Friends of the ABC - is it worth the effort?

From background briefing the quarterly newsletter of Friends of the ABC Australia, autumn 1999, vol 1, no1.

June Factor reflects on what we have achieved in the last three years

It is now three years since the Liberal and National Party coalition entered the 1996 election campaign with a detailed policy on the national public broadcaster. Here is how the coalition described the ABC in its election manifesto, Better Broadcasting:

'This vast network provides a diverse range of programs and performances of cultural value and intellectual integrity. The ABC has a proud record of offering high quality and diverse programming across a broad spectrum of human interests including news, current affairs, drama, sport, and the arts.'

This 'proud record' - in radio, television and overseas broadcasting - was to be financially maintained and strengthened by a coalition government. That was an unqualified election commitment.

Reality, alas, proved once again the unreliable character of election promises. Instead of support, the newly-elected government first bad-mouthed the ABC and then cut its budget by 12%: $66 million gone, a thousand staff lost, programs and services grievously depleted.

This was no mere etcetera of policy: the government's about-face threatened to turn one of the world's great public broadcasters (flaws and all) into a frill on the body politic: diminished, intimidated, and effectively neutered as a sounding board for ideas, a platform for democratic debate, a venue for cultural diversity. The resulting public outrage - encompassing every State and Territory and people of the most diverse backgrounds - turned Friends of the ABC into perhaps the fastest growing community organisation in the country. The government, by its deceit, aroused a powerful wave of public protest, and the waves have not subsided.

For three years, FABC has organised meetings, rallies, interviews, articles, letters to editors, phone calls, faxes, debates, consultations, submissions. What did we, the thousands of Australians who rallied to the defence of our national treasure the ABC, achieve in these three tumultuous years? Was it worth the effort?

The evidence suggests, most certainly. Without the focused public opposition provided by the FABC to the 'new' policies of the government, the ABC would have been devastated in 1997 by a $540 million cut over four years. That would have meant, according to Senator Alston himself: no Triple J, no classic FM, 'significantly reduced metropolitan radio services' and no overseas services.

The most powerful government departments - Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury and Finance - wanted these cuts. But they were forced to accept the 'softer' option included in the 1997/98 Budget BECAUSE OF PUBLIC OUTRAGE.

For the same reason, the iniquitous 1996 'efficiency divided cut' of 2% of the ABC's budget was not continued in later years. And for the same reason Senator Alston was forced to promise, in 1997, that there would be no further cuts to the ABC's budget. Indeed, the outcry against the attack on independent public broadcasting was so widespread, the government returned $13 million to the ABC in 1997, $7 million of which was used to rescue parts of the decimated Radio Australia. The 1998/99 budget offered no joy - but no further depredations.

FABC has helped to focus and direct public concern about the well-being of the ABC. We encouraged thousands of Australians to write to Bob Mansfield, undoubtedly positively influencing his review of the ABC. We have built a strong community organisation, respected - and sometimes feared - by politicians. Our campaigning on particular services, such as Radio Australia and Radio National, has certainly influenced the ABC Board's policies.

All to the good. But the dangers are far from over. In 1997, the Prime Minister foreshadowed his intention to curtail and control independent statutory authorities such as the ABC. Senator Alston has made no secret of his wish to change the ABC's Charter to make it less 'loose' and 'more focused' - ie narrower. Further funding cuts are still desired by key members of government and the Treasury bureaucracy. And the government's self-declared political appointment to the ABC Board, Michael Kroger, has recently flown a kite for commercialising parts of the ABC.

The likelihood of further concentration of media ownership when - not if - the cross-media ownership rules are diluted, makes the role of the ABC as as independent broadcaster, beholden neither to government nor private interests, ever more critical.

Friends of the ABC will be busy in the year ahead!

June Factor was president of the FABC in Victoria and National Spokesperson for most of the last three years. She is a respected author of books for children.