Federal File: Tariff protection on colour television sets

On commencing office in December 1972, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam ordered an Inquiry into Colour Television to consider whether protection should be granted to local manufacturers and what protections would be needed to sustain the production of local content. Australians were subsidising the local manufacture of black-and-white television sets by an average of $100 and, with the advent of colour, local manufacturers were lobbying for even higher protections.