ABC staff ‘grumbling’ about relocation to western Sydney, insiders claim

Employees at the public broadcaster have been complaining about being relocated from Ultimo to Parramatta, insiders claim.

ABC chairman Kim Williams was among those to open the new taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s Parramatta facilities. Picture: Martin Ollman.

The ABC’s move from its inner-Sydney headquarters to Parramatta in the city’s west has been rejected by a large cohort of the relocated staff, with widespread “grumbling” about logistic issues, including difficulties in luring on-air talent to the studios.

The Australian has spoken to several staff members who have shifted to Parramatta, all of whom have reported that the transition – which has been rolled out in tranches since earlier this year – has been wildly unpopular among employees at the public broadcaster.

The move to new offices in Parramatta, which is about a 25-minute train ride from Sydney’s Central Station, was announced by ABC managing director David Anderson and Ita Buttrose, the chairwoman at the time, amid much fanfare in 2021.

Under the ABC’s five-year plan, the objective is to house 75 per cent of Sydney-based content makers at Parramatta, the equivalent of about 300 staff.

The move is estimated to have cost $39m.

In May the ABC officially opened the Parramatta broadcasting facilities and a spokesman said at the time ABC Sydney presenters would be joined by ABC News staff, and audio and digital teams in the coming months.

ABC chairman Kim Williams and Mr Anderson were at the event to mark the opening.

Mr Williams said in May: “The move of local news and local radio to Parramatta is another chapter in that adaptive history, meeting audience expectations and honouring legislative obligations.

“ABC Parramatta will increase our presence in the nation’s fastest growing residential region, boosting the ABC’s effectiveness in greater western Sydney.

“The decision to establish radio and television facilities and provide space for up to 300 staff here is therefore an enormously exciting step for the modern ABC.”

ABC chair Kim Williams. Source: ABC.

One ABC insider told The Australian on the weekend: “It’s been a disaster, quite frankly. Almost everyone is complaining about the commute (to Parramatta) and no one can really see the point of it all.

“If the whole idea was that we need to engage more closely with people in western Sydney, it’s been a flop.

“Why do presenters, who live in studios, need to be moved out of the CBD? And not only do journos still need to do a lot of their work in the city, but on-air talent who might have previously been happy to come into the studio for face-to-face chats are reluctant to do so.”

Numerous sources have told The Australian that ABC Sydney drive host Richard Glover is among those to be particularly vocal about his opposition to the move to Parramatta.

Insiders said he had been speaking openly about his frustrations at having to broadcast his program from western Sydney. In June, Glover devoted his weekly column in The Sydney Morning Herald to air his grievances about modern offices.

The column was titled: “Give me back my landline, my desk drawers, and my dreary old office”.

Several sources told The Australian that Glover’s piece was the subject of much discussion among ABC employees, with one describing it as “Glover’s de facto public complaint”.

Glover vented that “desk drawers are banned … there’s a wall of lockers up the other end of the building”, and bookshelves are “forbidden”.

All ABC Sydney weekday radio programs are broadcasting from the leased Parramatta site except the breakfast program hosted by Craig Reucassel; however, it is expected the comedian will relocate to the new studios soon.

The Australian asked the ABC about the move but received no response. Glover was also contacted but he did not reply.