There are no further cuts because there are no cuts. ABC’s funding is increasing every year. The ABC would be the only media company, organisation in Australia today whose revenue, their funding, is increasing. It would be the only one in the country.
We’re seeing regional mastheads by commercial newspapers abolished and we’re seeing people lose jobs right across [the industry] and the regional support for the ABC has never been stronger. And it’s getting even stronger because we’re trying to get the ABC out of Ultimo and into the rest of the country.
So I think that’s a good change. I think what Ita is doing in trying to get the ABC even more focused on regional Australia and get their heads out of Ultimo and get it into the rest of the country, I think is tremendous.
But I’ve got to say, if you’re working in the media industry, if you’re a journalist today, the safest place for you to be is actually at the ABC, because your revenue is guaranteed in that industry by the government. For journalists working in so many other media companies, they are doing it really tough. And I think we need to keep that in perspective.
