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ABC hit with “cuts” but SBS welcomes $14.6m boost

ABC says it will be hard to meet Charter & audience demands with effectively $84m in cuts.

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  • ABC hit with $84m in funding “cuts”
  • SBS given $14.6m after Senate rejects more ads
  • Efficiencies review for ABC / SBS to find back-office savings

ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie has warned staff the broadcaster will be hit hard by measures announced in the Federal Budget.

The government is freezing ABC’s annual funding indexation for three years from July 2019, costing the organisation $84 million.

But ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie said freezing the indexation amounted to cutting the broadcaster, and followed from $254m in cuts imposed since 2014 and the end of $43m in funding for news and current affairs.

“Let me be frank with you,” she wrote to staff. “I am very disappointed and concerned that after the measures we introduced in recent years to deliver better and more efficient services the Government has now seen fit to deliver what amounts to a further substantial budget cut.

“This decision will make it very difficult for the ABC to meet its charter requirements and audience expectation.”

Guthrie said the ABC could not absorb the cuts with extra efficiency measures and would oppose the cuts and “seek every opportunity to reverse the cuts in coming months before they take effect.”

The Government has also announced another efficiencies review for ABC and SBS to find back-office efficiencies.

Guthrie also rejected it as unnecessary given efficiency programs introduced in recent years.

The decision comes at a critical time for the ABC as it commences triennial funding negotiations with the Government and public broadcasters face a separate competitive neutrality inquiry.

But the Budget was good news for SBS, with $14.6 million in funding over two years from 2018-19.

In 2015 legislation to increase primetime advertising on SBS was rejected by the Senate, quashing the broadcaster’s plans to address a $53m funding shortfall under the Abbott government.

In a statement, SBS welcomed the news.

“This funding relates to the funding reduction SBS received in 2015 when it was expected that the SBS Advertising Flexibility Bill would give the organisation the opportunity to generate further additional own-source revenue, which has now been withdrawn,” the broadcaster said.

“SBS has no comment regarding the review that has been announced. We will examine the terms of reference for the review when they are released and will make further comment at that point.”

Source: ABC

19 Responses

  3. I’d argue there are plenty of room for cuts at the ABC – cull the salaries of high paid in front of camera talent. In my opinion no talent at ABC should draw compensation over $200k~$250k p.a. (plenty currently receive way above that) – give the taxpayer a break, any talent that can earn those figures from the public broadcaster can make their money commercially if it is important to them, use the space created by those that leave to blood new (hopefully more impartial) talent.

    1. Given that the highest-paid ABC presenter earns ~1/4 of a Stefanovic or ~1/2 a Wilkinson per year, I’d say your opinion is well out of whack with typical salaries in Australian talking-head land…

      1. There is a big difference. Commercial outlets earn a profit off those payments at no cost to the tax-payer. The ABC & SBS can be much more useful to Australia as a breaking ground for new talent rather than a place for those that have ‘already made it’ to draw excessive salaries at our expense.

  4. The ABC haven’t done themselves any favours. They are vigorous in avoiding commercial ties (which is great), but not so strong with their impartiality. I find their reporting etc…fine. It’s the access they allow to lefty biased activists and commentators that tips the balance. Often these folk are on the airwaves or news 24…

    1. The ABC Is the centre, so to the avid right wing supporter the Centre is technically “left” to their political views….. Hence why the ABC is “Lefty”

      Admittedly there is an audience out there who want to be easily lead like sheep and told what to think. So the likes of Talk Back Radio, Sky News and News Corp papers. Fill their needs and biases…

      I want to hear facts, so I can make an informed decision with hard hitting journalism that will broadcast stories we don’t want to hear, but need to hear. That’s why the ABC is so important to all Australians….. Stop the funding cuts to the ABC……..

      1. Are those “facts” the one that the ABC’s senior economic correspondent had numerous errors in their reporting of company tax in Australia? Or was it the complaint about their senior political editors veering off into biased opinion during a news report about an ex-PM?

        I didn’t hear about either of those two things on ABC (except for the second which was raised on Media Watch who also noted that this had seemed to go AWOL from ABC coverage).

        I see today that Michelle Guthrie had to correct herself and walk back her previous comments, here’s a hint, if you can’t accurately state facts about your own budget to your own staff, you probably can’t be relied upon to get it right when reporting all the other news to the general public…….

  5. Why is the ABC sending Annabelle Crabbe and another to London to cover ‘The Wedding’? I believe they already have two or three resident reporters operating there. They should stop whingeing about funding when they indulge in this extravagance. I’m happy for SBS the best channel on FTA.

  6. ABCs funding has not been cut. They are not getting increases of about 2.8% a year for the next triennial funding. Given that wages and other costs for the ABC are stagnant why should they. Inflation is only 1.9% and the increase is entirely made up of increases in Alcohol and Tobacco taxes, health care, housing, education and transport. All other costs in the economy are suffering from stagnation or deflation.

  7. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this is all part of a conscious plan to hobble the ABC and guarantee news and current affairs coverage is cut to bare bones, minimising the risk of serious scrutiny of the government. PM and The World today cut by 50%, 7.30 cut by 20%, Lateline gone, and a noticeable reduction in the breadth and quality of news coverage across all ABC radio and TV. And Michelle Guthrie’s murmurs of concern could scarcely be more lame.

  12. Bad news for all supporters of quality public broadcasting in this country. And viewers of Australian content on TV, radio and online. It almost certainly means some combination of cuts to services, content and jobs. Possibly all three. In simple terms, more repeats and perhaps also programs of less ambition (and of lower budgets).
    Very grim news. Let’s hope this gets blocked or these cuts are overturned if there’s a government of different colours next year…

    1. With taxpayer funding exceeding $1bn, and the wider community experiencing flat wage growth, the ABC is doing itself a disservice by appearing ask the taxpayer to fund indexed wage increases to staff, while the wider community is tightening its belt. Such an aggressive attitude to funding by the ABC demonstrates how far removed from the people it serves. Unfortunately for the ABC, its starkly partisan political position, 50% of taxpayers are ambivalent about any funding changes. If they demonstrably stuck to their charter & became apolitical, the community might be less inclined to pay the ABC PC lipservice Publically while privately applauding the Governments action to restrict increases in funding. Their attitude appears very arrogant indeed.

      1. I’m not so sure, Jacko. I’d like to see your source that “50% of taxpayers are ambivalent about any funding changes”.

        The ABC provides a service that no other media organisation has to provide. No other media organisation needs to be politically neutral, provide news coverage of everywhere coast to coast (radio, television and online), as well as overseas. Indeed, no other media organisation has as much scrutiny as the ABC.

        Science, the arts, Australian comedy, much of current affairs, children’s programming and Australian drama would not be on free to air television if it weren’t for the ABC. Investigative journalism would be non-existent on radio. Many Australian musicians would not get air time on radio either.

        I’m sure there will be many people who will stand up for the ABC “publically (sic)”.

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