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Quarterly Newsletter:Winter 2001, Vol.3 No.2
Extraordinary Rally for Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting
More than 15,000 people gathered on the Sydney Opera House forecourt and steps at the inaugural Extraordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on 29 April 2001.
Proclaiming the EGM of the Shareholders of the ABC, by the Friends of the ABC, the meeting emphasised that the ABC belongs to all of us, the citizens of Australia who pay for the ABC with our taxes.
Speakers from many different fields spoke of what the ABC meant to them. Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Simone Young, described how she had developed her love of music through the ABC. "We didn't come from a family who could afford to go to concerts", she said. "It was the ABC which introduced me to music." Paralympic Triple Gold Medal Winner Priya Cooper spoke of how Paralympians for the first time felt included in the main stream of Australia through the Paralympic Games being televised on the ABC.
A more sober note was taken by Quentin Dempster and Jane Connors who described how difficult it was becoming to work within an organisation where the support from ancillary staff had gone and there were only 10 researchers left at Gore Hill.
ABC staffers and others who took buckets through the huge crowd were moved to tears by the generosity of the people there. Over $19,000 was collected and there was a great boost in membership.
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Victoria will hold its Melbourne rally in Treasury Gardens on Sunday 17 June.The rally will farewell a busload of supporters who will tour through Victoria on their way to Canberra to talk to politicians on both sides of Parliament |
As the existing political system comes under pressure the attempts to control the role of the ABC will become more ruthless. In my view the strategic importance of the ABC to developing Australia's representative democracy is so high that I would be comfortable with the role of the ABC being the only issue at the next Federal election.PETER BRAIN, Deakin Lecture, 15/5/0 |
Shareholders call for a spill of the ABC Board
The Shareholders Charter was adopted unanimously by the huge crowd, as was a motion calling for a spill of the Board. A copy of the Shareholders' Charter, with an accompanying letter, has been sent to all NSW MPs.
Friends of the ABC were delighted with the large turnout for the event and with the amount of media attention. This included stories on Channels 2, 9 and 10 and SBS, articles in the Melbourne Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Brisbane Courier Mail and Daily Telegraph.