Mike O’Connor: ABC cultural guidance advisers another level of wokeism

Just because the ABC has a workforce from “all corners of the community” doesn’t mean they’ve hired the right people for the job and are delivering taxpayers value, writes Mike O’Connor.

If further evidence was needed that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation exists in a universe that is light years distant from that inhabited by the audience it purports to serve, it was obligingly provided by the corporation last week.

Having just sacked 120 staff, 40 of them from the news division, including its Canberra political editor Andrew Probyn, it proudly announced that it would shortly be hiring people to fill the newly created positions of “cultural guidance advisers”.

What, pray tell, does a cultural guidance adviser do?

According to managing director David Anderson, they will “connect content makers with appropriate resources to make culturally informed decisions”.

The ABC sacked Canberra political editor Andrew Probyn.

Informed decisions relating to whose culture, one wonders.

Italian culture or Greek culture (forget resurrecting Con the Fruiterer) or Anglo-Celtic culture (no Irish jokes, thank you) or will it mean that any “content maker” must submit any proposal to these advisers who will decide whether or not it will be acceptable to Indigenous
communities?

If they were going to connect content makers with the resources to make programs that were relevant to mainstream Australia and to provide a news service that was not biased to the left, did not masquerade comment as news and which subjected its employees to
responsible editorial control then I’d be all for it.

But we all know that this will not happen.

Instead, it will create another level of wokeism in an organisation that has sadly lost its way and now wanders in a wilderness of its own making as its viewers and listeners desert it.

If you were wondering what you got for the $1bn-plus a year you generously shower on the corporation, look no further than its newly released 2023-26 Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Plan.

ABC managing director David Anderson says the national broadcaster will “connect content makers with appropriate resources to make culturally informed decisions”. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

There you will be treated to the startling news that “we are all different by virtue of our experiences and backgrounds. Our differences are derived from characteristics such as our ethnic and cultural identity, gender presentation and expression, visible and invisible disability, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic background, and geographic location. For each of us, identity is rooted in the unique intersection of these characteristics.”

Got it? Everyone’s different. Who would have thought it.

Further enlightenment follows. “An individual is not in themselves ‘diverse’.

“When the ABC refers to diversity, we are describing a workforce drawn from all corners of the community, where different histories, beliefs, talents and perspectives not only
reflect the wider world but inspire creativity and changes for the better.”

Here’s the thing. Some people are possessed of creativity and some aren’t.

Some people are smart and some are stupid.

Having a workforce from “all corners of the community” doesn’t mean you’ve hired the right people for the job and are therefore delivering taxpayers the best value for their dollar.

Forget resurrecting Con the Fruiterer aka comedian Mark Mitchell with the ABC’s “cultural guidance advisers” in charge, says Mike O’Connor.

The plan also reveals that the “ABC is working to create a culture that values the experiences and knowledge of all employees, and a respectful environment where everyone can be their authentic self”.

Authentic self? What if the authentic self is lazy, arrogant, unreliable and dazzlingly
incompetent?

Might it not be preferable, instead of meaningless blather about authentic selves, if the ABC worked to create a culture that acknowledged hard work, objectivity and talent?

“Inclusion,” the plan tells us, “is the first step in creating a culture of belonging. At the ABC, belonging is about feeling connected to a supportive community.” Is employment at the ABC a career move or the equivalent of joining a religious sect?

Are hand holding and group hugs mandatory or would that be invading someone’s personal space, causing them to feel threatened and thereby preventing them from being their authentic selves?

That it was thought necessary to instruct its editorial staff to be unbiased in its reporting reveals how far the ABC has drifted from its course, says Mike O’Connor.

In between achieving that feeling of belonging and getting connected, you might wonder how much time is left for doing some work.

This is the same “supportive community” that had to be warned by management that it should not advocate a position in the Voice, its journalists being told that they should seek out diverse sources of reliable information.

That it was thought necessary to instruct its editorial staff to be unbiased in its reporting reveals how far the ABC has drifted from its course.

According to the ABC charter, it is the duty of the board to ensure the corporation performs efficiently and with maximum benefit to the people of Australia and to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism.

If the board does not assert its authority and do so quickly, the ABC will continue its drift into expensive irrelevance.