The following are some general points you can use in any correspondence about the future of the ABC.
NO ABC?? YOU’VE GOT TO BE JOKING
It’s no joke. Just see what ABC Chairman, Donald McDonald had to say to the National Press Club on 1 June: “Five times the ABC has requested additional funds for various activities—continuing and new. Five times the ABC has been denied those requests, either in full or in part.”
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/s1382104.htm
ABC ASKS FOR AN UMPIRE
ABC Chairman Donald McDonald publicly revealed that the ABC Board itself asked the Government to commission a review of the ABC’S funding. The Board expects that an independent “audit” will demonstrate the validity of the ABC’s claims for more funding in the May 2006 budget (covering 2006–09).
This is a determined attempt by the ABC to turn around its lack of success with triennial funding requests. It tried three years ago to convince the Government by commissioning a review by the Macquarie Bank. That report, which vindicated the ABC’s efficiency and effectiveness, was ignored by the Government. “Perhaps the fatal flaw in that review was that it was perceived to have been commissioned and paid for by the ABC” (Chairman McDonald, Press Club address, 1 June).
Now a Funding Adequacy and Efficiency Review has been commissioned by the Minister for Communications. See the terms of reference, the October 6 announcement of the successful tenderers, and the invitation for submissions, at http://www.dcita.gov.au/broad/policy_reviews/abc_funding_adequacy_and_efficiency_review.
The review is due to be completed by the end of January 2006, far too late for the ABC to use the findings in the preparation of its draft budget submission (completed in October 2005) as the ABC had originally hoped.
THE ABC’S BUDGET
The ABC has been funded on a triennial basis—to enable forward planning—since 1988, and this is the year when the ABC is drawing up it submission for funding for the 2006–09 triennium.
It will be in the budget of May 2006 that we hear whether the ABC has the funds it needs if it is to continue in existence as an independent broadcaster, and if it is to expand, as it has begun to, into new media.
NO, MINISTER—THE ABC IS UNDER-FUNDED!
Minister for Communications, Helen Coonan, said during an interview on The Media Report (16 June 2005) that “the ABC is certainly not under-funded”.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/mediarpt/stories/s1391952.htm.
In support of that statement, she cited the $792 million which is the ABC’s total funding for 2005–06. Sounds a lot of money—but let’s have a closer look. For a start let’s look at the funds used for programming:
| YEAR | ABC PROGRAMMING FUNDS |
| 2004–05 | $625 million |
| 1985–86 | $889 million |
Source: ABC Annual Report 2005, p.56, http://www.abc.net.au/corp/ar05/.
- what the ABC had in 1985—$264m more than now (adjusted for inflation)
- Channel 9’s budget—three times the ABC’s TV budget per station
- overseas public broadcasters’ budgets—the BBC gets three and a half times the ABC’s funding, on a per capita basis .
10 CENTS A DAY
Is what we are paying for an ABC which has:
- 60 local radio stations around Australia
- four national networks (RN, Classic FM, NewsRadio, TripleJ)
- ABC Online
- three digital internet radioservices—dig, digJAZZ, digCOUNTRY
- international radio broadcasts via Radio Australia
- international television—ABC Asia Pacific
“Not bad for ten cents a day”—Russell Balding addressing the American Chamber of Commerce on 16 June.
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/s1393609.htm
FUNDING BENCHMARKS
For a more detailed discussion of the ABC’s funding, have a look at the document Funding Benchmarks, written by Darce Cassidy, which includes not only information about the pattern of funding the ABC but also comparisons with commercial and overseas broadcasters.
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