Page 166 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
All of this is done on the smell of an oily rag. Radio 1RPH has two part-time staff, a coordinator and a technical officer. The rest of the work is done by countless volunteers. Radio Print Handicapped, 1RPH, like all RPH stations, receives funding from the Community Broadcasting Foundation, and has done so for a number of years, back into the previous millennium. There are many other private organisations that fund Radio Print Handicapped. They also receive revenue from radio campaigns, government advertising and the like.
Over the years, the Community Services Directorate, and before that the community services department, has provided funding through Disability ACT to the tune of about $38,000 a year. This represents 25 per cent of the funding that was received by Radio 1RPH over the years. I would like to put it in context. As I said before, that money has been transferred from the ACT to the national disability insurance scheme, where it has been dispensed. There are three tiers of expenditure under the national disability insurance scheme. Tier 1 is functions which are not being funded by the national disability insurance scheme, and that is general advocacy in the area of disability. Tier 2 is information linkage and coordination. Tier 3 is where the bulk of the money goes, which is funding to individuals.
Without consultation with the print handicapped radio community, the national disability insurance scheme has decided that the work of Radio Print Handicapped falls in tier 1, and therefore will receive no funding under the national disability insurance scheme. I need to repeat this, Madam Deputy Speaker: this was done without consultation with radio for the print handicapped across the country. The first that anyone knew of this was in mid-December last year, when the ACT and Tasmania were told that their funding would run out on 30 June this year. So in mid-December 2015 they were told they would cease funding under the NDIS at the end of June.
As I said the ACT and Tasmania are the first cabs off the rank, or the first heads to rest on the chopping block. But with the rest of the rollout of the national disability scheme across other jurisdictions, other radio for the print handicapped stations across the country will feel the cut in the time to come. This is not just a question of the future of Radio Print Handicapped in the ACT and region; it is a question of the future of radio for the print handicapped across Australia.
There is an immediate problem, from our point of view. Radio Print Handicapped here in the ACT, 1RPH, have been quite candid that if they lose 25 per cent of their funding they will have to look very seriously at reducing the number of programs that they produce in Canberra, ceasing weekend or overnight broadcasts, ceasing to broadcast into Wagga and Junee, or reducing transmission power and broadcast reach to reduce electricity costs.
This will have a substantial impact on the users of radio for the print handicapped. I think it is a matter of considerable importance for the people of the ACT that this important community service may be brought to its knees for the want of $38,000 a year.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video