Page 4176 - Week 13 - Thursday, 27 November 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(f) that the Federal Minister for Communications asked the Department of Communications to undertake an efficiency study to identify savings that could be made by improving efficiencies in the back of house departments of the ABC;
(g) that the subsequent Lewis Efficiency Study found all of the savings required can be found within operational efficiencies that could be made without reducing the resources available for programming;
(h) that ABC management has instead cut ABC programming; and
(i) Federal Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, has refused to commit to reinstate the funding reduction to the ABC; and
(2) expresses its disappointment that ABC management has cut programming, including 7.30 ACT, as opposed to other efficiencies as outlined in the Lewis Efficiency Study.”.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (11.38): I am very pleased to rise in this debate today to lend ACT Labor’s support for the motion, to stand up for public broadcasting: public broadcasting in our city, public broadcasting in our community, public broadcasting in Australia.
We have heard the outrageous commentary from the Leader of the Opposition, who yet again acts as the apologist for Tony Abbott and his cronies up in federal parliament. That is all Mr Hanson is: an apologist for Tony Abbott and his cronies, who are imposing an outrageous broken promise on the Australian community.
We hear the argument well: “This isn’t a cut; this is an efficiency dividend.” It is a bit like the great skit that is now circulating on YouTube of Tony Abbott as the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where King Arthur approaches the black knight and challenges him to cross the river. When he refuses to, they have a fight, King Arthur chops the knight’s arm off and says, “Well, now are you going to let me pass?” and the black knight says, “No.” His arm is lying on the ground and there is blood spurting out of the body. King Arthur asks Tony Abbott, as the black knight, “Well, what’s that?” Pointing to the severed arm on the ground, Tony Abbott says, “That’s not a cut; it’s an efficiency dividend.”
This is the absurdity of the Liberal Party’s position on this. Then, to add insult to injury, they say that we should accept the Liberal Party’s argument because they have a report which shows how efficiency dividends can be delivered. But guess what: Malcolm Turnbull refuses to make that report public. He refuses to explain or justify his position that efficiency dividends can be achieved in the ABC, but says there is a report, which he keeps secret.
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video