Dutton tells ABC to show ‘excellence’ or he won’t ‘support the waste’

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The ABC’s funding will come under scrutiny if the Coalition wins office after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demanded the broadcaster demonstrate “excellence” to show taxpayers it deserves its annual funding of more than $1 billion.

By Monday afternoon, Labor had seized on Dutton’s comments, contacting party supporters asking them to donate to help “fight for a properly funded ABC”.

Dutton campaigning in Victoria on Wednesday morning, where he repeated his line about cutting waste from the ABC.Credit: James Brickwood

“Peter Dutton has confirmed his cuts to the ABC. The Liberals won’t stop cutting until B1 and B2 are reading the news,” the text message said.

Asked on ABC Melbourne on Wednesday morning if the national broadcaster could be part of his cuts, Dutton said his government would “reward excellence”.

“I think there’s very good work that the ABC does, and if it’s being run efficiently then [we’ll] ... keep funding in place,” he said. “If it’s not being run efficiently ... taxpayers pay for it, who work harder than ever just to get ahead, [they] would expect us to not ... support the waste.”

The ABC received $1.137 billion from the federal government in 2023–24. The Albanese government has also promised the broadcaster an additional $83 million over two years from July 2026 on top of its base funding.

The last Coalition government, in power from 2013 to 2022, oversaw large cuts to ABC funding. More recently, conservatives in North America – Donald Trump’s administration in America and Pierre Poilievre’s opposition in Canada – have also campaigned on promising cuts to their public broadcasters.

After speaking to ABC Melbourne, Dutton reaffirmed his desire to review ABC staffing if he won government, telling Sky News Australia it must shift resources away from its metro bases.

“And there are a lot of regional services for the ABC, which I think are under done,” Dutton said. “We were out in western Queensland just yesterday looking at the devastation of the floods, and the ABC could be a much more integral part of that community, but just having it based in Sydney or just being based in Melbourne is not helping people in outer metro areas or regional areas.”

The ABC’s employees are concentrated in Australian cities, and about half are in NSW. However, they are not only in Sydney and Melbourne.

According to the broadcaster’s latest annual report, there are about 4500 ABC workers in cities, and 600 in regional and rural areas. About 2470 are in NSW, 980 in Victoria, 610 in Queensland, 330 in South Australia, 270 in Western Australia, 190 in the ACT, 150 in Tasmania and 120 in the Northern Territory.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Dutton had a career record of cutting services during his time in the ministry of the last Coalition government.

“[Former prime minister] Tony Abbott, before the 2013 election, said there would be no cuts to education and the ABC,” Albanese said in a press conference in Tasmania on Wednesday afternoon. “At least this bloke [Dutton] has told people, in a kind of roundabout way, that people should be under no illusion: there will be cuts to health, there will be cuts to education, there will be cuts to the ABC if the Coalition are elected.”

ABC chair Kim Williams has routinely appealed for an increase to ABC funding during his year in the role. Williams said operating revenue for the ABC has fallen by 13.7 per cent in real terms over the past decade, while speaking at the National Press Club in November.

The ABC declined to comment on Dutton’s remarks. Williams was approached for comment.

The Albanese government has increased the ABC’s funding since it came to power in 2022, and extended agreements for both the ABC and SBS to five-year terms.

But Dutton said Australians just want to make sure their tax dollars are being spent efficiently.

“There are some amazing programs ... part of the function of the ABC, which do a great job,” he said.

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