Saturday Magazine

5 Feb 2014

The conditions of public broadcasting

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During her time as education minister for Victoria, Bronwyn Pike kicked off a $1.9 billion project to rebuild and modernise 500 Victorian schools. It was just one of many achievements Victoria’s longest serving female minister is proud of in a career that also includes five years as the minister for health. Joining Macca as guest co-host on this edition of Saturday Magazine, Bronwyn speaks openly of her time working alongside former premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby.

Another topic on the agenda is the planned efficiency study into Australia’s two public broadcasters, ABC and SBS. Recent comments from Prime Minister Tony Abbott appear to depict the study as a consequence for the ABC’s handling of revelations that Australia spied on Indonesia. However, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has extinguished those claims, telling the ABC’s 7.30 program that the study is merely business as usual for the government. But as 7.30 presenter Leigh Sales said to Mr Turnbull, current evidence appears to portray the ABC as more efficient than ever.

“As a share of government spending, ABC funding has almost halved (since 1996). Accounting for inflation, funding has effectively flat-lined. Yet over that time the ABC’s delivery of services has expanded greatly, for example more digital channels, and iView, and online, that sort of thing. Surely that’s the definition of efficiency, isn’t it? Less money, more services.” she asked Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull.

A previous review of SBS’s finances found that the broadcaster was in-fact under-funded, resulting in an injection of monies to improve and broaden the network’s reach.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:15 — 86.3MB)

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