Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) the promise of the Prime Minister (Mr Abbott) at the 2013 election not to cut funding to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) or the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS),

(ii) That the Abbott Government has announced cuts of $254 million to the ABC resulting in the loss of 400 jobs, the closure of state based 7.30 programs and the closure of Local Radio programs,

(iii) regional Australia has borne the worst of the cuts, with the closure of five regional radio offices and the Adelaide television production studio, and remaining non-news television production in other states to be wound down,

(iv) thousands of Australians have rallied across the country from Hobart to Darwin, Ballarat to Newcastle and Bega to Perth to defend the rural and regional services of the ABC from cuts, and

(v) the obligations for the ABC to provide a service to rural and regional Australia under its charter and the duty of the Government to ensure that it is properly resourced to do so; and

(b) opposes the cuts to the ABC and SBS and calls on the Government to protect their services to regional Australia.

Question agreed to.