Government Senators' Additional Comments

Labor senators support the five recommendations made by the committee. These additional comments and recommendations elaborate further on Labor senators' views.

Evidence given to the committee from the Perth and Hobart hearings noted the continued decline over a number of years in ABC TV production in these states, until the effective closure of the production units.

The CPSU at the Hobart hearing noted a continued drop in staffing levels in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, while staffing in Melbourne and Sydney have increased:

If you look at the annual reports you can see that the staffing numbers over the last 10 years in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania have clearly declined while in the major spots they have increased.

Friends of the ABC WA in their evidence to the committee outlined the decline in TV production out of Perth until it came to an end:

As I state in the submission from Friends of the ABC WA, TV production in Perth pretty much came to an end in 2011 with the decommissioning of Can We Help? Back in the eighties and nineties, however, at the old ABC, production areas were humming with people engaged in creative activities. ABC Perth had a children's and education unit producing wonderful children's programming for both radio and television. It had a scenery construction workshop, a metal workshop, a huge outside broadcast garage, a TV transmission suite, studios and control rooms, radio and television newsrooms, technical areas and offices—in fact, almost everything that Sydney or Melbourne had, only on a smaller scale with fewer people.

Similarly, at the Hobart hearing, evidence given by the CPSU noted a continued decline in TV production in the state before the announcement of the closure of the ABC Production Unit.

I would just like to comment on the history of TV production in Tasmania. We are talking about TV production closing because Auction Room, the current program produced in Tasmania is not going to be recommissioned. Auction Room was always in a bad situation to succeed. We have actually never been given figures on what it would take to succeed but it was given a 6 pm time slot on Sunday which is recognised as the most difficult spot. It is up against the Sunday night news which are about the most popular programs on television. Auction Room actually increased its share of the audience at that time but that apparently was not good enough. At one time it was shown at 6.30 and its audience actually increased beyond that of the program normally on at 6.30. So we sort of feel that it was set up to fail. We think that the inquiry two years ago put pressure on the ABC to continue some production in Tasmania. The team here in Tassie used to develop 42 episodes of The Collectors, and with Auction Room this was down to 10 episodes. So it was actually even easier for the ABC to say that it was not financially viable.

The longer history is in Tasmania losing Gardening Australia, which moved to Victoria years ago, as well. So centralisation was happening some time ago. There are the financial aspects but we also think there is an ideological approach. Maybe it is just easier for management to have it all centralised but it is just an ideological approach.

Beyond just the level of staffing, the decision-making roles in the corporation have also moved to Sydney and Melbourne. The CPSU in their evidence to the Hobart hearing stated:

...decision makers on personnel or staffing—and this is the case also for what is broadcast on television and on radio—are often taken out of the regions, so we have people in Sydney and Melbourne making decisions about regions. Simply having that structure is going to make it harder to have a regional voice heard, so the people in the regions might have different issues and perspectives of things but their voice is not going to be heard at all.

The Labor Senators note evidence given to the committee of the continued moves by the BBC to decentralise production from London and genuinely commit to regional TV Production. Mr Mark Kelleher, Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and the Arts, Tasmanian Government, told the committee:

The reality is that if the national broadcaster is truly to commit to regional diversity of content then it must stimulate proactively demand and incentivise regional production activity, rather than adopting a strategy of centralisation. It has been very instructive, I think, that after years of centralisation recently the BBC has changed direction and committed to 50 per cent of network spend to regional production by 2016. This is a genuine demonstration and proactive commitment on behalf of the BBC to regional UK, representing a philosophical shift away from centralisation and a commitment to public service values.

The BBC describes this as a healthy balance across internal, regional and independently generated production. Also, importantly, radio and online services are not counted towards these quotas. We believe the ABC should also strive for a healthy mix of regional, internal and independently produced content that represents and reflects an important part of Australia's regional diversity.

Professor Malpas also stated that a continued centralisation of production is contrary to contemporary thinking on production:

...the push towards a greater sense of regionality and decentralised platforms and operations is not just something that we are saying should be happening here; it is already happening elsewhere. In that respect it is a bit odd that we seem to be wanting to stick with a rather old-fashioned view—a rather old-fashioned centralised view. That comment exemplifies that sort of old-fashioned thinking.

The need for tied funding to regional Australia was supported by Ms McInerney of the MEAA who told the committee:

We have both acknowledged that there is a need to change the culture within the ABC around regional funding, but there is no reason why federal government funding that specifically goes to those issues that we have raised in regional areas—better resourcing, better training and better staffing levels—would not help turn that around.

Mr Paul Blake of the CPSU also supported tied funding in his evidence stating:

Going back again, tied funding is probably the only way that we can ensure that our regional communities are looked after.

Recommendation 1

That ABC maintain a commitment to regional television production by guaranteeing that a percentage (50% of television production budget, tied funding) of total Australian ABC television production output, excluding news and current affairs, is produced in the regions. This regional production should attract a significantly higher point allocation as part of the Australian content provisions.

Labor Senators note that there is considerable amount of skills and expertise possessed by ABC employees and significant facilities owned by the ABC.

These skills and expertise are being increasingly centralised to Sydney or Melbourne, or are being lost to the Corporation. There is a disincentive for employees of the ABC to stay in regional Australia. Ms McInerny of the MEAA told the committee:

In the survey that we did of our members not one single member complained about pay in a regional area and yet there is a pay cut in place in regions that creates a glass ceiling that if you want to create a career in the ABC and you would like to earn more than you are currently earning you must go to a metropolitan area. So it is almost an enforced skills drain on regional areas or an imposed salary cap for the rest of your career. There is not a great deal of upward movement available for regional people. There is a lot of skills expansion that can happen but, as I have just pointed to, it is not happening. You have got staff in offices who cover massive areas who would love to be able to get out and create stories of human interest, stories of concern to their communities and the broader Australian public. But they are simply not able to do so due to budget restraints, travel budget cuts and also this shortfall in training and being able to cover those staff. So I think when you are talking about regions they know that they are not paid as much and they know that they do more on a daily basis.

ABC staff have an extensive range of skills and provide an important role in the training of future generations of film and television staff both in the ABC and in the private sector.

Recommendation 2

That as much as is practically possible the ABC’s share of co-productions should come from ‘in kind support’ through utilising the skills and facilities of the ABC, rather than using the ABC solely as a source of revenue.

Conclusions

The Labor senators feel that the ABC has an extremely significant role in reflecting regional diversity and creating a sense of regional identity, which it cannot do without significant regional TV production.

The Labor senators are concerned by evidence that the film and television industry would have difficulty in producing content in regional Australia in the same quantities previously produced by the ABC.

Labor senators note the importance of regional production of ABC TV both for the promotion of regional identity and for the support it provides to the wider film and TV industry in regional Australia.

Ms Slaninka of Screen Tasmania commented on the importance of the ABC Production Unit in Hobart on the ability of the wider film and TV sector in Tasmania.

I think with the closure of the production unit we are going to see the diminishing of the facilities, resources and skills that are available here in Tasmania and of the critical mass of industry that exists here and the skills we can draw on.

The view is supported by evidence given to the committee that given the support provided to independent TV production in regional Australia by ABC employees and facilities, independent TV production is made significantly more difficult by the closure of ABC production facilities in regional Australia.

Ms Connolly of Wide Angle Tasmania told the committee:

There is no question that the significance of that infrastructure in Tasmania is greater than in Melbourne or Sydney, where there are alternative studios, base of personnel and facilities and equipment and postproduction houses and so forth that are available to the independent sector and to the ABC, which sometimes uses outside facilities as well.

This view was confirmed by Mr Johnston of SPAA:

If, as Sharon points out, the ABC facilities are integral to the local industry or the capacity of the local industry to produce Tasmanian programs, then, yes. I had not considered that, I must confess.

Labor Senators would also like to note the difficulties the film bodies of small states have with the the co-production model put forward by the ABC. They note the evidence of Mr Blake of the CPSU who said:

The other aspects of the co-productions which really affect regions is that, if a state government body does not put up the money to match the ABC money, a production is just not going to happen. Oddly enough, it is going to be the smaller states who are not going to have that money. That is the current situation in Tasmania where the state government has been asked to match money of the ABC offering $1.5 million over three years to do co-productions.

Professor Malpas also noted the importance of regional TV production on the creation of a sense of identity both within a region, and how the regions are perceived by the rest of the nation:

One of the things I think the ABC should be seen as doing in its focus on regions is also building brands, building regional and local identities, not just in Tasmania but elsewhere. If the ABC is not doing that it is not clear what else we have got to do it and it is not clear even who else we would turn to. So having a production facility here and a commitment to regional production—and I mean a real commitment, and the UK and Europe provide some interesting examples—is absolutely vital in supporting a wider range of expertise and in being able to project an image, a brand, an identity outside the state but also within the state, and that should not be forgotten either... If you want regional production to actually reflect identity, if you want it to feed into identity, if you want all the economic and cultural benefits that come from it, it has to be tied to content and not just the location.

Labor Senators feel that the promotion of regional diversity and identity goes to the heart of who we are as a nation.

As Professor Malpas told the committee:

I think one of the things that has been missed here is that maybe, if you really focus on developing a stronger brand that is Australian and reflects Australia's regionality, if you start to draw on the resources you have in the regions you can start projecting a different sense of brand and identity, in the way that the BBC does. Maybe that might actually be a more viable option financially and economically than centralising production and losing the capacity to develop distinctive content—which is what I think will happen and what I think has been happening—and relying increasingly on other people giving you distinctive content.

Senator Doug Cameron Deputy Chair	Senator Catryna Bilyk	Senator Carol Brown
Senator Lisa Singh	Senator Lin Thorp

Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page