Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week there were some funding announcements with relation to the ABC. I just want to reiterate that, over the next five years, there will still be $5.2 billion flowing to the ABC, which is still a substantial amount of money. What I want to talk about today is that I am going to write to both the Minister for Communications and the Managing Director of the ABC, Mark Scott. In those letters I want to reiterate two points to both of them. To the Minister for Communications, we need to potentially look at changing the act and/or the charter of the ABC to ensure that it is obligatory that we have a member on the board of the ABC that is from regional and rural Australia. That would ensure that there is a designated voice from regional and rural Australia that will always be represented.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can hear the other side is happy with this. They are agreeing with me, which is great, that there is going to be a designated voice if this gets through, a voice for regional and rural Australia. I will be writing to the managing director too. He is opening up some regional divisions within the way the ABC operates. The letter will be talking about guaranteeing that there is not a focus on big cities with this and that things like content proportions and physical footprints are maintained. (Time expired)