Imparja plea for action on TV access
Alice Springs broadcaster warns some services at risk of ending ahead of voice to parliament referendum.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Not-for-profit broadcaster Imparja is calling on the government to improve access for Indigenous Australians ahead of the voice to parliament referendum.
According to Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology research, up to 80% of Indigenous households have no working free television service due to damaged cabling or dishes and defunct set top boxes.
“Instead of being included in a community debate about the need for Indigenous voices to be heard by decision-makers, remote Indigenous Australians will be out of the loop,” Imparja Television CEO Mr Alistair Feehan said. “It’s a bitter irony that the very people the voice is designed to assist won’t have a clue what’s going on in Canberra.
“If we are serious about using the Voice to Parliament to include First Nations peoples in policy debates, we must connect them to those debates through a television in their homes. This is a very basic service other Australians take for granted.
“We need the Government to step up on this. A demonstration of good faith with Indigenous communities would be if we left Canberra this week with a firm commitment to a plan for the restoration of basic remote television services and a regular program of equipment repair and maintenance.
‘”Imparja is also fighting for survival. Without urgent additional funding, remote Australians who can access television will receive fewer channels from 30 June as Imparja struggles to keep the doors open.
“While successive past governments have recognised Imparja’s perilous financial position, they have only offered morsels. We are now at crisis point. This is crunch time.”
The Alice Springs-based broadcaster, established in 1987, broadcasts across 3.6 million square kilometres on the VAST platform, spanning Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, NSW and Victoria with an estimated over one million resident viewers.
“We cannot continue to provide the range of services we provide today when there simply isn’t the commercial revenue available to support them. We are at the point now where either the Government contributes towards the cost of these services or some services will go black on 30 June,” Feehan said.
“There has rarely been a more important time for all Australians, including First Nations people living in remote areas, to be connected and involved in a public policy discussion.”
5 Responses
Imparja will not go dark I think it’s a play to get more funding. and vast needs a bit of an overhaul. I know people who have it and don’t like it ie live in a black spot in Victoria and get NT adds and Sydney news etc it’s 2023 I am sure there’s a way to fix things like that Imparja
I remember that one of the issues brought up before NITV switched to free-to-air was the provision of satellite dishes, cabling and VAST when necessary. It’s not like in the city suburbs where there will be the resources for the services. It’s not just Imparja and NITV, as there may also be other broadcasters on narrowcast or streaming bands that are also relevant.
More should be done to reduce the TV signal blackspots. Some of the programming is educational and it’s important that the houses can have the access to these services.
What does imparja screen? Do they have local shows and news for the region?
No. A straight relay of Nine, MAFS and all. No local news anymore. All indigenous content seems to be on NITV on SBS. In 2009 Imparja began airing the Darwin edition of Nine News live at 6:30 pm (AEST) on weekdays, immediately following the Brisbane edition, in place of A Current Affair – thereby restoring a Northern Territory-based bulletin to the station. (Wiki)
… when we were attempting to start what was then called Remote Commercial television Services (RCTS), we all made pleas to the government for assistance, particularly with the $4mil cost of the satellite transponder which was then owned by the government entity Aussat … Hawke refused and insisted that we all had to stand on our own … then, out of the blue, he gave an additional $4mil grant to the Bicentennial Authority and, guess what, the BA gave $4mil to Imparja, so that Bob could claim he wasn’t playing favorites by giving handouts to one RCTS and not the others … wonder what Albo will find to shuffle money to Imparja this time?