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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-18 Daily Xml
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:03): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house of the effect of the proposed federal government cuts to ABC operations in Adelaide?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:03): I was alarmed to see the speculation about cuts to funding for the ABC, especially given that the federal government had specifically—

Mr Williams: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr WILLIAMS: I'm struggling to understand what responsibility the Premier has for this—

The SPEAKER: It's a bogus point of order. The member for MacKillop will leave the house for an hour.

The honourable member for MacKillop having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It's sad that this isn't a matter of bipartisan support because this is a matter of protecting the integrity of South Australian stories being told not only to South Australians but also on a national stage. I think in the mid-1990s, there were current affairs which were locally based every night of the week in South Australia. Sadly, that was something that was abolished. There was, in fact, a rearguard action fought to retain just the one night, Friday night, of local current affairs television.

The reason this is important is not just because of the jobs that are at risk, which itself I think is a matter of concern. I think we sit now at something like 6 per cent of the ABC workforce nationally when our population share would suggest it should be higher than that. Obviously, that is an unfair distribution of resources around the nation. But it is a more important issue, and that is protecting the capacity of the national broadcaster to reflect Australia in all its diversity to the nation.

At the moment, we have a very Sydney-centric ABC and the truth is Australia is not a uniform cultural experience. There are important regional differences that need to find their expression and, if they don't find their expression through our national broadcaster, where will they find their expression? An example that I gave on radio the other morning I think is a really powerful one. We are bombarded with images out of Western Sydney about the state of relations between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians which do not reflect the state of relations between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians in South Australia.

In fact, we should be proud of the multicultural community we have established. In fact, we should be a pattern for the nation so, rather than these stories being presented as truthful, they are not truthful for South Australia but they are the images that come through the national bulletins and they are the images that come through the national current affairs arrangements, so it is only in a very small way at the end of the week we get to redress that balance with great stories like the one that was shown about a month ago on the 7.30 report.

It doesn't just rest there. The truth is that the Sydney-centric ABC editorial analysis is that South Australian stories only get up on the national bulletin when they fit into a stereotype about South Australia—macabre murder, rust-bucket state, whatever is in the mindset. I have to say, the mindset of the rest of the nation about South Australia is fundamentally—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's a very good idea, a Q&A based—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, there is something important about the South Australian story. It is different. It should be represented. South Australians should see stories about themselves on their own local media. That is why we strongly support the retention of the resources here in South Australia to tell these stories.

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