Convergence Review Committee to undertake national consultations
The Convergence Review Committee today released a schedule for a series of public consultations around Australia.
The Convergence Review was announced on 14 December 2010 by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, as a comprehensive examination of Australia’s communications and media regulation covering topics such as Australian and local content, community standards, media diversity, and spectrum allocation.
Commencing on 1 August, the committee will travel to eight metropolitan and regional centres over three weeks.
This series of consultations follows the recent release of an emerging issues paper, which finalised a set of principles to guide the review, highlighted key issues raised so far, and will form the basis for these consultations.
Glen Boreham, the Chair of the committee, said the aim was to give as many people as possible the opportunity to contribute to the review.
“We have heard from the large organisations and from industry groups, and now we want to ask people across Australia what they want from the new media environment,” Mr Boreham said.
Mr Boreham welcomed the participation of people in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Bendigo and Alice Springs.
“People are interested in issues like access to local news and information, availability of Australian content, and how community standards could be maintained in a digital world.”
“We look forward to discussing these and many other issues face-to-face with people across Australia,”
Mr Boreham said. Details of the schedule and how to register to meet with the committee are available at www.dbcde.gov.au/convergence.
The emerging issues paper and background information on convergence are also available at www.dbcde.gov.au/convergence.
Members of the public can engage with the review on Twitter by using the #converg hashtag, or by following @converg_review.
Media inquiries: media@dbcde.gov.au
