Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Griff very much for his question and his enduring commitment to a strong and independent ABC—one that is shared by the government—that provides quality broadcast services free of bias or political alignment and is reflective of our population and the values and expectations that all Australians have, as they are the ones who fund the ABC.

The government certainly recognises the importance of the ABC and understands that Australians also value the services provided by our ABC. We're committed to a strong and resilient ABC operating efficiently and delivering the best possible outcomes with the substantial funding that it receives. In fact, the ABC has more funding certainty than any other media organisation in Australia. At the moment, taxpayers fund the ABC with more than $1 billion every single year, and this is a substantial investment of public funds in our national broadcaster to enable it to provide television, radio and digital media services in line with its charter.

The budget for the next three years of ABC funding, commencing on 1 July 2022, was announced, as Senator Griff said, on 7 February this year. The ABC will receive $3.3 billion over the next three years to 30 June 2025. As Senator Griff points out, this includes $45.8 million under the new Enhanced Newsgathering program to strengthen local public-interest journalism in regional communities. This represents an increase in funding compared to both the 2016-2019 triennium and the 2019-2022 triennium. The ABC will also receive indexation on that base operational funding, which does not include the $45.8 million under the Enhanced Newsgathering program. The ABC will also, however, receive funding to continue and expand audio description services to blind and vision-impaired— (Time expired)