Unions fear possible ABC job losses in South Australia
Expected cuts to ABC are beginning to cross state lines with unions concerned SA production will be trimmed.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Fears of expected cuts to ABC are beginning to cross state lines with unions concerned South Australian production will be trimmed as part of wider cuts.
The Advertiser reports the Community and Public Sector Union fears any centralising of production in Sydney and Melbourne would impact on in-house production in Adelaide where shows such as Poh’s Kitchen, Dream Build have been produced plus former shows including The Cook and The Chef, Talking Heads, arts and documentaries.
Six staff have left the Australia Network office in Adelaide in the past two weeks, and the union estimates it would cost 150 Adelaide jobs in flow-on effects.
“We are running a public campaign to save the ABC in Adelaide and have asked South Australian politicians of all stripes to support our fight to keep ABC jobs here,’’ CPSU President Michael Tull told The Advertiser.
“This has the potential to take up to 150 jobs out of the local economy, and staff at ABC Adelaide are right to be concerned about it.
“Mark Scott has talked about cutting back office functions and TV production, which means Adelaide stands to be the hardest hit in terms of ABC jobs and services.’’
An ABC statement said, “The ABC managing director Mark Scott recently spoke of the need for change at the ABC while faced with a number of challenges including the uncertainty of Government budget cuts. No final decisions have been made regarding those changes.”
South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has colourfully described the speculation as, “This is the ABC management in Sydney declaring war on South Australia.
“This will be a body blow for local TV production outside the ABC as well, it is a real kick in the guts and they need to realise it is not Sydney’s ABC it is our ABC.’’
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- Tagged with Dream Build, Poh's Kitchen, Talking Heads, The Cook and the Chef
4 Responses
There you go again Pertinax, forever the economic rationalist. From my reading of the same article, it says that that “it would cost 150 Adelaide jobs in flow-on effects.” It does not necessarily imply that ABC Adelaide has 150 staff. They could be freelancers and from the private production sector.
Poh’s Kitchen has been on hiatus since 2012 except for one episode, a Christmas special in 2013. Dream Build is 10 minutes segments used as filler that are shot on location all over the country which has been a total failure.
They don’t appear to be producing anything at the moment yet are employing 150 people. And those 150 are outsourcing work to local commercial producers according to the article.
As the article says Scott closed SA along with Hobart several years ago but Xenophon blocked it because Gillard in order to keep himself elected.
The ABC has outsourced all its drama and comedy and stuff like Gruen and Reality Check. Making a few hours of TV in other cities to keep Xenophon elected is just crazy.
Sad for SA if it happens. All states should contribute to the ABC not just Sydney!
Don’t forget Behind The News. SA used to make lots of Education in the past, plus was home to Rock Arena at one stage before moving to Melbourne. The whole lot will be outsourced except News before too long sad to say.