The Hon Michelle Rowland MP
Minister for Communications
Address to ABC Friends Rally
Sunday 13 April 2025
Sydney NSW
– SPEECH –
I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this land, and pay my respects to the Elders both past and present- and First Nations people joining us today.
Thank you to the ABC Friends for the opportunity to be here.
Friends, it is great to see you again at what is my third address to this event during the festival of democracy.
In that time, the players have changed but the fight to defend the ABC is as critical as ever.
Public broadcasting is under renewed attack, not just here but around the world. Unfortunately this is not new.
In the USA, we have seen threats made to the funding for NPR and PBS, as well as threats to their independence.
And here in Australia, the Liberal National Coalition has wasted no time renewing its threats to the ABC.
On the eve of the September 2013 election, Tony Abbott finished his election campaign by promising the Australian people that he wouldn’t cut the ABC.
Of course, he then quickly broke this promise, only to turn around and make deep cuts early in his first and only term as Prime Minister.
Now, fast forward to just over a decade later, we have Peter Dutton starting his election campaign by threatening that he will make cuts to the ABC.
The Prime Minister called the election on Friday 28 March.
Just five days later, Peter Dutton was on the radio:
- not promising to make no cuts
- not ruling out cuts to the ABC
- but instead threatening cuts, talking about running the ruler over things, about rewarding excellence and not supporting “waste and ineffective spending”.
Make no mistake, that if Dutton becomes the Prime Minister of Australia, he will run another efficiency process over the ABC.
This could be the third efficiency review of the ABC under the Coalition since 2014 – the fourth if you count the Competitive Neutrality Inquiry.
So, in my view, if anyone is starting to appear inefficient, here – it is the Liberal National Coalition.
So let there be no mistake about what a Dutton Government would entail.
At a time when mis- and disinformation is rife, it is the worst time to cut and gut the ABC.
More than ever, we need a strong and supported ABC to help Australians sift through fact and fiction.
The contrast at this election couldn’t be more plain.
It’s a choice between a Labor government backing our national broadcaster, boosting its independence, and better equipping Australians in every corner of the country with access to trusted public interest journalism.
Or a Coalition that would “wield the axe”, making savage cuts to the ABC which would mean Australians have less of the free programs and services they rely on and are less informed and less prepared for the modern world.
Peter Dutton will cut the ABC - and its Australians and our democracy that will pay.
The Board of the ABC already has a statutory duty to ensure that the functions of the Corporation are performed efficiently and with maximum benefit to the Australian people.
The ABC prides itself on efficiency as well as continuous improvement.
It is transparent and accountable to the Australian people and the Parliament.
And I note that ABC Chair Kim Williams has already welcomed any funding review under Peter Dutton.
The Chair has already forcefully rebutted an article which, earlier this year, made claims about so-called ABC “waste” and went so far as to suggest that US streaming company Netflix presents better value for Aussies than the ABC.
The examples of waste provided in the article included:
- the launch of the improved ABC News website and app
- opening the ABC Parramatta office
- covering the US Presidential election
- covering the Garma festival
- providing a fact checking service; as well as
- advertising to let audiences know what content and services are available.
In response, the ABC set out the facts about its funding, its broad functions, its locations, its reach and trust, as well as a set of audience highlights and rankings.
The ABC is committed to excellence.
The ABC Media Centre has a whole webpage attesting to the swag of awards the brilliant ABC team has been nominated for and collected across its many fields of endeavour. I won’t recite them here.
By contrast – Peter Dutton was ranked as worst health Minister in Medicare’s history in a survey of 1,100 readers undertaken by Australian Doctor magazine in 2015.
And I would actually struggle to name anything the Liberal Party has done in the last decade that could be described as excellent – indeed most of what they’ve done has been disastrous.
So the idea that Peter Dutton is the arbiter of ‘excellence’ or ‘efficiency’ at the public broadcaster – really does make you wonder.
But more importantly, it misses the point.
The ABC is an independent public broadcaster, it’s not a state broadcaster.
It has operational and editorial independence, and is taxpayer funded, because it needs to run independently of political preferences as well as commercial interests.
I want to point out that when the ABC moved to Parramatta, it did so of its own accord.
And it was an honour to attend the opening in February this year, along with the Prime Minster and Premier of NSW.
It was notable that neither the Leader of the Opposition nor Melissa McIntosh, who is the new Shadow Minister for Communications as well as Shadow Minister for Western Sydney, were able to attend this significant event for Western Sydney – though the ABC confirmed at Senate Estimates that they were, indeed, invited.
I want to point out that Melissa McIntosh commenced as Shadow Minister for Communications from 25 January 2025. Just one day later, in one of her first acts in the role, she set about criticising the ABC.
In an interview with The Australian, she took a highly selective and blinkered approach to accuse the national broadcaster of downplaying Australia Day celebrations and instead focusing coverage on “divisive protests” because she had seen a story about Invasion Day and that perspective, but not Australia Day, on the 7pm news one night.
In response to questioning on this issue at Senate Estimates - and I think this is important to point out - the ABC laid out the facts of the ABC’s Australia Day coverage which are that:
- On 26 January 2025, every state and territory 7pm news bulletin carried a mix of stories about Australia Day celebrations, Invasion Day rallies, the Australian of the year, Australia Day honours and state honours; and
- On 25 January 2025, every state and territory edition of the ABC 7pm news bulletin broadcast a reporter cross that previewed some of the Australian of the Year award recipients.
But of course, the Coalition doesn’t let facts get in the way of their favourite narratives.
Likewise, Peter Dutton used his visit to the floods in western Queensland as an opportunity to criticise the ABC, saying:
“there are a lot of regional services for the ABC which I think are underdone”
and
“the ABC could be a much more integral part of that community. But just having it based in Sydney or just being based in Melbourne is not helping people in outer metro areas or regional areas”.
Friends, I need to set out the facts because they tell a different story.
Aside from the fact that regional Australians enjoy the host of talk, music, arts, drama, documentary, comedy and kids programming that metropolitan Australians do, the ABC is very clearly not just ‘based in Sydney or Melbourne’.
As the ABC Annual Report states, it has got employees located in 58 regional bureaux, in addition to the eight state and territory capitals and 12 international posts.
And in Western Queensland the ABC is located in Mt Isa and Longreach and the ABC opened a new bureau in Charleville, just a few years ago.
David Littleproud cut the ribbon.
As the new ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks said, of the ABC’s coverage of the western Queensland floods:
‘Nobody is in that market to the extent that the ABC is already in that market’.
‘And the ABC put extra staff on to the region …
‘The coverage has been extensive – across television, radio and online.’
But Friends, that’s not to say that the ABC can’t or won’t do more.
But it is stable funding that permits the ABC to expand its newsgathering presence around Australia – not arbitrary funding cuts.
And it is funding and stability that the Albanese Government has been working to deliver to the ABC – delivering on our commitment at the last election to reverse Scott Morrison’s cuts and to provide stable, 5 year funding.
We’ve done this, not just because the ABC should be focussed on delivering on its Charter for the Australian people, rather than which staff to cut – because stable funding supports greater efficiency and is a guard against political interference.
Labor believes, and I as Minister believe, in a strong, independent ABC — as a pillar of our democracy, a vital news and cultural institution that strengthens Australia’s media diversity, contributes to the cultural and social fabric of the nation, and tells Australian stories to ourselves and the world.
We as a Government are committed to protecting the independence of the ABC, and providing it with stable and adequate resources.
In the October 2022 Budget, our first Budget, the Albanese Government provided the ABC with an additional $83.7 million, to restore funding removed from the 2019-22 funding period, as a consequence of Scott Morrison’s pause on indexation.
In the 2023 Budget, we delivered five year funding terms – moving the ABC from triennial, or 3 year, funding cycles to quinquennial, or 5 year, funding terms.
We also provided an additional $55.6 million to the ABC to extend, and make ongoing, two previously terminating measures – measures that were going to end, that were going off a cliff – rolling funding into base funding for:
- Enhanced News Gathering, which supports regional journalist positions in regional bureaux throughout Australia; and
- Audio Description, which makes screen content more accessible to audiences who are blind or vision impaired.
At MYEFO in 2024, we announced an additional funding package of $83.1 million over 2 years, followed by ongoing additional funding of $43 million per year.
The Albanese Government has also delivered on its election commitment to deliver an Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy.
Under this strategy, we are providing additional funding of $40.5 million the ABC to reach our regional neighbours with increased ABC content offerings, transmission and media training in the region.
This will expand ABC Radio Australia’s FM footprint with additional FM radio transmitter sites in Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands; Palau; Federated States of Micronesia; Nauru and Tuvalu, with more to follow.
These are tangible results all being felt by the region. And I can say, as Minister who has been to Solomon Islands and also to PNG, this is having a demonstrable impact on the ability of those countries to be able to deliver quality public interest journalism.
In doing so, we are backing the ABC as Australia’s international broadcaster.
When Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop cut the Australia Network – the ABC held that contract.
When it comes to providing Australia’s voice in the region, the Albanese Government backs the ABC – not a separately funded entity like the Australia Network.
As a result of these decisions, the ABC will receive $6.1 billion over 5 years.
In one term, Friends, the Albanese Government has achieved a reversal of Scott Morrison’s cuts.
And we have ensured international broadcasting continues to deliver.
This provides the ABC with greater stability and confidence in planning against its own five year plan, and supports the efficient use of taxpayer funds.
But there is more to do.
We’ve also delivered on our commitment to review options for delivering a greater level of financial stability and certainty to the national broadcasters.
And I sincerely thank the ABC Friends for their participation in that process.
The review considered:
- how best to provide funding certainty; as well as
- governance arrangements, including the appointment processes for the ABC and SBS Boards.
In December 2024, we released a final report of the Review, outlining options to support these considerations.
And we announced our commitment to put into law; to legislate 5-year funding terms for the national broadcasters – cementing the arrangements which currently only exist by convention.
Given Peter Dutton’s commitment to efficiency – I look forward to his support for this proposal.
Because it was a finding of a Coalition-commissioned Efficiency Review that found that longer term funding cycles support greater efficiency.
This legislative approach will affirm the intent that the ABC has stable, 5-year funding terms, but will not mandate or lock in the quantum of funding.
While recognising that funding decisions are a matter for the government of the day, it is reasonable and appropriate that the ABC retains the ability to bring forward funding proposals to Government at any time – which it does – to deal with unforeseen and emerging pressures.
And we’re moving swiftly on governance reforms from the report – some of which we’ve been able to implement already, and some of which require further work and consideration within Government.
Implementation began in September last year, when I re-made two new ministerial determinations, which relate to ABC Board selection criteria.
The changes reflect the changing needs of the broadcaster, and better align the selection criteria with the legislated roles of the ABC under its Charter to represent diversity in Australia.
And here I note that four out of four ABC Board appointments that have been made on my watch have adhered strictly to the independent nomination panel process for merit-based appointments.
The Government is delighted to have Kim Williams at the helm, following the Prime Minister’s recommendation to the Governor-General, and to have improved gender and geographic diversity, with the appointment of a Victorian member.
But the process, I have to be honest with you, has not resulted in the level of diversity we’d like to see, and there is still a lack of representation of other states and territories and interests on the Board of the ABC.
So we’re undertaking further work to consider the independent nomination panel process, that was legislated to support the integrity of the Board appointment process and the ABC as a whole.
This was, of course, routinely ignored by the Coalition and has associated time and resourcing implications, so it is essential that processes for the ABC be efficient and effective in upholding integrity.
With over a decade of experience with the independent nomination panel process, it is timely to consider if this statutory process may be improved. My own experience with the process over some years now, as well as the review, indicate there’s room for improvement here.
Further consideration is of course also being given to potential adjustments to the indexation formula, which the ABC Friends have been calling for, so funding does not deteriorate in real terms, and can meet the full costs of CPI, and reflect the rising costs of producing original Australian content.
If I have the privilege of being returned as Minister, I look forward to taking these important initiatives forward, in consultation with the Parliament, the ABC and ABC Friends.
Another area where the Albanese Government has been focused is the ABC’s role in emergencies, like bushfires and floods, which is unprecedented as Australia deals with more frequent and damaging events as a result of climate change.
The number of ABC emergency activations has risen sharply in recent years. It was 191 in 2020–21 and in 2023-24 that number grew to 659.
We know the ABC is a lifeline to Australians in times of crisis, and that’s why we’ve provided $20 million through the Broadcasting Resilience Program (BRP) to strengthen the resilience of 98 ABC AM and FM radio broadcast sites during natural disasters.
This work, including provision of emergency power backup batteries, upgraded satellite access and mobile broadcast assets that can be transported to affected sites if transmission fails. These upgrades will benefit more than 800,000 regional and remote Australians.
This was established by this Government as part of its Better Connectivity Program, which includes funding to improve mobile coverage and increase the resilience of communications services across Australia. And I point out, this project was delivered on time and on budget.
Friends, while I trust you will acknowledge that the Albanese Government has made progress, I know and respect that you all here, that the Friends of the ABC want to see these commitments go further – and for ABC funding to increase.
To this I say, thank you for your ongoing support and advocacy for the national broadcaster.
It is your support that has enabled me to take these proposals to our Cabinet and to be successful.
I have very much appreciated my engagement with you over this term, at ABC Friends events in Melbourne, Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Parliament House, in my office, or at an ABC event.
Whatever your political persuasion – what we’ve got in common is a fundamental belief in public broadcasting.
Around the world, you know, there is evidence of a correlation between strong public broadcasting and a healthy democracy.
The ABC is an instrument of our democracy and it needs to stay strong.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that we stand by the ABC – just as he has made it clear to the world that we stand by our News Media Bargaining Code and strongly support local content in streaming services so Australian stories stay on Australian screens.
To deliver on its Charter – as a trusted pillar of our democracy – the ABC must have stability.
And I want to pay tribute to former Managing Director, David Anderson. He provided much-needed stability for the ABC during a tumultuous time marked by leadership changes, budget cuts, floods, the black summer bushfires and the pandemic, but also by excellence as the ABC continued to serve the Australian people and kick goals.
His leadership was calm and assured and I am confident that the new Managing Director Hugh Marks will also provide strong leadership.
Friends, in today’s climate of rampant and sophisticated mis- and disinformation, readily available to anyone, any time, it could be argued that your mission, and the ABC’s mission, is more important than ever.
ABC Friends’ advocacy, partnerships, and tireless work to research and inform the public around issues affecting the ABC and public media are invaluable, they’re far-reaching and I can tell you they are impactful in Canberra.
Now Friends, after this election, I’ll either be seeing a lot more of you, or a lot less.
But as the proud Minister for Bluey, I hope it’s a lot more.
But not matter what, with the Coalition once again lining up again to threaten the ABC, it’s times like this that the ABC needs all the friends it can get.
Thank you.
[ENDS]
