Thousands of people have flocked to rallies around Australia to support government-funded broadcasters ABC and SBS.
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A public rally at Newcastle’s Civic Park was among the protests held yesterday after federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a $254 million funding cut for the ABC and a $25.2 million budget reduction for SBS over the next five years.
The cuts were first flagged when the government handed down the federal budget in May.
Breakfast radio host on 1233 ABC Newcastle Aaron Kearney told the Mercury that, while he was unable to attend the rally, it was validating to hear that the broadcaster had attracted public support.
He wanted to make it clear that his comments were his personal thoughts and he was not speaking on behalf of the ABC.
“From a purely Hunter perspective, I am yet to see any arguments that there are inefficiencies here or that the people of the Hunter are over-serviced in any way,” Mr Kearney said.
“It is very apparent that being a public broadcaster isn’t in name only. There is a sense of being employed by the people.
“When I hear people turning out en mass, it validates the opinion that this is an important arm of democracy.”
In a written statement released yesterday, Mr Turnbull said the measures would eliminate inefficiencies at ABC and SBS and deliver better value.
“The government strongly supports the role of our public broadcasters in delivering the news and programs that Australians love and value,” the statement said.
“An efficiency study was launched in January to identify how the ABC and SBS could find efficiencies in their back-office operations -finance, property, IT, administration, corporate and marketing -without impacting on programming.”
