FOR more than 80 years ABC radio has been servicing Australia and, by the ABC’s own research, 84 per cent of Australians believe it provides a valuable service to the community.
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For many in rural areas, the ABC plays a vital role in the sharing of news and information.
But a decision to restructure its regional and rural radio news services has left rural ABC radio staff confused and rural communities angered.
The broadcaster's management said radio stations, such as ABC Goulburn Murray, would cut local news bulletins and some regional studios would be shut.
Management says reducing the number of local news broadcasts, replacing them with headlines instead, and changing daily program schedules would free staff to get on the road and produce more local content.
The ABC says regional and rural voices would remain.
It is hard to see how this is possible.
The decision cannot be seen as anything other than cost-driven, no matter what rhetoric the broadcaster wraps around it.
One show, broadcast from a Melbourne studio to all its affiliated stations, is cheaper than producing and broadcasting multiple regionally-based programs.
Ian McNamara taking listeners’ calls on how much rain they had in Useless Inlet or Zeehan or Humpty Doo or Kojonup or Euabalong West or any rural district across Australia must not count for rural content.
Victorian Nationals’ senator Bridget McKenzie has been a vocal advocate for rural Australia.
Her private senator’s bill – Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Rural and Regional Advocacy) Bill 2015, – will go to a Senate inquiry early next year.
The Senate inquiry will involve submissions and hearings on the bill before it is debated in the Upper House.
The bill calls for the formation of a Rural and Regional Advisory Council, two seats on the ABC board being reserved for country residents and a listing of employees' base in the broadcaster's annual report.
It would also be mandated that ABC broadcasts reflect geographic diversity, five radio broadcasts of regional news are aired from 5am to 8pm and rosters to effectively meet emergency situations so that production ensures community safety.
We will be tuned in to this inquiry, to see how ABC management plans to deliver its services in rural and regional areas.
