Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take the opportunity today to centre my contribution to the adjournment debate on Australia's national broadcaster. From the outset, I feel it's necessary to note the crucial role played by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in delivering emergency broadcasts during the catastrophic fires of the 2019-20 season. First, I would like to thank the ABC for its service in delivering vital emergency broadcasts and comprehensive coverage during the catastrophic fires. The information provided by the ABC was invaluable, especially in cases where communities had been cut off completely, with power, internet and telecommunications all unavailable.

It's crucial that in times of national emergency we have a strong, fully funded public broadcaster that's able to convey crisis messages to affected communities and provide complete coverage of events. This House would do well to acknowledge the vital role that the ABC has played over recent months, and we ought to commit to protecting the national broadcaster to ensure it can continue to operate in this manner. It's important to acknowledge there has been an exponential rise in emergency coverage presented by the ABC without an increase to its funding to cover the resources which have been poured into the broadcasting effort. Emergency broadcasts this year alone are currently sitting at over 670 and it's only early March. It's a figure up from 256 in 2017 and 371 in 2018-19.

I am a proud co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC in this place and I'd like to commend my co-chair, the member for Mayo, for bringing the important motion on the ABC before this House this week. In doing so, my colleague noted that since Boxing Day 2019, the ABC covered more than a hundred emergency broadcasts in a single week as bushfires raged across the country. The practical, life-saving information provided by the public broadcaster cannot be understated, and the effects of this bushfire season on people and their communities were certain to have been far worse if it wasn't for the ABC and its quality reporting—thank God for the ABC! In fact, the public broadcaster was not immune to the devastation caused by the fires and sustained very heavy damage to its radio and television network infrastructure in Batemans Bay in New South Wales and in East Gippsland in Victoria.

Despite funding cuts made to the ABC by this government and exhaustion as a result of the national emergency, the broadcaster mobilised rapidly to restore local radio stations as a priority in the disaster. The public relied on the ABC due to its critical role in providing information to communities during disasters, and thankfully the ABC pulled through by prioritising those affected communities. That's why it's critical to acknowledge the $83.7 million pause in indexation funding must be reversed by this current government as a matter of urgency. The ABC should not be put into a position of having to choose to economise on its emergency broadcasting due to funding cuts. It is thus clear that despite the extreme cuts that have been made to the ABC it has provided excellent service to the public in this year's period of national emergency.

In the wake of further inaction on climate change from this government and the likelihood of more extreme weather events in the ongoing future, it is critical that we adequately fund our public broadcaster. The ABC has faced a barrage of unwanted and ill-conceived attacks from those opposite in recent years, and I find this completely unacceptable. Time and again, the ABC demonstrate just how invaluable their organisation is and how wonderful the many services that they provide to all Australians are. Yet we have an irresponsible conservative government that consistently tries to suffocate, undermine, underfund and smother this organisation in over-regulation. I will not mince my words here: I found the attacks on the ABC by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government to be unprecedented, unpalatable and unjust.

I acknowledge that there are those opposite who understand the value of the ABC and who are willing to defend the organisation and the vital role that it plays. However, the fact remains that the recent ABC cuts and criticism have been intentionally caused by the coalition government on a number of occasions. The AFP raids on the broadcaster are an example. With the decline of journalism in this country—and I note with sadness the pending closure of the AAP announced this week—we must fiercely defend our national broadcaster. Independent reporting and journalism form an essential part of our democracy. It's my hope that our national broadcaster can continue to contribute to public debate in this country.