Extract from The Guardian
ABC chief reminds prime minister of pre-election promise not to touch the budgets of the public broadcasters
Mark Scott has called on the government to end five months of
uncertainty around the size of the ABC’s funding cut and reminded Tony
Abbott of his pre-election promise not to touch the budgets of the
public broadcasters.
“I don’t need to remind you of the very clear, public and oft-repeated commitment made by Mr Abbott before the election, and after the election, inside parliament and outside parliament,” Scott told an audience at Melbourne University on Monday night.
“He guaranteed that, in its first term of office, the government would maintain the ABC’s budget.”
But in the May budget the government terminated funding for the Australia Network and – as a “down-payment” – made a 1% cut to base funding, amounting to $120m over four years.
Scott also revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [Dfat] had shortchanged the ABC by $5m when it compensated it for cancelling the Australia Network’s contracts, and making 80 staff redundant.
“The challenge [of downsizing ABC International] was not helped at all by the fact that compensation provided by Dfat for terminating the contract fell short – by more than $5m – of the actual costs of termination,” Scott said.
Sounding more agitated than he has on previous occasions, Scott said it was “very rare indeed for the ABC’s budget to be cut in the middle of a triennial funding agreement”.
Scott called on the government to fund the cost of change at the ABC, including the “high upfront costs,” of redundancies. The ABC is expected to make hundreds of television, radio, production and editorial staff redundant when a major restructure is announced later this year.
“If the government refuses to fund those transition costs, then it’s going to be some time before any savings can be realised,” Scott said. “Meanwhile, the only alternative will be to cut content dramatically.
“And while some cliched portrayal of the ABC as inefficient – often the last resort of critics and commentators to whom the very word ‘public’ is immediately suspect – it’s a portrayal that has far less traction with the Australian people, 84% of whom say they regard the ABC as valuable or even highly valuable.”
Scott also confirmed he intended to take resources from TV and radio to increase the ABC’s digital footprint and indicated iView, ABC News online, Triple J, and ABC Kids would be immune from cuts.
“We will have to spend less on television and radio to spend more on online and mobile – not just in content, but on the capacity to deliver the services demanded,” he said.
He was responding in part to a recent blog post from communications minister Malcolm Turnbull which criticised ABC management for considering cancelling a raft of TV and radio current affairs programs, including the award-winning Lateline.
Scott said it was not the ABC’s fault that newspapers were declining and removing the ABC from the Australian digital media space would not mitigate the problems of commercial media.
“The ‘downsize the ABC’ protagonists, such as the IPA and Senator [Cory] Bernardi, are wrong on many levels,” Scott said. “Wrong in suggesting that such a retreat would solve the problems of commercial media organisations.
“Wrong in suggesting the public wouldn’t notice any difference if the ABC was removed from the digital space.
“And wrong in thinking the ABC board – trustees for the Australian public – and the ABC management team are not passionately committed to securing a compelling future for the public broadcaster, not just a glorious past.
“But perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the ABC’s history is that while governments have come and gone, public affection and respect for the ABC has lasted and prevailed.”
“I don’t need to remind you of the very clear, public and oft-repeated commitment made by Mr Abbott before the election, and after the election, inside parliament and outside parliament,” Scott told an audience at Melbourne University on Monday night.
“He guaranteed that, in its first term of office, the government would maintain the ABC’s budget.”
But in the May budget the government terminated funding for the Australia Network and – as a “down-payment” – made a 1% cut to base funding, amounting to $120m over four years.
Scott also revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [Dfat] had shortchanged the ABC by $5m when it compensated it for cancelling the Australia Network’s contracts, and making 80 staff redundant.
“The challenge [of downsizing ABC International] was not helped at all by the fact that compensation provided by Dfat for terminating the contract fell short – by more than $5m – of the actual costs of termination,” Scott said.
Sounding more agitated than he has on previous occasions, Scott said it was “very rare indeed for the ABC’s budget to be cut in the middle of a triennial funding agreement”.
Scott called on the government to fund the cost of change at the ABC, including the “high upfront costs,” of redundancies. The ABC is expected to make hundreds of television, radio, production and editorial staff redundant when a major restructure is announced later this year.
“If the government refuses to fund those transition costs, then it’s going to be some time before any savings can be realised,” Scott said. “Meanwhile, the only alternative will be to cut content dramatically.
“And while some cliched portrayal of the ABC as inefficient – often the last resort of critics and commentators to whom the very word ‘public’ is immediately suspect – it’s a portrayal that has far less traction with the Australian people, 84% of whom say they regard the ABC as valuable or even highly valuable.”
Scott also confirmed he intended to take resources from TV and radio to increase the ABC’s digital footprint and indicated iView, ABC News online, Triple J, and ABC Kids would be immune from cuts.
“We will have to spend less on television and radio to spend more on online and mobile – not just in content, but on the capacity to deliver the services demanded,” he said.
He was responding in part to a recent blog post from communications minister Malcolm Turnbull which criticised ABC management for considering cancelling a raft of TV and radio current affairs programs, including the award-winning Lateline.
Scott said it was not the ABC’s fault that newspapers were declining and removing the ABC from the Australian digital media space would not mitigate the problems of commercial media.
“The ‘downsize the ABC’ protagonists, such as the IPA and Senator [Cory] Bernardi, are wrong on many levels,” Scott said. “Wrong in suggesting that such a retreat would solve the problems of commercial media organisations.
“Wrong in suggesting the public wouldn’t notice any difference if the ABC was removed from the digital space.
“And wrong in thinking the ABC board – trustees for the Australian public – and the ABC management team are not passionately committed to securing a compelling future for the public broadcaster, not just a glorious past.
“But perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the ABC’s history is that while governments have come and gone, public affection and respect for the ABC has lasted and prevailed.”
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