Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten, deputy Tanya Plibersek and leaders from the Australian arts and journalism communities will join forces to launch a campaign aimed at demonstrating the strength of public opposition to ABC funding cuts as part of a National Week of Action starting November 18.
Public rallies will be held in capital cities and regional centres across Australia to launch the Our stories Our Future Our ABC campaign, a joint initiative by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA).
The National Week of Action will begin on Tuesday November 18 and conclude on Tuesday November 25.
After months of confusion and uncertainty, the Government has yet to reveal the extent of the cuts it intends to impose off the back of the Lewis Review. It is clear that the scale of the cutbacks will leave the cherished public broadcaster worse off – meaning that Australian audiences are also the losers.
The CPSU and MEAA Our stories Our Future Our ABC campaign will give the Australian public an opportunity to celebrate their public broadcaster and to voice their concerns about the Government’s brutal cuts.
CPSU national president Michael Tull said: “Before the election we were promised no cuts to the ABC. It’s proven to be a promise betrayed. We’ve already seen cuts, the axing of ABC international and talented and experienced staff forced into redundancy. Now the Government wants to cut even deeper and harder with up to $100 million in cuts, outsourcing and the axing of internal production planned, all of which will drastically reduce the ABC’s capacity to respond to changing technology and audience demands. We must oppose these cuts.”
MEAA federal secretary Christopher Warren said: “Let’s be clear – the cuts proposed undermine the ABC’s obligations under its charter. They mean a loss of Australian voices, of Australian stories, of Australian performances.”
“For years, it has been abundantly clear that the ABC is an efficiently run public institution. With an 84 per cent approval rating according to surveys by Essential Media, it is also a much-loved Australian institution. Now the ABC is being forced to take a knife to its operations and hack away at content and services. The casualties from this aren’t just the ABC jobs that are lost – audiences are being punished because of a government diktat to extract cash from the ABC. There is no public support for this decision,” he said.
The ABC Board echoed those sentiments in its recent ABC annual report, highlighting the efficiency of the corporation and the value for money the ABC delivers for each taxpayer dollar