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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2060 ..

MR CORBELL (12.00): Mr Speaker, I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) on behalf of all Canberrans committed to the maintenance of an independent and national public broadcaster, condemns the Federal Liberal Government's decision to cut $55 million from the Australian Broadcasting Commission budget. The ABC provides a vigorous and impartial broadcasting service to Canberra, a cut of $55 million could have a potentially devastating impact on the level of service provided by the ABC to people in Canberra and the surrounding region, particularly in local radio news and current affairs.

(2) as representatives of the people of Canberra, calls upon the Federal Liberal Government to restore funding to the ABC and to honour its pre-election commitment to maintain funding at February 1996 levels.

This is an important motion which the Assembly is dealing with this morning. The reason I put it forward is that I believe there are many people in Canberra who greatly value the significance and importance of the national broadcaster and the role it plays in our Territory. This has been demonstrated by a number of very important points. The first is that, until recently, the ABC was the only provider of a comprehensive radio news and current affairs service in Canberra. Even today it is still the only station that provides a comprehensive current affairs service on Canberra issues seven days a week. Secondly, the importance of the ABC to Canberra is also demonstrated by the fact that the ABC morning program in the 6.00 to 9.00 am timeslot is still one of the highest rating programs in that slot of any ABC service in Australia. Thirdly, the Friends of the ABC in Canberra has one of the largest memberships per capita of any Friends of the ABC in Australia. It is a very significant voice, not only here in our city but nationally, in the debate to stop cuts to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. For all of these reasons, I believe it is important that we, as representatives of a city that has demonstrated concern for the future of the ABC, add our voice to this debate. That is why I have moved this motion today.

Mr Speaker, before the last election the Federal Liberals promised to maintain funding to the ACT at existing levels and to give certainty and security to the ABC in its funding by providing it on a triennial basis. After the election, as we all know, they broke this very explicit promise. Today, the ABC faces a cut of $55m. We have already seen what previous cuts implemented by the Federal Liberal Government have done to the ABC here in Canberra. The reduction in the number of programs run by the local ABC radio station, 2CN, and the loss of one presenter in the morning are a very clear and direct result of a funding cut. That presenter was Mark Giffard and the morning program was

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