Liberal MPs call for ABC to reveal presenter salaries, shift reporting focus
LIBERAL MPs are once again calling for the national broadcaster to reveal the hefty salaries paid to its top presenters. But it’s not their only demand.
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LIBERAL MPs are once again pushing for the ABC to reveal the hefty salaries paid to its top presenters amid calls to privatise the national broadcaster.
But it’s not the only demand the MPs have, who called for the national broadcaster to focus on rural issues and to divulge the production costs of different shows.
Malcolm Turnbull hosed down speculation the coalition will sell the ABC after Liberal powerbrokers voted to privatise it at the weekend’s Liberal federal council meeting.
But in the coalition party room on Tuesday, several MPs called on the government to keep up the pressure on the ABC.
Both the ABC and SBS were given the chance to voluntarily make the salaries of their top-paid employees public but declined.
The federal government introduced legislation to the Senate to force the broadcasters to disclose salaries but it has not yet gone for a vote.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says laws are on their way that would require the ABC to spend more time on rural and regional stories
Mr Fifield agreed the ABC’s pay bonus structure should also be reviewed as it is not a commercial operation.
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ABC boss Michelle Guthrie has launched her attack on the national broadcaster’s critics calling for it to be privatised, saying its supporters resent it being used as a “punching bag”.
The managing director went on the offensive in a speech she made to the Melbourne Press Club today, where she argued that the Australian public and media was against privatisation.
“The people of Australia, who regard the ABC as one of the great national institutions … deeply resent it being used as a punching bag by narrow political, commercial or ideological interests,” Ms Guthrie said.
“I think the public regards the ABC as a priceless asset, more valuable now than ever in its history. I can appreciate that the ABC would fetch a high price in a commercial market. But does the public want a new media organisation that compromises quality and innovation for profit? Does the commercial sector want a new advertising behemoth in its midst? I think not.”
Ms Guthrie also rejected calls from within the Liberal party to privatise the public broadcaster, saying the commercial media sector doesn’t need a new “advertising behemoth”.
Ms Guthrie said such calls were “misplaced” and ignored the public value of the 86-year-old media group, which is taxpayer funded.
She said the ABC contributes $1 billion to the economy and provides 6500 jobs.
“I think the public regards the ABC as a priceless asset, more valuable now than ever in its history,” she said.
Ms Guthrie’s address comes just days after members of the Liberal Party’s federal council voted unanimously to privatise the ABC.
However, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stepped into the debate on Monday, declaring the ABC would “never be sold”.
Ms Guthrie also attacked calls for the ABC to be restricted to “servicing gaps in the media market” and rejected claims of political bias.
“As a nation we could choose not to have the ABC; or we could hobble it so that it becomes the market failure organisation it was never intended to be,” she said.
“Inherent in the drive against the independent public broadcaster, is a belief that it can be pushed and prodded into different shapes to suit the prevailing climate. It can’t. Nor should it be.”
Since Ms Guthrie was appointed to ABC’s top job two years ago she has worked to cut costs and restructure the broadcaster while facing funding cuts by the federal government.
In this year’s budget, the federal government introduced a three-year funding freeze that slashed $84 million from ABC, following a decision to axe $43 million in funding for news and current affairs.
Addressing claims that the ABC should be forced to live within its means, Ms Guthrie said transmission costs to deliver TV and radio to all Australians were fixed and expensive while its per capita funding had halved in real terms in 30 years.
Claims that funding cuts could easily be accommodated by the ABC “ignores the accumulation of efficiency takes by Canberra over the past four years and the fact that these efficiencies rob the ABC of its ability to finance new content and innovation”.
“This whittling away of our funding represents a real opportunity cost and, in the end, serves only to punish those audiences,” she said.
Originally published as Liberal MPs call for ABC to reveal presenter salaries, shift reporting focus