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Jobs to go at ABC

ABC journalists will be offered voluntary redundancies as a result of the Federal Budget cuts.

2014-05-28_1719The ABC is set to shed jobs as a result of the Federal Budget cuts.

Managing Director Mark Scott told a Senate Estimates committee today ABC journalists will be offered voluntary redundancy in the coming weeks, following the early cancellation of the Australia Network contract.

“The Australia Network impact will have an impact on news that can be seen locally but will not have direct impact on news created in Australia,” he said.

“We will lose some reporting positions in foreign bureaus on the back of the Australia Network decision … there will be reduction in news teams on back of that.”

Voluntary redundancies will be offered in the Melbourne newsroom, which is partially funded with Australia Network monies.

Scott said his priority was to not cut programming, including Australian drama, but he could not guarantee any programs or services could be spared until he knows what future budget cuts the government is considering.

“We have found $40m of efficiencies, we will seek to find more, but sooner or later you reach the end of the efficiency run and the easiest levers to pull in budget cuts are programming cuts, and to cut a drama series and save millions of dollars with one decision is the easiest decision to make,” he said.

The Federal Budget earlier this month noted that cuts were a “down payment on the ABC and SBS Efficiency Study.”

Source: Guardian Australia, Fairfax

10 Responses

  1. Quite frankly I don’t think too many people, except for the pollies who get their heads on it, would be miffed if ABC24 was shut down. It must cost the earth has very little if any original content and compared to SKY News is boring,boring,boring.
    Endless talking heads are good for radio, but do not a TV channel make. Recently it has become a repository for ABC presenters who are well past their use by date with the likes of Tony Eastley looking more uncomfortable every day. Put the money into the core business ABC 1 and purchase those unmissable British TV dramas that now appear on channel 7, with irritating commercial breaks, or will probably now appear on BBC First which is only for those with Pay TV.

  2. Dumb. Really dumb. But then Governments hate hearing the truth said about them. I’m sure Goebbels would approve. Only report what suits the government of the day and its paymasters in industry.

  3. I would rather see cuts to things like the Senate Estimates committee. Just too much Government in this country. Let’s cut back on Government waste and duplication…..and keep the valuable ABC product for now and future generations to enjoy!

  4. Hockey said that the budget cut is a down payment on efficiency gains. The budget just contained a cut of 1% for 2014/15.

    At the senate hearing Senator Louise Pratt (ALP) asked Scott if children would be deprived Peppa Pig since Abbott & co were “concerned about her dangerous feminist ideology” (based on one Ackerman op-ed). After previously admitting that they had found $40m worth of efficiencies (so there is no need for programming cuts), he stated that Peppa was safe for now but he couldn’t guarantee so in the future.

    The cancellation of the Australia Network isn’t a cut to the ABC’s domestic budget. DFAT cancels the contract and the ABC no-longer has to pay to provide the service. The people working on it will be let go or redeployed.

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