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- 7 December 2000
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Funding
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Speakers - Cohen Mr Ian
Business - Adjournment
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Page: 11803
The Hon. I. COHEN [6.36 p.m.]: I express support for the groundswell of community outrage at the current changes to our national public broadcaster, the ABC. The ABC has withstood ongoing cuts and changes from successive Labor and Liberal governments, and the community has repeatedly made it clear that an assault on the independence and the integrity of the ABC is unacceptable. Repeated polls illustrate this point. For example, a Newspoll survey in December 1998 found that 86 per cent of respondents rated ABC television to be good, compared with 44 per cent for commercial television; and 88 per cent of respondents rated ABC radio to be good, compared with 66 per cent for commercial radio.
More recently, in March this year, a national social service poll for ANU Research in public policy found that 40 per cent of respondents thought that more funding should be provided to the ABC, and only 14 per cent of respondents thought that the ABC needed less funding. The remaining 46 per cent supported the then level of funding. The people who thought more funding was required would have been willing to contribute up to $48 per year per person or 12.6 cents per day. The current expenditure is only $38 a year per person or 9¢ per day. Another recent poll asking Australians which institutions they believed were good for Australia found that the proportion citing the ABC had increased since the last poll from 85 per cent to 92 per cent.
The Federal Government's campaign against a healthy, viable ABC is yet another example of its disregard for the wishes of the Australian public and the health of our society. The ABC is good value compared with the commercial broadcasters, particularly given the difference in program quality. ABC radio service's cost per broadcast hour is only 40 per cent of that of comparable commercial radio broadcasters. ABC television service's cost per broadcast hour is only 36 per cent of that of comparable commercial television broadcasters. The value of this Australian icon transcends the commercial marketplace because of its positive contribution to the social, intellectual and cultural capital of Australia. In the Sydney Morning Herald Cynthia Banham quoted the director of television, Gail Jarvis, as saying that other units within the ABC would follow the path of the science unit, with more programs being co-produced and outsourced. It will be a tragedy to lose such programs.
The current changes have implications for public debate and democracy. Early yesterday morning the Hon. I. W. West, the Hon. Janelle Saffin and I attended a rally of a group of people concerned about that pillar of our society, the ABC, and the right to get commercial-free quality programming and quality information across our airwaves. The ABC provides scope for journalists to act independently and to be prepared, as one journalist on the day said, to bite the hand that feeds them. It makes for quality journalism. The current plans of ABC managing director Jonathon Shier for commercialisation is a direct threat to the quality that makes the broadcaster so important to our society and so revered by the Australian community. The idea that the ABC should aggressively pursue commercial opportunities as suggested by its marketing consultant Keith Bales—that the name of the ABC and Friends of the ABC should become commercial brands and adopt Disney style merchandising—is appalling. The Greens and many people in the community would have a great deal of concern about this and will campaign strongly against it.
On election night in 1996 Senator Alston confirmed the Coalition's election promise that there would not be further cuts to ABC funding, yet here we are here again with the most serious cuts to date. The figures cited by staff-elected directors such as Ian Henschke are very telling. He cited figures adjusted for inflation, which clearly illustrate this point. In 1985-86 the ABC received over $666 million in funding. In 1998-99 it received only $507 million. Today's Sydney Morning Herald quotes the Prime Minister as rejecting claims in question time yesterday that the ABC is underfunded. So far as I am concerned that is inappropriate. The public has shown clearly that extra funding for the ABC is appropriate. The ABC, a very lean organisation, comprises many dedicated people who do excellent work for the concept of communication in our society.
In that same article in today's Sydney Morning Herald the Opposition's communications spokesperson said that Labor would be more receptive than the Coalition to the broadcaster's demands. It will be interesting to see whether Labor restores funding to pre-1996 levels if it wins government next year. In marginal seats like Richmond where I live—it has a margin of 0.06 per cent—the extremely important issue of ABC funding will determine the way in which the Greens' preferences flow. I have spoken to friends and I have asked them to join a campaign to conduct rallies in support of the ABC. I know that I speak for many Australians when I say that the ABC, an important institution, is vital to our survival as a democracy. I hope that we are able to maintain a commercial-free ABC.
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