background briefing 4 .................1

Quarterly Newsletter: Summer 2000 Vol.2 No.4

"We haven't even started"

Senator Richard Alston is arriving for a breakfast speaking engagement in Melbourne. A small group of Friends with placards waits to meet him. When he steps from his car FABC's campaign manager Glenys Stradijot politely greets the Minister with the words: "We're here to ask you to stop destroying the country's national broadcaster."

Equally politely and calmly, Senator Alston replies: "We haven't even started yet. We've got a long way to go."

Senator Alston's comments were made on 23 November outside a Higgins 200 Club function at the Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club in Toorak. Senator Alston had been invited to give a breakfast talk on the topic 'Australia in the New Global Economy'. Friends of the ABC were present to remind Senator Alston of their concern for the ABC.

Several people were close enough to hear Senator Alston's words and are prepared to sign affidavits to attest to the accuracy of this report. Just for once he was not joking.

Despite our suspicions that the present upheaval at the ABC has been directed by Senator Alston, with government approval, those who heard the Minister were chilled by the effrontery of his comment and alarmed at the significance of his remarks. Senator Alston has refused to meet with Friends of the ABC for the last four years, despite the organisation being a major stakeholder in the ABC.

Groundswell of passion

We have tried to make sense of the changes at the ABC being put in place by managing director Jonathan Shier. After nearly six months of change we do not feel that the management and board of the ABC are dealing frankly with the public. Why is there so much secrecy and confusion?

The managing director, the ABC Board and the Federal Government are responsible for the running of the ABC. There is remarkable convergence of views between the three - and remarkable divergence from the great majority of Australians.

Turmoil surrounding the changes at the ABC has aroused huge public protest. Without doubt this is fronting up to becoming a major issue at the next election. The ABC is not popular with politicians on either side of the House and they seem to find it difficult to understand the enormous affection there is for Aunty. They ignore it at their peril.

Keep the letters going to Jonathan Shier, Donald McDonald and the Prime Minister. But with Christmas looming, why not drop a card or a note to the members of our family at the ABC to boost their flagging spirits at this awful time.

At: ABC GPO Box 9994 Sydney 2001
or your state capital.