Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It happens right across government, not just with the ABC, but those listening would be forgiven for thinking that it happens only to the ABC. It's a budget management tool that, as I said, happens right across a number of agencies: the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Environment and Energy. Those sorts of agencies are also subject to budget management, like any other government agency. It is not ideologically driven, as those opposite would characterise it. It's about how to actually manage the budget, something we take seriously, which is very important in terms of making the budget balanced.

We also have underway the efficiency review of the ABC. I note that nearly five years ago, or four years ago at least, the Lewis review was undertaken into the ABC and public broadcasting in Australia, noting, as any representatives of the ABC would, that it is a dynamic and fast-changing environment when it comes to media in this country. So, to keep pace with the times it's important to ensure that these entities are as efficient as possible when it comes to the amount of money allocated to them.

When talking about efficiency, it's important also to highlight some comments made by Mr Gaven Morris, one of the senior executives of the ABC. In May this year Mr Morris, in an address to the Press Club in Melbourne, said in regard to funding and, as he referred to them, reductions in funding:

Make no mistake, there is no more fat to cut at the ABC …

He said that from this point on we're cutting 'into the muscle'. Following on from that we learnt that the ABC decided to award its executives $2.6 million in bonuses, to spend $10 million on market research and promotions and to spend another $1.5 million on consultants. So, it's a little odd when we hear there's nothing left to cut—there's nothing there, there's no room, not a cent, to look for further efficiency, but those senior executives at the ABC will be able to award themselves rather large and handsome bonuses. I think it's important to make sure that people listening to this debate understand that in the eyes of the ABC executives there is room to award themselves bonuses—but nothing else in the way of savings!

In regard to preserving the independence of public broadcasters, as we all know there is legislated independence for the public broadcasters in this country when it comes to matters of content and operation. So, how the ABC manage their staff, for instance—how they allocate them and where they allocate them to—is a matter for the ABC, as we have heard the minister say repeatedly in this place and in Senate estimates. And apparently no-one is allowed to complain about the content of the ABC's works, and that includes Mr Shorten, who we all know is a regular correspondent with the ABC, as I have learnt from many of my ABC friends.

The fact that the ABC is in charge of its content, its production and all operational matters is important to put on the record. But at the end of the day what this really comes down to is the integrity of those who make the claims that we're hearing in this place. The fact that before the last federal election we heard this thing about Medicare—that we were going to privatise it, but it never happened. I hear something very similar now. Watch out, Australia: apparently the coalition is going to privatise the ABC. I reckon we may not do that either, somehow. It's a bit like that rolled gold commitment on citizenship we got from all those Labor members and senators, which proved to be not worth the paper it was written on. (Time expired)