 services. They operate Statewide and they operate locally. They've got about 75 centres in eight regions. And they provide a lot of things like day centres and respite accommodation, but the Clever Networks will get them all connected so that those who operate these services will be able to better communicate and actually cut down and reduce some of the time of travelling and needing to actually go and visit people, when, if they could connect them in real time over the net, that would be sufficient.

So, it'll make I think their, their job a lot easier, and hopefully for all of the beneficiaries of these services, they'll be able to get what they need in a much more timely fashion.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Alright. Well, we hope that that does benefit them. Helen Coonan, just before we let you go, you're a bit proponent of the Do Not Call Register, the anti-telemarketing register. And, is that working?

MINISTER COONAN: Yeah, well it's, it's likely to be announced later this month. We had to build the register and make sure that those who wanted to put their numbers on it were in fact doing so, and that people weren't playing pranks; and also that businesses didn't get caught up in it unnecessarily.

It's quite complicated, but I think it will work very well. It's much needed. I'm looking very forward to announcing the fact that people will finally be able to put their mobile or their home number on a Do Not Call Register and not be bothered by these calls that drive us all crazy.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: And I'm just hoping for a quick local comment, just finally from you, Federal Communications Minister, Helen Coonan, just on the change or the cross-media ownership laws. Are you expecting any local consolidations to happen in the major towns in our broadcast area - in Albury and in Shepparton - as a result of cross-media ownership changes? Do you think that perhaps there will be that locally-based consolidation? Are you expecting it?

MINISTER COONAN: There hasn't been much indication that that's about to happen, but one of the things that we've been very concerned about with rural and regional areas is that they don't lose local content if there is any consolidation. So there's some very clear requirements that if there were to be any particular mergers, that it wouldn't be at the expense of people being able to still get local content, so they wouldn't get an endless stream from some centre that they have no connection with.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: The Gold Coast perhaps?

MINISTER COONAN: Well that wouldn't be much fun if you live in Wodonga would it, so [laughs].

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Happens now. But...

MINISTER COONAN: We understand that.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: ...with some of the commercial stations. But in any case, this might be a valid point, because one of the, one of the opposition points to something like that is, that oh but the ABC doesn't have all day long local programs. We might need some extra programs on the ABC regionally Helen Coonan.

MINISTER COONAN: Well, look, you know, you never know. And, we know that the ABC does some wonderful work with really connecting local communities. People really value the ABC, so there's a free, but a very genuine plug.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Alright. We better do some important work - connecting people to their gardens now.

Helen Coonan, thank you. All the best...

MINISTER COONAN: Thanks Joseph.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: ...during your time in our area.

MINISTER COONAN: Enjoyed speaking with you. Cheers.

JOSEPH THOMSEN: Helen Coonan who is the Federal Minister for Communications; and will be making that announcement at the Wodonga Civic Centre around about 2pm this afternoon.