ABC will stay put, says chief

Brian Johns tells an inquiry that the national broadcaster is not Sydney-centric. By GABRIELLE COSTA A proposal by a parliamentary committee to move all of the ABC's non-news and current affairs television production to Melbourne was flatly rejected yesterday by the national broadcaster's managing director, Mr Brian Johns. In its final day of scheduled hearings, Mr Johns told the Victorian Economic Development Committee's inquiry into national broadcasting that the ABC was not Sydney-centric and the committee's proposal to relocate production to Melbourne - presented in a discussion paper released last month - was unacceptable. Docklands was the committee's favored location. Mr Johns said the ABC would become increasingly "federalist", especiallly as it moved towards digitisation. Claims of Sydney-centralism had surfaced repeatedly in public hearings - an unjustified view based on circumstantial evidence, Mr Johns said.

Brian Johns That evidence included: the predominence of management in Sydney; perceptions that programming changes affect Melbourne more than other states; the national newsroom's Sydney location; and property development in states outside Victoria. But the chairman on the all-party committee, Mr Chris Strong, rejected Mr Johns' claim and said the committee had been presented with evidence, including financial and staffing figures, that was concrete and indicative of a Sydney bent. Nothing, he said, had been based on anecdotal evidence offered to the inquiry. "When we look at the raw numbers we still are at a loss to see anything but centralism," he said in the hearing. But Mr Johns said Victoria was well represented, in proportion to the State's population, on the ABC payroll. "The fact of the matter is that the ABC activities in Melbourne are more in balance with those of Sydney than this committee has cared to admit.

"What I sense from this debate, however, is that specific evidence is being overwhelmed by a general belief that, with the weight of ABC management in Sydney, inertia will inevitably draw resources back to that state." Mr Johns said there was no plan to move to Docklands, despite some committee members' claim that this would be cheaper in crew and location costs than Sydney. Production in Melbourne was not only supported but encouraged and work on new programs was ongoing, he said. However, Mr Johns refused to give an absolute assurance that the production facilities at Ripponlea would remain operational in the long term, but he said there would be no change in the forseeable future. The organisation's head office would be located in new buildings in Sydney's Ultimo, he said. A committee member, Mr Paul Jenkins, critised that decision, claiming that access to the site was poor. The ABC will present a final written submission to the inquiry before the committee's report is tabled in Parliament late next month.