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ABC to pursue govt over funding, but programming cuts loom.

ABC Managing Director has written to staff following the Coalition's win at the federal election. 

ABC Managing Director has written to staff following the Coalition’s win at the federal election.

“I have said many times over the past seven months that our focus must always be on freeing up as much money as possible for content, adapting what we do to ensure we spend public funds effectively while searching for efficiencies,” Anderson wrote in an email to staff on Sunday.

“With confirmation that the Coalition has been returned to government, we will resume discussions with the Minister about securing longer-term funding arrangements.

“Stable funding is essential to deliver a greater level of financial certainty and enable us to plan for the future … Over the next 12 months the leadership team will continue to explore options with the board on how to meet these challenges and we will, of course, consult with staff along the way.”

The Age quotes unnamed insiders fearing programming cuts will hit drama, comedy, children’s, radio, and iview.

ABC’s funding will be frozen at 2018-19 levels from July, amounting to a $15 million reduction in 2019-20, $28 million the next year, and more than $41 million by 2021-22. This follows a $254 million cut in 2014 by then-communications minister Malcolm Turnbull.

In April, the government confirmed it will renew ABC’s “enhanced news-gathering” budget, at a cost of $44 million. SBS will get $29.6 million over three years from 2019-20 to guarantee the ongoing quality of its television, radio and online services.

But Ita Buttrose may yet prove the ABC’s secret weapon. Announced by Scott Morrison in February, the media doyenne has previously stated she is not afraid to push the ABC’s funding case to the government.

“I consider it one of the most important cultural and information organisations in our country and I’m honoured to be asked to lead it into the future,” she has said.

“It is a voice of the Australian people. I think it reflects our identity, it tells our stories not just here in Australia but to the rest of the world, and I have grown up with the ABC.

“I’m a devoted listener to the ABC. I start my day with ABC News Radio, I don’t leave home without it.”

Source: The Age

9 Responses

  1. “The Age quotes unnamed insiders fearing programming cuts will hit drama, comedy, children’s, radio, and iview.” Fairly typical scare-campaign response we’re used to hearing from ABC. All that needs to happen is for ABC management to grow a pair and curb the excesses of its news department which flourished at the expense of every other area in the ABC during the tenure of Mark Scott, who kept referring to the ABC as a “news organisation” which its Charter says it’s not. Just look at the number of overpaid “specialist” reporters who, after returning from an overseas post, were given special treatment and six-figure contracts to do virtually nothing. Ita and David – return the ABC to its public-broadcasting Charter responsibility to “inform and entertain”.

  2. Abbott cut the ABC budget by 4.6%, or $254m, over 5 years. Which is approximate $50m p.a. Turnbull froze the ABC’s budget after an efficiency review in 2018 meaning they won’t get $84m in creases over three years.This was to be funded by efficiencies like renegotiating their broadcasting contract and Guthrie’s restructuring to remove duplication and middle management.

    The ABC staff then gave themselves a pay rise in excess of the public service cap, when wages are not increasing my much and inflation hit 0% last quarter, and are cutting $14.6m from their programming budget to fund it.

    This freeze was put in place a year ago and the ABC has known about it and should have budgeted for it. If they budgeted on the basis that the campaigning for Steggle, Phelps, The Greens and Shorten would put him into power so he would give them promised funding increases, then that’s pretty…

  3. More cuts are required.
    Merge SBS and ABC. SBS is far from it’s original charter.

    Do we really need so many Govt funded FTA channels. No, it’s ridiculous.

    The internet is changing the way we consume media as well.

    Hopefully ScoMo seriously reforms the Govt funded broadcasters.

  4. Australians have rejected the restoration of funding cuts promised by Labor. It will only be a matter of time before the L/NP privatizes the ABC.

  5. It would be thought that a long standing public institution would receive support from a conservative government too. For the most part, it is impartial and unbiased. I think infrequently, unfortunately some of the news reporting skews left. It’s an internal cultural issue, which surprisingly, SBS does not seem to have on the surface. SBS also is not as much impacted by funding, when in some cases the funding is boosted.

    Most of the ABC programming is not news & the ABC also caters for rural & regional audiences with local radio. A lot of conservative people support, view, listen & read content provided by the ABC too. Their archive is of significant cultural heritage and importance.

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