Australian Greens' Additional Comments
The Australian Greens are concerned that the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is in danger of becoming the Sydney and
Melbourne Broadcasting Corporation (SMBC).
Recommendations contained in the majority report demonstrate
a cross-party consensus against the disproportionate concentration of resources
in one or two cities when the ABC has an obligation to “reflect the cultural
diversity of the Australian community”.
While Sydney and Melbourne are rich in cultural diversity
and talent, our nation is bigger than these two cities. As a public broadcaster
paid for by all Australians, the value, role and audience of the ABC will only
increase if it presents and nurtures a diverse range of viewpoints and culture
from across the country.
The Greens support the committee’s recommendations that the
ABC develop a production fund for regional television production, stop
out-sourcing production and engage in more co-productions and reform the
Charter to ensure that content is produced that reflects regional diversity.
The shock closure of production capacity in Hobart is the
latest development in a trend at the ABC that is broadly viewed as unfortunate
and reversible. The decision to close facilities in Tasmania is contrary to
the first mover advantage for Tasmania in the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Rather than shutting opportunities down, Tasmania would have been ideal as a
hub for the ABC’s digital productions. With the advantage of having the NBN
first, the Tasmanian ABC studios could have demonstrated the potentials and
skills that very fast broadband can produce and transmit.
Australians care about the ABC and rely upon it for
independent news, entertainment and culture on television, radio and online. A
healthy, functional democracy depends upon access to the kind of reliable
information and critical analysis the ABC produces, especially in areas that
make the government of the day and other powerful vested interests
uncomfortable. Our politics and democracy would be a lot poorer without the
truths and challenges that 4 Corners, Background Briefing and 360
Documentaries routinely present. But the ABC too is poorer for not
decentralising its operations to take advantage of the rich and diverse
talents, cultures, and intellectual differences within Australia.
The ABC should be properly funded and resourced and to be
free from political interference and to provide local content, local artists
and fresh perspectives on the events that shape our lives. That cannot be
achieved if management continues to forget that it is the ABC, not the SMBC.
Recommendation 1
The ABC reverses the decision to close production
facilities in Tasmania and instead establishes a hub for the ABC’s digital
productions.
Recommendation 2
The ABC Charter be amended to ensure that the Corporation
is required to take account of the benefits of maintaining robust levels of
production capacity across all states and territories.
Senator Scott Ludlam
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