Budget 2020: ABC set for years of decreased funding in real terms

The ABC is set to face ongoing cuts to its budget in real terms, with funding for broadcasting subject to a 0.7 per cent decrease.

The ABC is set to face ongoing cuts to its budget in real terms. Picture: AAP

The ABC is set to face ongoing cuts to its budget in real terms, with funding for broadcasting — which covers the national broadcaster and SBS — subject to a 0.7 per cent decrease in real terms from 2019-20 to 2020-21, and a 3.7 per cent decrease in real terms from 2020-21 to 2023-24.

The decrease reflects the Morrison government’s decision in the 2018 budget to freeze ABC funding at 2018-19 levels until at least 2021-22, saving $84m. The broadcaster’s average staffing level fell from 4069 people in 2019-20 to 4030 in 2020-21, necessitating a recent round of redundancies.

The freeze has been partially offset by a $33m package for the screen sector and a $7.6m package over four years to assist SBS in providing enhanced language services, both of which were announced earlier this year, as well as the $44m “Guaranteeing Australia’s Public Broadcasters” package announced in last year’s budget, which runs for three years from 2019-20 and provides supplementary funding for the ABC and SBS.

It comes after the national broadcaster absorbed $254m worth of cuts over four years from 2014, with the more recent freeze used as justification by ABC management to axe the 7.45am radio news bulletin from last week.

The real terms decrease in funding sees the ABC’s total estimated total revenue from government range from actual expenditure of $1.062bn in 2019-20 to $1.065bn in 2020-21, $1.07bn in 2021-22, $1.057bn in 2022-23, and $1.065bn in 2023-24, although the numbers beyond 2021-22 are indicative only as the ABC is funded on a triennial basis.

The transmission and distribution component is being maintained in real terms.

For SBS, total funding, including for general operation and transmission and distribution, ranges from actual 2019-20 expenditure of $401m, to $408m in 2020-21, $414m in each of 2021-22 and 2022-23, and $415m in 2023-24.

The previously announced $33m Screen Australia funding package will provide $30m over two years to support Australian film and television drama, children’s and documentary productions, and $3m over three years to establish a competitive grants program to cultivate quality Australian screenwriting and script development.

The Australian Children’s Television Foundation will get $20.2m over two years to increase support for the development, production and distribution of quality Australian children’s screen content.

Another recently-announced measure is a $5m package for the Australian Associated Press newswire, which is part of a $55m “Public Interest News Gathering Program” to support broadcasters and publishers producing news in regional Australia. The $55m is partially offset by redirecting unallocated funds from the Regional and Small Publishers Jobs and Innovation Package.

The Judith Neilson Institute and the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom public interest journalism organisations have been granted deductible gift recipient status, allowing donors to claim a tax deduction on contributions.

The government previously announced a waiving of the commercial broadcasting tax for 12 months from February 14, 2020, providing commercial TV and radio broadcasters with an estimated $41m in tax relief, as a COVID-19 support measure amid a downturn in advertising revenue.