Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The ABC is one of Australia’s most important national institutions. Millions of Australians across the length and breadth of this country rely on the ABC to keep them informed and entertained. It also has a vital role in developing Australian culture and our national identity. The ABC is a national asset that belongs to all Australians. It should not be a plaything of the government. It is no secret, however, that senior members of the Liberal Party take a very different view. Earlier this month the Bulletin catalogued the deep and abiding hatred that this government has towards the ABC. A senior Liberal was quoted as saying that the Chairman of the ABC, Mr Donald McDonald, is ‘hated and detested’ by most members of cabinet. By all accounts, his crime is that he believes that his role is to protect the integrity and independence of the ABC.

The last decade must have been difficult for Mr McDonald. Since 1996 the Howard government has been waging war on our national broadcaster in a determined effort to silence the ABC’s independent voice. The ABC has been starved of adequate funding. Last October, the ABC told Senate estimates that in real terms it has $51 million less per annum to make programs than it did when John Howard came to office. The former ABC managing director, Russell Balding, has warned that the ABC is ‘seriously under threat’ and has stated that he is concerned ‘about the ABC having the financial capacity to continue to develop, produce and deliver content’.

The funding cuts experienced by the ABC have had a real impact on the ABC’s ability to fulfil its charter obligations. The most obvious area to have suffered is the ABC’s production of Australian drama. Last year the ABC broadcast only 13 hours of locally produced drama. Five years ago it produced more than 100 hours. Inadequate funding is also stifling the ABC’s ability to fully exploit the possibilities of digital broadcasting. ABC2, the national broadcaster’s digital channel, runs on a budget of just over $2 million. As a consequence, little in the way of new content is available on ABC2 and the potential of the channel to drive digital take-up is not being realised.

The viewing public and the Australian production industry are being forced to pay the price for the Prime Minister’s ideological obsession with crushing the ABC. There are few signs that the May budget will bring the ABC any relief from the ideologically motivated funding squeeze that it is experiencing. During the 2004 election campaign the government promised to review the adequacy of the ABC’s funding and the efficiencies of its operations. This was an election commitment. Senator Coonan appointed KPMG to carry out this task. The minister has now received this report but she refuses to release it. She claims that the report is a budget input. There was no mention in the government’s election policy announcement that the report would be kept secret. Indeed, the context of the commitment was that the government would give the public an independent benchmark to assess the adequacy of the ABC’s funding.

Despite the minister’s moves to sweep the KPMG report under the carpet, it has been widely reported that the KPMG report found that the ABC is chronically underfunded and is efficient. This is a finding that would not surprise most reasonable observers. Senator Coonan should immediately release the KPMG report so that we can have a proper debate about the level of funding required to ensure that the ABC is the world-class public broadcaster that Australians deserve. The fact that the outcome of the review did not vindicate the government’s prejudices is no excuse for not releasing the report. Australians are entitled to ask what the government has got to hide. Taxpayers have paid $417,000 for this KPMG report. They are entitled to see its results and to make their own judgments. The Bulletin report on the ABC earlier this month shows a government that will not be diverted from its goal of destroying the ABC by the KPMG review. They will not let the facts get in the way of their blind prejudice. The Bulletin reported:

Despite some recent optimism, sources told The Bulletin that the ABC’s funding submission was doomed. Asked if there was a chance the ABC would receive more funding ... a reliable government source said flatly: “No. None.”

So we have this pretence of a public review, but the issue has already been prejudged. This is a government that is sitting on a massive budget surplus. Reports are of $14 billion worth of surplus. That is billion, not million. The government should invest some of this money to restore adequate funding to the ABC so that it is able to deliver the high-quality news and current affairs and the entertainment that Australians expect.

In recent weeks the government has made it clear that armed with its Senate majority it is about to launch a new offensive against the ABC. The minister told the Bulletin:

... it won’t be the same ABC it is today in a year’s time; we are in for some very exciting changes.

Well, we are now starting to see what these changes are going to be. They may be exciting for the ideological zealots in the Liberal Party, but they are cause for concern for all Australians who value a strong and independent ABC. The government has begun softening up the public for introduction of advertising on the ABC. The minister went on radio and misled the Australian public, stating that the introduction of advertising was a matter for the ABC board to consider. The minister should have been aware that this is not the case. Section 31 of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act states clearly:

The Corporation shall not broadcast advertisements.

It is black and white in the legislation. It is not a matter for the board, Minister; it is the law.

At the last election, the government promised to maintain this prohibition. It was a government election commitment: ‘We will not put advertising on the ABC.’ Do not worry about your election commitments! Despite this the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have called for the matter to be examined. The government should immediately make clear whether it intends to honour its election commitment or not. Let me be clear about this: Labor is completely opposed to any move to introduce advertising on the ABC. Advertising would take the ABC down the American road, where public broadcasters have to beg for corporate sponsorship to remain viable. Advertising would undermine the ABC’s editorial independence, which has been built up over 70 years. ABC program makers must be free to take on powerful vested interests. Current affairs producers should not have to worry about offending the sponsors of the 7.30 Report.

The introduction of advertising would mean that decisions about what programs are broadcast would be dictated by needs of advertisers rather than the ABC’s charter. In such an environment, programming decisions are likely to become more conservative and less innovative. Government members like Senator Humphries have been championing advertising as the solution to the ABC’s funding crisis. A few weeks ago he said:

… the fact is the ABC needs the money and could make great things happen with that money, such as restoring services in regional Australia…

He went on:

We can sit back and wait for the wonderful day when money comes from government but it’s unlikely to happen in sufficient quantities into the future.

The fact is that advertising will not save the ABC; it will destroy it. If Senator Humphries is really interested in strengthening the ABC he should start lobbying his colleague the Treasurer to stop the funding squeeze.

The latest instalment in the government’s attempt to undermine the independence of the ABC was the minister’s announcement last week of a plan to restructure the ABC board. The announced restructure consists of just one measure: the abolition of the position of the staff-elected director. For 10 years the government has tried to stack the ABC board with its political mates to try to control the ABC. People like Michael Kroger, Ron Brunton and Janet Albrechtsen have been dispatched to the board with orders to bring the ABC to heel. There is a clear conservative bias amongst the current board. This bias has undermined the confidence of many Australians in the independence of the ABC. The staff-elected position is the one appointment that the Prime Minister cannot control. That is why it has been targeted for termination.

Under the current arrangements, the staff-elected director makes an important contribution to the ABC’s corporate governance. The staff-elected director is able to give the board an important insight into ABC operations. Particularly with the current board, they are sometimes the only person with the expertise to question the advice coming from the ABC’s executive. The Prime Minister is not appointing mates who understand anything about public broadcasting; he is just appointing his ideological mates. They have not got a clue about public broadcasting. The elected representative on the ABC board is the only person with, in many instances over the last 10 years, any experience or understanding of public broadcasting.

It is not just the Labor Party that has complained about this. In 2001 government senators unanimously—and I am willing to bet, Senator Eggleston, you were one of them—endorsed a Senate committee recommendation to retain the staff-elected director’s position. Nothing has changed except that the government now has a Senate majority. This is an arrogant, out of control government that is determined to undermine one of our most important national institutions. If the government was really serious about improving the ABC’s corporate governance it would end the practice of stacking the board with coalition cronies.

Since 2003, Labor has argued that there should be an open and transparent process for making appointments to the ABC board. Vacancies should be advertised and there should be clear merit based selection criteria. Labor’s policy provides for an independent selection panel to undertake a proper shortlist selection process. Most importantly, the selection of the shortlist would be independent of the minister. If the minister does not appoint a short-listed candidate he or she will have to table in parliament a formal statement of the reasons for departing from the short list. Labor’s policy will enhance our democracy by making the ABC independent of government. It will foster an environment where the ABC can be fearless in its approach to news and current affairs and critical of both sides of politics whenever necessary. These are the changes Labor will be arguing for when the government introduces its bill into the parliament.

It is about time this government realised that the overwhelming majority of Australians do not share their warped views about the ABC. According to research conducted by Newspoll, 82 per cent of people believe that the ABC is balanced and even handed when reporting news and current affairs; 84 per cent regard the ABC as distinctively Australian and contributing to Australia’s national identity; 80 per cent believe that ABC TV provides quality programming; 70 per cent believe that the ABC is efficient and well managed; and 90 per of the public value the ABC and its services to the community.

Just today, the Treasurer received a petition organised by the community organisation GetUp and endorsed by 42,000 Australians, calling on the government to properly fund the ABC. This is an extraordinary figure considering the petition was only launched last Thursday. Nobody would pretend that the ABC is perfect. Like any media organisation, the ABC makes mistakes. (Time expired)