ABC 'being used as a political punching bag', managing director Michelle Guthrie says
Updated
The ABC's managing director Michelle Guthrie has rebuffed calls to privatise the national broadcaster, saying its value to the Australian economy is worth more than $1 billion.
In her first comments since Liberal Party members voted to privatise the ABC, Ms Guthrie told the Melbourne Press Club that "far from being a drain on the public purse, the audience, community and economic value stemming from ABC activity [has] a real and tangible benefit".
The Liberal Party federal council approved the non-binding motion to privatise the organisation over the weekend.
"The argument seems to carry a misplaced notion of both privatisation and conservatism. But, more importantly it completely ignores the public value of the ABC, both in direct dollar terms but also as far as the wider public good remit," she said.
Ms Guthrie said the people of Australia resent the ABC "being used as a punching bag by narrow political, commercial and ideological interests".
"I think the public regards the ABC as a priceless asset, more valuable now than ever in its history," she said.
Ms Guthrie said the argument for privatisation was based on the notion that there was no redeemable value for public investment in the ABC, and the commercial media sector would benefit from the so-called level playing field.
"What price do you put on public trust in an independent, commercial-free news organisation at a time of fragmentation and disruption," she said.
"What price do you put on an ABC devoted to serving the nation across its vast expanse and through a myriad of services, with quality and distinctiveness as a hallmark."
Party room raises questions about program costs
Ms Guthrie told the press club that research commissioned by Deloitte Access Economics, to be released next month, showed the ABC contributed $1 billion to the economy last financial year.
"The actual amount that we have to spend on content is well below that $1 billion figure. The ABC's per capita funding has halved in real terms in 30 years," she said.
"This financial year, 92 per cent of the ABC's budget will be spent on making content."
Just before Ms Guthrie spoke in Melbourne, Coalition members and senators were again discussing the merits of the ABC in their weekly party room meeting in Canberra.
Some members raised concerns about the cost of certain programs, such as panel show Q&A, compared to weekly rural current affairs program Landline.
They wanted the ABC to publish how much each production costs and the salaries of the broadcaster's highest-paid presenters.
Audience will be 'punished' by cuts
Ms Guthrie said 30 years ago, the ABC had five platforms and 6,000 staff.
She said today it was operating 30 platforms and services with two-thirds the number of staff, and "half the real per capita funding".
She also questioned claims that the ABC should be able to easily accommodate the funding freeze imposed in the 2018 Federal budget.
"It ignores the accumulation of efficiency takes by Canberra over the past four years and the fact that these efficiencies rob the ABC of its ability to finance new content and innovation," she said.
"This whittling away of our funding represents a real opportunity cost and, in the end, serves only to punish those audiences."
Topics: media, government-and-politics, industry, information-and-communication, broadcasting, radio-broadcasting, television-broadcasting, melbourne-3000, australia
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