General News
6 April, 2022
MPs condemn proposed public notice changes
THE Victorian Government has followed through on its promise to amend proposed legislation changes which would have seen the requirement for public notices to be published in local newspapers removed.
THE Victorian Government has followed through on its promise to amend proposed legislation changes which would have seen the requirement for public notices to be published in local newspapers removed.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had offered a guarantee last month public notices would still be required to be published in regional and local newspapers after backlash against the proposed changes.
Concerns were raised after a proposed amendment to the Regulatory Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 included legislative changes to “modernise public notice requirements, bringing the practice into the 21st century,” according to Minister for Regulatory Reform Danny Pearson.
The change would have removed the requirement for the government and councils to publish notices in print newspapers, which would instead only be required to be published on an unspecified website.
While Mr Pearson said the amendment would cut costs for individuals and businesses when legally required to publish a public notice, coalition MPs expressed concern surrounding negative impacts on transparency and equitable access to public information.
Red flags were also raised by regional MPs who feared the loss of income could jeopardise the future of mastheads in their electorate.
Polwarth MP Richard Riordan, Lowan MP Emma Kealy and South West Coast MP Roma Britnell were among those to stand against the proposed changes.
Mr Riordan said circumstances have been tough enough for regional and suburban newspapers.
“For many, local newspapers are the go to place to find out what is happening in their community and what their local council is doing,” he said.
“This change would have effectively disconnected communities even further from their local member or council.”
Ms Lowan offered thanks to the editors and teams working in the 19 regional newspapers in her electorate, including the Mortlake Dispatch and Terang Express.
“Our regional newspapers are the lifeblood of our communities,”
she said.
“These regional newspapers are really at the heart of how our smallest regional communities, our rural communities, are maintaining their community pride in how they feel about growing up and living in a small community.
“They are making the effort to communicate what is happening in their local area with the rest of the people that are there, and that makes such a difference.
“Strong opposition from country communities, the Victorian Country Press Association and The Nationals has forced the Labor Government to admit that its attempt to hide this public information from Victorians was wrong.”
Ms Britnell said newspapers in the South West Coast region, including the Terang Express, “play an incredibly important role”.
“If we had seen the legislation go through, that revenue they receive from the public notices would have disappeared and would have left them possibly very close to unviable,” she said.
“So it was a massive risk to their viability. And we need those newspapers.
“Many a time we saw during the pandemic the role that the newspapers played in informing the community.
“That is how people get their information in the community, so we absolutely needed the government to have done this back flip, and that is what it is.”