Page 492 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 8 March 2006
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that we get some modicum of television news coverage here in Canberra relating to local issues. I think it is disappointingly limited in terms of the fact that most Canberra stories come on well into the bulletin and they are very limited in their scope.
I think we are well served with ABC radio and the quality of programs throughout all hours of the day. We have got an excellent line-up of presenters in the ACT. I hope they can continue to maintain that standard of broadcasting, and that applies to the reporting staff that we deal with. It would be great to see the capital of this country given a greater level of television news reporting, rather than being a virtual appendage to stories generated out of Sydney.
I will conclude my remarks there. The opposition will let this go through unopposed. But I do flag the concern I have about motions constantly coming up that seem to be more suited to the federal parliament than dealing with the matters that constituents raise with me as fundamental local issues.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (5.08): I would like to speak in support of the motion, but I agree with Mr Mulcahy’s comment that some of the discussions we have here seem to be matters more for the federal government. Nonetheless, I note that Ms Porter supported her arguments with local examples and in that, I think, this one actually slips by a little easier than some of the other motions that we have seen here.
I think the ABC is a bit like the aunty that some of us call it. It is often taken for granted in our community and regarded by some people as a little bit out of touch or not really relevant. It is one of those things that people do not realise how much it offers to our lives until it is no longer there and that is why it is really important that we talk about it now. It is a positive thing to do. The board’s submission is before the government. It is, I believe, a modest submission in relation to what some of the support groups—for instance, Friends of the ABC—would like to see happening.
Of course, the ABC has learnt from earlier years. Over the last decade or so it has been knocked back repeatedly in its requests. That is not peculiar to Liberal governments. In fact, it was during the Keating era that it had one of its biggest reductions. What that perhaps says is that federal politicians of all flavours often feel that the ABC is biased against them. I suppose that is something that happens when people come to positions of power. There does seem to be a tendency to take criticism personally and to not like criticism.
We have seen the ABC go through an audit recently. It came out of that quite well. Most people would probably be aware that all flavours of opinions are given an airing on the ABC. But it does air the kinds of opinions and thoughts you are less likely to find on some of the commercial stations and that is why I think it is valuable. I believe that the ABC plays a really important role in community education.
The new minister for communications, Helen Coonan, does seem to be more sympathetic to the ABC than earlier ministers. She did make a statement earlier in the piece that the ABC is not underfunded, but she appears to have revised that. Perhaps she looked at the figures that show that in 1985-86, which is before all of the cuts started happening, the ABC was given $889 million; in 2004-2005 it was $625 million. That is a decrease whichever way you look at it.
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