Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I withdraw, but the Prime Minister, leading into the last election, promised the Australian community that there would be no cuts to the ABC and no cuts to SBS, and he did that—along with so many other cuts that he gave a commitment before the last election. Commitment was given at that time and then, as soon as they got back into government, they made those cuts. Surely, that is lying to the Australian community and that is at least how the community sees it.

Last week the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the finance minister, Senator Cormann, embarrassed themselves beyond belief trying to defend the impossible. People do not like liars, but what they hate more is when people lie about a lie, and that is what Mr Turnbull and Senator Cormann have done.

When you break a promise, you do the responsible thing and be honest about why you broke the promise. You do not try and cover up a lie with another lie, which is what those opposite have tried to do—and failed badly, I might add.

This government has lied and misled the Australian people about cuts to the ABC and SBS, about their promises to also not cut health, education spending or pensions in this country. On every one of those counts, they have failed the honesty test. They have cut education. They want to have further cuts to higher education. They have cut health, and we know they have changed the pension system, which is going to have a devastating effect on the aged-care sector in this country.

I do not usually say favourable things about Mr Abbott's predecessor, but I think I mentioned before the Mr Howard has at least one thing in his favour, and that is he is a politician of conviction. He is a man of conviction. I have to say this Prime Minister, whom I would have thought was someone aspiring to follow in Mr Howard's footsteps, has failed miserably.

Earlier this morning the Managing Director of the ABC, Mr Mark Scott, was forced by the Abbott Liberal government to outline how the national broadcaster would find $254 million in savings over five years. Mr Scott informed staff of the ABC about the impending redundancies and changes coming to the ABC. I would like to read a part of the statement sent to ABC staff across the country, because that is who we are thinking about here today: those who are going to be directly affected and those in our community who rely on the ABC and SBS in this country.

In charting this new course, my thoughts go out firstly to those who face losing their jobs. As other companies in the media sector have found, structural change can have painful personal consequences.

We anticipate that more than 400 people – close to 10% of our ongoing workforce – face potential redundancy as we adjust our activities…

We regard the changes as vital to securing the long-term health of the organisation but I acknowledge that is no comfort to those who will lose their positions.

It is sad, and it is not only the ABC which will be forced to make employees redundant; the SBS has also been asked to find $53 million in savings over the same period.

We all know that ultimately our public broadcasters should never have been put in this position. They should have been forced to make people redundant at any time, let alone less than a month before Christmas. We on this side know that those on the other side are forever attacking the ABC. It has been part of their mantra that they are going to do whatever they can to undermine the national broadcaster. But Mr Scott was forced to make people redundant in order to secure the viability of the national broadcaster for the future because the government unnecessarily ripped funds away from it. This was all unnecessary and not called for.

At the weekend it was confirmed that Stateline would not be coming back next year, replaced by a Friday edition of 7.30. This morning Radio National's Bush Telegraph tweeted that it would stop airing at Christmas. This is really sad. These productions are quality programs which Australians love. Among the other high-profile cuts are the Adelaide TV production studio, which will close. Six other TV productions in smaller cities will also close, and production will be based in Sydney and Melbourne. Once again rural and regional Australia will be directly affected. Regional radio bureaus will be closed in Gladstone, Port Augusta and other places. Sports coverage from across the country and internationally will also be scaled back, and I bet my bottom dollar that it will be women's sport that will got to the cutting floor. Women's sport, when we have been working so hard to get it the recognition that it deserves, will be cut. Further, the ABC foreign bureaus will be reshaped and a new bureau commissioned in Beirut.

At this time there are many regional towns that do not know whether the ABC will be able to function as it does today. Will TV productions be closed in my home state of Tasmania? There is little left there as it is. I do not know. Will radio production be severely downsized due to staff cuts? We do not know. Nobody knows. But what we do know is it is this government's agenda to take as many resources as they possibly can to disadvantage the national broadcaster because that is part of its mantra. It is part of its DNA.

I do not know how many positions will be lost in my home state of Tasmania, but obviously I hope that there are very few, if any at all, because we in rural and regional Australia, particularly in my home state of Tasmania, value the independence of the ABC. These cuts are vicious and will affect our national broadcaster unnecessarily. Such cuts will have a significant impact on regions such as my home state, as I said. They provide vital information to the community. The ABC provides a voice for the community and a voice for Australians who do not usually have a voice. It provides national and community services.

The ABC does not just provide news and current affairs but also provides at times community service announcements and emergency bushfire announcements. Forget about Peppa Pig and Bananas in Pyjamas; the ABC in certain circumstances does save lives. We need a national broadcaster that provides an unparalleled service to the people of Australia. It should not be compromised by those opposite. Australians deserve a vibrant ABC with the funding to thrive and remain commercial free.

These are truly dark days in our country's history because everything in this country that makes our country great is under attack by this government, which will cut anything to improve its own bottom line. It is all about them saving face. Shame on those opposite. Shame on them for not having the heart or any vision for this country. Not only do they have no heart or vision as far as the ABC and SBS are concerned; as I have said earlier today in this place, when it comes to aged care we know that that side of the chamber have gone missing. We have had an assistant minister who is asleep at the wheel. It is just a shame that the Minister for Communications did not stand up for the ABC and did not stand up for rural and regional Australia. I put shame on the Nationals in particular because they espouse to be representing rural and regional Australia. (Time expired)