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ABC welcomes news funding but warns of “tough decisions” on staff

Acting MD David Anderson reminds staff ABC is still facing the impact of cuts at $14.6 million next financial year.

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Acting ABC Managing Director David Anderson has welcomed Enhanced News funding announced in last night’s Federal Budget, but in a note to staff foreshadows that there will still need to be “tough decisions on staffing and services.”

Last night the Treasurer announced an extra $43.7 million over three years for local news and current affairs services, particularly in regional areas.

Here is what Anderson advised staff:

Last night, the Government handed down the 2019-2020 federal budget. The most significant elements for the ABC are the extension of the Enhanced News Program and the imposition of the indexation pause in funding.

First, the positive news. As I have said repeatedly over the past few months, the continued funding of Enhanced News is crucial to our delivery of news, analysis and investigations to the Australian public. Over six years, the special funding has assisted the news division in investing in new programs and services. Over 100 journalists, camera operators, digital producers and support staff have been recruited.

The program budget sustains critical roles in ABC Investigations and the Specialist Reporting Team; provides camera operators in Broome, the Alice and the Hunter; funds the Parramatta, Geelong and Ipswich bureaux and regional VJs in Bunbury, Newcastle and Renmark; and enables capital investment in linking equipment and other technology.

The extension of this program for another three years at $43.7 million is recognition of the important work the national broadcaster does in delivering more tailored news to communities, in investing in specialist resources that explain complex policy and political issues to the public and in providing a national audience for news from across the country.

As the Director of ABC News, Analysis and Investigations, Gaven Morris, has pointed out, this program has become an essential component of ABC strategy and audience delivery. “It complements the $15 million a year investment we have made in regional news. It allows us to create jobs at a time when commercial news media are reducing services, particularly in regional Australia.”

On the negative side, despite extensive requests from the ABC, the Budget papers have locked in the $83.7 million pause in indexation funding flagged in last year’s budget. This is on top of the $254 million the ABC has had to absorb in efficiency cuts over the past five years.

The cut comes into effect at the start of the next financial year, with a first-year impact of $14.6 million. Given our tight fiscal envelope, meeting the costs will have to involve tough decisions on staffing and services. Our commitment is to consult with staff in considering options. I will keep you informed on this front.

In closing, though, we should not underestimate the significance of maintaining the News funding. It is an important reassurance on the eve of the federal election. A well-informed electorate is vital to the political process and this announcement will help the ABC do its vital work in furthering democracy in the public interest.

The govt also announced $29.6 million over three years for SBS television, radio and online services.

3 Responses

  1. They could axe the ABC Life site. It’s a clickbait lifestyle site with a Play School tone. I’m not sure who the audience is supposed to be.

  2. Perhaps the ABC would like the introduction of the TV license which funds the BBC, perhaps also it’s log overdue to allow some limited commercial sponsorship so keen ABC viewers who are also sports fans can watch some select sports coverage instead of just cast offs, it seems a real shame that Australia’s national broadcaster comes second best to the SBS in regards to international sports, but while the ABC persists in being run like the government bureaucracy it is with all the built in profligacy you can expect from anything funded by the tax payer nothing much in the ABC’s future prospects would be deemed promising for improved viewership of the ABC in this diverse world of Smart tech in the years ahead.

  3. What is constantly glossed over in reports on this funding, which is tied specifically to the news department (so it can’t be used for any actual Charter obligations), is that it is in addition to the ABC’s already billion-dollar-plus allocation of taxpayer funds. It was introduced by Julia Gillard in 2013 as a “one-off” for only three years – the jobs created were actually advertised on the ABC jobs site at the time as being only for “18 months”, so how has it now become “crucial to [our] delivery of news, analysis and investigations to the Australian public”?

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