ABC rural camera operators struggle with “tired, outdated” equipment

ABC camera operators in regional Australia have complained of using outdated equipment and have tired of ongoing promises, it was revealed in a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday.

Liberal Senator for Victoria Sarah Henderson, told an ABC panel she had received an email from an ABC staffer who didn’t want to be identified.

She said, “This person writes,

‘I work for ABC in the regions. We have not had any updated recording gear to make content for the past seven years. Metros and all other departments within ABC have all had major camera gear updates over the last 12 to 18 months. But for content makers in the bush, we’re left with a phone and a tired, outdated camera that’s over seven years old, that we all have to share with each other within the office. A lot of us have been asking for new gear for some time, but we keep hearing back: ‘next financial year, next financial year.’

“A lot of us have actually gone out and brought our own cameras, just so we can make good content to serve our audiences. I’m wondering, Is this fair?'”

Justin Stevens encouraged the staffer to contact him to reassure them, but Senator Henderson indicated she could not disclose their details.

“We are looking at the best cameras to get for our teams across regional teams. We’ve got over 40 bureaus, as you know, Senator across the country. At the moment, they’re serviced with two cameras, a Mini P2 which is a very resilient camera, which does a good job with a good, strong zoom lens,” he replied.

“The phone that they alluded to is actually something called a MoJo kit, which is a more recent piece of innovation from our tech teams, which has transformed the way we can hear from our outstanding regional reporters around the country.”

Stevens indicated new Sony cameras were also under consideration adding, “It comes at a sizeable cost, and so as with any major expenditure like that, we need to go through a proper process and make sure we get the right technology for them.”

But Senator Henderson, a former ABC and 10 journalist, suggested regional journalists were not being treated equally to their metropolitan counterparts and the “can keeps getting kicked down the road. When are journalists in the regions who are playing the most important role for our nation going to be treated fairly and equally?”

“We’re certainly not aware of any inequality in the nature of what access to technology they have,” Stevens replied, “to the extent that the vast number of MoJo kits they have is far in excess of any other team or department. I’d also highlight that you’re seeing more regional journalism across all news platforms than you’ve ever seen before….we want to make sure we constantly evolve and update what they’ve got, and I’m not disputing the fact that we’re keen to do that when we’re in position to.”

Senator Henderson asked ABC to provide, on notice, full details around camera equipment used in ABC News and Current Affairs, “because I would put to you that the value of the camera gear held in the cities would be far greater than anything in the bush.”

Stevens agreed adding that equipment used by Foreign Correspondent vs Australian Story vs ABC News court reporting varied.

“Their shooting will be different and it needs to have the right technology for the nature of the work they’re doing. But we’ll follow up and absolutely provide that to you.”

Acting Managing Director, and Head of Finance, Melanie Kleyn, told the same Committee ABC funding had declined in real terms by 14% over the past 10 years which equated to $150m+.