Private Members' Business - Vision Australia Radio Funding

My great-grandfather Arthur Stidwell lived in Gosnells. He caught the train to the Perth train station every day from Monday and Friday. He would then get on the Midland Line and go to Maylands for work. He was a huge fan of Ben Chifley, and he was completely blind. My grandmother Joan would read the newspaper to him every single morning. She was the service—in his home, for him—that now thousands and thousands of Australians get to have the privilege of through Vision Australia Radio.

My grandmother Joan wrote in her family history a bit more about his life working at the Maylands blind institute, which sits in the heart of the Perth electorate. She said:

“Dad was a good provider for his family, travelling each and every day from Gosnells to Maylands to work at the blind institute. He could have stayed home and lived on the invalid pension, but he chose to work as it meant more money for his family. He was a hair drafter. That means that he used to pull hanks of horse hair from the manes and tails of horses through beds of wicked looking steel spikes with needle sharp points to tease it out, later curling and cleaning it by different methods, including immersing it in boiling water. “

The Maylands blind institute no longer exists in its current form. It is now home to a beautiful visual art—the WA ballet.

So much else has changed since Arthur Stidwell worked in Maylands. Employment opportunities for those with disability have increased. The disability support pension is far more adequate, although improvement could always be made. We have the National Disability Insurance Scheme and our education system is far more integrated. So, to go backwards by closing a service like Vision Australia Radio would be a small cut with a very, very big impact. We have spoken a lot in this place recently about freedom of the press. That also implies that people have proper access to the press—that they can actually engage with the reporting on their government, their community, their nation.

Others have already done this, but I think it's important to go through some of the history of Vision Australia's radio service. It started as Radio for the Print Handicapped in the 1970s. It was first funded by the Fraser Liberal government—what a great achievement of the Fraser Liberal government it was to fund that service—in 1981, which was International Year of Disabled Persons. They handed over the cheque and this service started to go national. In 1988 it was granted an AM licence and free use of Commonwealth broadcasting facilities. The regional stations, which the member for Bendigo and others have highlighted, started in 1997, 22 years ago. The radio service is, in fact, one of those great examples of the power of government and community working together to create something for very little cost but with a huge impact for those who rely on it. If Vision Australia Radio 990AM were to close in Perth, people would lose access to Bible readings and media, including The West Australianand the stories of The Australian. They wouldn't know what Newspoll was today if they relied on this radio service as their primary source of news. The Australian Financial Review would not be available to them. And this radio service also dives into more niche areas of media, including Crikey and The Conversation.

There were always going to be challenges transitioning to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but, when we talked about those transition challenges, we imagined they were going to be big difficult challenges that would be hard to solve. Finding $700,000 to continue this service is not a big complex policy problem; it's something that the minister could resolve this evening. I'll never believe that the NDIS is truly fully funded if services like this are the sorts of services that start to close because we failed to transition from, admittedly, a system that had had its time to a system that will be, over time, much better for many thousands of Australians.

I commend the member for Bendigo for moving the motion and the member for Monash for seconding it. The member for Bendigo is a strong voice for people with disability and also a strong voice for people who work in disability services. The government should urgently resolve this policy challenge. There is no reason why Vision Australia's radio service should close. It provides a great service to my electorate of Perth and it's a great service for regional communities across Australia. Again, I commend the motion.