ABC chair Kim Williams says the broadcaster needs more ‘fuel’

ABC chairman Kim Williams says the public broadcaster won’t be able to reach its potential unless it is given more money.

ABC chair Kim Williams at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

ABC chairman Kim Williams has warned that the public broadcaster won’t be able to reach its potential unless it is given more money.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Williams – who ­assumed the role of chair in March – said the taxpayer-funded media organisation was in ­urgent need of “additional fuel”.

Currently, the ABC receives $1.1bn in government funding each year.

“We must make the ABC into the best public broadcaster it can possibly be. Not at some far off time in the future, but now,” Mr Williams said.

“The budget allocation has not kept pace with rising costs.

“Currently, Australia invests around 40 per cent less per person in public broadcasting than the average for a comparable set of 20 OECD democracies.

“As our nation has become richer, our nation’s broadcaster has become much poorer.”

He said in the past decade, the ABC’s operating revenue from government had fallen 13.7 per cent in real terms, equivalent to an annual reduction of $150m.

The 72-year-old said the “real funding reductions at the ABC have taken a very real toll”.

Extra investment would allow the ABC to give viewers, listeners and readers “what they really crave from their ABC” – namely high-quality news ­services with an expanded fact-checking capability, better children’s programs, additional educational content, and ­improved documentaries, arts, drama and comedy programming.

“And crucially, a viable strategy to engage in better ways with younger audiences to give them a brighter future,” he said.

“I want the ABC to go after younger viewers, listeners and readers on every platform as a vital part of our civic duty.”

Later, in response to a question from The Australian, Mr Williams conceded that despite his stated desire to build the ABC’s audiences, ratings success wasn’t his primary concern.

“I don’t think the ABC should ever be in a ratings race,” he said.

“The ABC should always be attentive to understanding its audiences and having appropriate measures of connection with those audiences.

“But the ABC is not in a simple numbers game as if it was a commercial provider of material to audiences.”

In his speech, the ABC chair highlighted the importance of serving the public broadcaster’s audience in regional and rural Australia.

“It is time to ensure those who live on the urban fringe can have their perspectives reflected in the news and in our public debates,” he said.

“With the right investment we could establish new newsrooms in selected suburban and peri-urban population locations – new home bases from which our journalists can gather news and better reflect the views of these sometimes neglected Australian communities.

“It’s an idea worth pursuing and delivering. After all, it is all about the audiences of Australia – our fellow citizens.”

He also addressed the dangers of the spread of misinformation and disinformation across the news media industry.

“Where once we couldn’t get enough information … and where once that information was mostly factual and reliable … we are being flooded with content, some of it dubious, some of it downright lies,” he said.

“Australia and similar countries have recently started to ­realise the profound damage this can cause – especially in an era of increasing global tension and military conflict.”