Future directions for the ABC – turn the funding clock back 20 years.

The ABC has been hugely successful in expanding the variety and availability of its radio and internet services.  In 1988 ABC News Radio did not exist.  Triple J did not exist outside Sydney.  Classic FM was not available outside capital cities.  Nor was most of Radio National. Provincial centres like Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Shepparton and Mildura had no local ABC studio.  They do now.

In 1988 the ABC had no internet presence.  Today the ABC provides a rich mix of information and entertainment via the web in text, audio, and video formats.  ABC Unleashed is a valued national forum.

Yet government funding of the ABC today is less, in real terms, than it was in 1988.[1]

Television however is a much more expensive medium.  ABC TV continues to be a leader in news and current affairs, documentaries and comedy.  It struggles to produce sufficient Australian drama.  ABC radio has given up making programs for children.  While ABC TV still does comparatively well in this area, its initial Fly TV and Kids TV outlets fell over for lack of funds.

Today the ABC has a bold plan for a dedicated children’s channel, ABC 3.  This plan comes at a time when there is great concern about the advertising of junk food on commercial TV and the general quality of programs for children on commercial channels. According to reports[2] the previous government was prepared to fund this initiative at around $20 million a year. However ABC has been obliged this plan has been put on hold.

If the current government, in the context of the next (2009) funding triennium, were to fund this project, the ABC’s level of funding would still be less than it was, in real terms, in 1988.

A return to the funding levels of twenty years ago could finance an ABC children’s TV channel and go some of the way to restoring the ABC’s capacity to produce quality Australian drama.