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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-19 Daily Xml
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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (20:20): I move:

That the Social Development Committee inquire into the adequacy of funding for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to meet its charter obligations within South Australia, including but not limited to provision of—

1. Local regional content;

2. Local news and current affairs content, including 7.30 SA;

3. Local sporting content;

4. Local arts content; and

5. Television and radio production of programs such as Behind the News.

I move this motion today concerned about developments that have occurred over time and since the select committee investigation into ABC funding in 2004 in this house, which included four members still in this place—the Hons John Dawkins, Gail Gago, Terry Stephens and Carmel Zollo. I am not aware of a minority report tabled by any dissenters on that committee, and some of its recommendations, for the record, are:

1. That ABC should give strong consideration to establishing a state-based daily current affairs program in the manner of the 7.30 Report that was axed in late 1995.

2. That the previous state-based sports report be restored in conjunction with local editorial control over the national sports wrap.

3. The ABC and SBS should be provided with adequate ongoing commonwealth funding to fulfil its charter obligations in South Australia.

Something that was not addressed in the recommendations, nor really from the indications in the report in the inquiry itself, was, importantly in my opinion, the regional content of the ABC. Family First has a list of concerns about the consequences of funding cuts at the ABC, starting with those selected recommendations I read out.

Rather than a daily current affairs program, Stateline has suffered funding cuts and is now known as 7.30 SA, with fewer resources than it once had. Stateline is a very good and popular program that provides a level of current affairs focused on the whole state, from city through the regions and all country areas, that is not picked up to that extent with the detail of coverage by any of the commercials, and it is very good in the way it gives out information to both city and country people. It is a program that is quite popular with a consistent number of viewers on Friday evenings. We have not seen the SA sports wrap reinstated; the national wrap continues to this day.

There has been publicity and concern already expressed in South Australia publicly and to me about the potential cuts to the SANFL coverage that came to light in early August 2011. There may be a reprieve, but that is not locked in until the end of the year, and one still asks: for how long? There have been cuts to the lawn bowls coverage on the ABC, and the ABC has cut Art Nation and outsourced production, with its last episode to air on 27 November 2011, resulting in an alleged 13 redundancies in Adelaide. Likewise, The New Inventors and the Collectors programs have been axed. I am referring to some programs and decisions that are national in nature but affect content provided in South Australia.

I turn to local production. There is a concerning trend within the ABC towards centralisation of production in Sydney and Melbourne and outsourcing otherwise. This reflects the neglect of what are described as the BAPH states (Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart). To illustrate what was already a concerning trend in local production in the ABC, the 2004 select committee illustrated the comparison between locally produced programs in 2001-02 and two years later in 2003-04. I seek leave to have that table incorporated into Hansard, and I will refer to it briefly.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins): Is it purely statistical?

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: It is purely statistical, sir.

Leave granted.

Table 4.1 Comparison of Locally Produced TV between 2001-02 and 2003-04

Programs 2001-02 Programs 2003-04
Anzac Day Anzac Day
Christmas Pageant Christmas Pageant
Adelaide Festival of the Arts Adelaide Festival of the Arts
SANFL SANFL
Federation Forum Cricket
Radio Pictures George Negus Tonight
Parsifal/Wagner Feedback
Cricket in the 70s
Encounter 2002
Festival of Ideas
Snapshot
Late Night Talks
Tasting Australia
Magarey Medal Count
Adelaide Horse Trials
Bay to Birdwood
Law Debate
Christmas Carols
River Reflections


(Source: Community and Public Sector Union submission, 3)

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: I think it is timely (hence my motion) to get an update on the production changes that have occurred in South Australia, and whether there is some hope of halting what in 2004 looked like a concerning trend toward having little or no production at all locally in South Australia. In relation to South Australian-based production, in early August ABC management said the following to staff:

Late last year ABC TV established two new factual entertainment initiatives, one with Screen West and one with the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC). This has resulted in the development of two new factual series of six by 30 minutes with Screen West and two new factual series of six by 30 minutes with SAFC, both series will air on ABC1 in 2012.

So there is added relevance to the South Australian parliament in that the South Australian Film Corporation, a state body, is arguably a beneficiary of the ABC outsourcing production from being in-house.

The charter is somewhat out of date in that outsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon, and therefore there is no written charter requirement for in-house production. The South Australian Film Corporation, as you would expect, has therefore relied upon that understandable lack of foresight to say that there is nothing wrong with outsourcing content, given editorial control remains. Outsourcing, where it supports South Australian jobs, can be a good thing; however, the taxpayer is entitled to ask whether we get value for money overall in outsourcing production on a fee basis as opposed to maintaining production staff within the ABC to produce local content.

This outsourcing and cessation of local in-house production identified in 2004, some seven years ago, has arguably set in a rot that may be irreversible. That is why I am asking the council, by referral to the Social Development Committee, to explore whether, in fact, something can be done to stop the rot. There is also a suggestion that avenues might exist to see the ABC avail itself of South Australian government grants, such as the SA FACTory initiative. It does seem odd to me that we as a state would be subsidising a federal agency to provide a service to us when the federal budget dwarfs the state budget to a considerable magnitude.

I want to turn to regional content, something that many of our constituents are very passionate about, and as a country person I declare my passion for regional content with the ABC. I have a major concern about the centralisation trend within the ABC. Local regional broadcasting outlets at Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Renmark in the Riverland and Mount Gambier in the South-East are under great pressure to share content and resources as they try to do the same, or even more, with less funding. I hope the committee can get some figures on this development. I suspect that regional ABC outlets here and interstate look with envy at some of the projects being developed out of ABC Sydney and Melbourne, and wish they could see just a smidgen of the funding being thrown at those ventures.

The South Australian National Football League and the South Australian Film Corporation ought to be approached by the committee to express a view on the matter. Likewise, the Friends of the ABC, the Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance and CPSU should also be approached. Perhaps Mr Mark Scott could be requested to come before the committee. I would just like to say that I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr Mark Scott. I think he does an excellent job as managing director, but obviously he is constrained, first, by commonwealth budgets and, secondly, by decisions made by his board.

The ABC is important because its charter requires broadcasting of specific content that might not be considered economic or of interest by the commercial broadcasters. It has been put to me by one constituent that community television and broadcasting ought to be looked at to pick up where the ABC might be leaving off in producing local content, although I have concerns with that because I believe it is important that those television and broadcasting opportunities are left with the ABC. I hope we can reverse the trend of cuts rather than go down that path in some form of defeat.

It would also be worth the committee exploring the production capacity and experience that exists within South Australia that could still be used by the ABC in some shape or form. The collapse of Australia Live TV, and the well-known media identities who got involved in that venture and are now out of pocket, demonstrates the problems that exist in broadcasting in this state. Perhaps some of them are avoidable.

In conclusion, I want to finish with a couple of other comments. I note with interest that journalist David Knox, on 30 May 2011, put out a press comment, entitled 'Concerns over ABC outsourcing production.' It states:

The end of Spicks and Specks later this year has prompted the Community and Public Sector Union to question whether the ABC is committed to its traditions of ABC production over outsourcing to independent producers.

The concerns follow the end of factual program Can We Help? and interview program Talking Heads. Collectors has been 'rested', while there are rumours that The New Inventors is going to be axed.

In contrast upcoming dramas Crownies, The Slap plus Angry Boys, Outland and children's dramas My Place and Dance Academy are all outsourced. So too are Prank Patrol, Hungry Beast, while Rake and The Gruen Transfer are co-productions with the ABC.

Rumours have also long-persisted that extensions to ABC Southbank...may not include a full-scale television studio when Ripponlea studios eventually close. ABC is yet to make a decision.

It finishes by saying:

The union is worried about a repeat of two years ago when 30 producers were let go.

The ABC has been such a fantastic training ground for some of Australia's best journalists, cameramen and women and all of those involved in production. It is important that the ABC continues to have that role. The South East Local Government Association has expressed its concerns. I am aware that on 7 October they wrote to the Managing Director, Mr Mark Scott, about ABC television coverage of lawn bowls and the SANFL and the importance of that continuing for country people.

Ultimately, we need to look at the current situation at the ABC and its funding from Canberra to see if we can retain local jobs and distinctly local content for our community in the years ahead. We have seen recently national awards given to some of the ABC presenters and programs in South Australia, so whether it is the breakfast show with Matt and Dave, Sonya Feldhoff or Ian Henschke—the list goes on—the bottom line is that we have excellent presenters and a good composition of programs in this state. The concern is that slowly but surely, through attrition, that will head over probably to Sydney. I do not believe that is in the best interests of South Australia, so I commend the motion to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

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