ABC Cries Poor, Hires More
The ABC continually wails about being underfunded, but keeps adding new channels and programs (that barely anybody watches or listens to).
They keep adding new staff as well:
ABC managing director David Anderson told a Senate hearing last month he didn’t believe the organisation’s headcount had increased over the past year but fresh figures provided by the taxpayer-funded broadcaster show this is inaccurate.
The staffing details, which were included in the ABC’s responses to questions it took on notice during the Senate hearing in June, reveal the organisation had 120 more employees on its books in the 2020-21 financial year compared with 2019-20 – with an extra 25 ongoing employees and another 95 (non-ongoing) temporary staff on the payroll.
To be fair, an extra 120 staffers at the ABC would be easy to miss. You generally only notice workers when they’re working.
When asked last month about the ABC’s staff numbers by Senate committee member and WA Liberal senator Ben Small, Mr Anderson said while he didn’t have the exact information at hand, “I don’t believe it’s increased. I don’t believe so.”
If Anderson doesn’t know how many employees he has, why is he the managing director?
In its responses to the questions Mr Anderson took on notice, the ABC conceded that under the “headcount reporting method” – which is routinely adopted across the Australian public service – staffing numbers had in fact increased.
Most of the extra staff hired by the ABC over the past financial year worked on TV programs Art Works, Win the Week and The Wonder Gang, and specials including The Set, Australia Talks and Movin’ To The Country.
Has anyone heard of these shows? I think Australia Talks was mentioned here and there, but the rest draw a blank.
The Australia Talks program, co-hosted by Annabel Crabb and Nazeem Hussain, which was a one-off 90-minute show that aired in June, involved more than 120 staff.
That’s more than one tax-funded deadbeat per minute of substandard television. TikTok kids get bigger audiences just by using their phones.
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