Friends of the ABC (NSW) Inc. quarterly newsletter March 2005 V ol 15, N o.1 incorporating background briefing national magazine

STACKING THE ABC BOARD Cartoon courtesy Phil Sommerville FABC President, Gary Cook The Federal government’s deci- Brunton, a former senior fellow with the ABC board is to toe the same sion to appoint Janet Albrechtsen to the Institute of Public Affairs, a right ideological line as the government. the board of the ABC underscores its wing think tank that has been a The Liberal/National Coalition is the contempt for the national broadcast- fierce critic of the ABC. Ms only major political group in Australia er. Both major political parties have Albrechtsen is of the same ilk. Her that refuses to adopt as policy an been guilty of making political allegations of left-wing bias against independent method of ABC board appointments over many years, but the ABC have been augmented by a appointments. The true test is that . the Howard government has taken it spectacular public spat with Media to another level – it has the arro- Watch. Continued on Page 4 gance to appoint self-confessed opponents of the ABC. The Friends of the ABC believe all of them to be completely inappropri- Inside: The outrageous appointment of ate appointments. the conservative News Limited Christmas on the Dot…...... 2 columnist is the latest in a growing Instead of moving towards a more The President’s Report…...... 3 list. First there was Liberal Party independent and transparent pro- Radio National Funding Crisis...... 5 powerbroker and Packer acolyte cess of board appointments such as ABC Shines in Tsunami ...... 7 Michael Kroger, who pushed claims the Nolan Rules in the UK, intro- ABC Launches New Digital Channel.12 of bias against the ABC while on the duced by a Conservative govern- Board. All were comprehensively ment there, it seems that the only The Future of Public Broadcasting 13 rejected. He was replaced by Dr Ron prerequisite for being appointed to Around the Branches ...... 14-15

Page 1 CHRISTMAS ON THE DOT

Mal Hewitt, Jim Grainda and Annie Nielsen from Parramatta Branch

The NSW Friends annual shindig at Ultimo last December was bigger and better than ever.

About 200 Friends were joined by a number of popular ABC presenters. Media Watch EP Peter McEvoy amd members of his team turned up to receive the Friends’ annual Excellence in Broadcasting Award.

The award is given to the person or program we believe most in keeping with the aims and aspirations of the Friends of the ABC. Previous winners include Caroline Jones. Media Watch’s Alison McClymont, Peter McEvoy, and Trish Drum with the Friends’ Excellence in Broadcasting award. The pictures tell the story!

Peter Brandscheid, Lisa and Allan Thomas from Hunter Kerry O’Brien got an enthusiastic welcome from Max Plumb

Ming d’Iapico-Bien, Jessica Harwood, Janet Harwood FABC NSW President Gary Cook and Sunday Nights presenter, John Cleary

Page 2 THE PRESIDENT’ S REPORT RN Funding Crisis It was a plea- mi), the ABC has excelled. The quali- sure to again ty of ABC correspondents is of the Despite Mr. Baldings assurances meet many mem- highest calibre and their reports from we are hearing regular and disturb- bers at our Annual disaster zones have been graphic, ing reports of vacancies not being Christmas Party informative and sensitive. filled, a lack of producers available, on 3 December programs being cut or adversely last at ABC When the monitoring results of affected and, while local radio is Headquarters. Our annual award for the ABC’s coverage of the 2004 achieving excellent survey results, "Excellence in Broadcasting" was Federal Election were released, it left Radio National is languishing at presented to the Media Watch pro- ABC critics no opportunity to level about 2% of the market. An emer- gram. Presenter David Marr has accusations of bias against the ABC. gency review of resources is being returned to his former role at the The monitoring process is assessed undertaken to find a solution, but, Sydney Morning Herald and a new for fairness and balance internally by with the report not due until the end presenter Liz Jackson of Four the Election Coverage Review of May, there are three more months Corners will host the program in Committee and externally by left in this financial year for Radio 2005. Rehame and Newspoll. National to struggle through. Fair and Balanced This year will see a significant It is a fact that, due to the nature shift in the political landscape. The Rehame found that, over the of its content, Radio National Howard Government, apart from requires a greater number of staff being returned in October, is set to campaign period, the ABC’s election coverage provided 44.6% share of than other less specialised ABC gain control of the Senate in July. No radio networks. Its programs involve doubt, the electorate voted accord- voice to the Coalition and 43.5% share of voice to the ALP. In a significant amount of research and ingly and many people would say they are generally of original material. "that is democracy in action". On the Rehame’s words, "These results other hand, the checks and balances demonstrate an even balance in the ABC’s media coverage for the dura- When the Government conducts that the Senate has provided for its review of the ABC’s management many years due to the balance of tion of the 2004 Federal Election campaign". Newspoll found that of its budget, the plight of Radio power not being controlled by the National needs to be highlighted. If Government of the day, could be "among those who have an opinion, community perceptions remain heav- there is a genuine commitment to the said to be more democratic. What Arts in this country, Radio National does this mean for the Friends of the ily weighted towards the ABC being unbiased in its reporting of news and should be clearly acknowledged as ABC? It means that we have to be the principal electronic communica- even more vigilant. current affairs and not biased in favour or against particular federal tion medium for the Arts in Australia. political parties". Future Campaigns The Friends will be holding a It is worth noting that, for the National Conference in Sydney over Relaxation of the cross-media the weekend of 16-17 April. Some ownership laws is certainly on the 2004 campaign, no written com- plaints were received from the cam- important issues are looming, in par- Government’s agenda. This would ticular:- work in favour of Packer and paign headquarters of any party. Murdoch and ensure a less indepen- ● The decision by ABC Director of The government’s intention to dent media. The importance and conduct a review of the ABC’s man- independence of the ABC is under- Enterprises, Robyn Watts, to with- draw the ban on the licensing and agement of its budget scored even more. ● supply of archival material to third Further appointments to the parties is welcomed. At the time that ABC Board Other potential issues which we ● A review by the government of will not only be keeping a watching the ban was imposed, we voiced our displeasure at what we saw as an the complaints procedure (forming brief over, but preparing to campaign part of the ABA replacement body on are :- opportunity for political figures to censor historical footage. After all, the which is expected to be in place by 1 ● Gradual commercialisation ABC’s Editorial Policies state that July 2005) ● (perhaps the SBS model) "ABC program material is a valuable, The ABC’s Triennial Funding ● Reducing the ABC to being a historical, cultural and commercial submission for 2006 (due to be sub- specialised broadcaster and not a asset". mitted by September 2005) comprehensive one by altering the ● Commercialisation by stealth ● ABC Charter ABC Managing Director Russell Digital radio and television ● ● Further cuts in the ABC budget Balding denied that there was a bud- Cross-media ownership get crisis at Radio National when Once again, when a major crisis quizzed before a Senate Estimates Gary Cook, President has occurred (the Boxing Day tsuna- Committee in late February. Page 3 STACKING THE ABC Ms Albrechtsen, who writes for The Australian authored by Neil The Australian, has been a fierce Brown, a former communications BOARD and unrelenting critic of the ABC. minister in the Fraser government. Continued from Page 1 I think it is fair to describe Ms Albrechtsen as an ideological the only non-executive Board member zealot, which, in itself, does not with a background in broadcasting is disqualify her from the ABC board. the staff elected director, Ramona Our problem is with the political Koval. Ms Koval described the latest balance on the ABC board, and appointment as "inappropriate.” with the appointment process. On her appointment, Ms In selecting commentators to Albrechtsen, in criticising Ramona appear on its programs, the ABC Neil Brown Koval for her comments, stated that is, quite properly, required to pro- "it’s not the place for a director to be vide a balance of opinion. But in Some members will recall that the talking about that in public" ….. selecting members of the ABC first cuts to the ABC budget so "discussions will take place at board board, the government appoints incensed devoted ABC listeners and level, which is where they ought to Ms Albrechtsen and other ‘usual viewers that they became mobilised take place". suspects’ time after time. and formed Friends of the ABC in 1976. Brown was a member of the When you get so many Directors government that was responsible. who have been such open critics of the ABC and such a preponder- Brown sarcastically typified what ance of the same political views, he called "the official ABC position" we say the ABC board is scream- as "first of all, against anything ing out for a bit of balance. Any American." He went on to criticise ABC producer who chose the gov- the ABC because he said it "has ernment appointed members of opposed the war in Iraq at every the ABC board as the panel for a step, gloated over every setback and current affairs discussion would be magnified every criticism from any quickly found guilty of bias. malcontent and misfit it can find." Not only does the government "Moreover" he said, "... on the appoint the usual suspects, but the ABC, all industry is bad, all chemi- process itself is also suspect. It cals are poisonous, all wilderness is happens secretly, and without any pristine, all animals are gentle, all Janet Albrechtsen apparent relationship to the qualifi- business is evil and all government a cations required to run a half billion conspiracy." Brown conveniently omitted to mention the clean bill of This high-principled position dollar a year organisation. It is time health given to the ABC’s election appeared to have been quickly for- that the government followed the coverage by Rehame. gotten, for less than three days later, example of the Conservative gov- the same Ms Albrechtsen, comment- ernment in the UK and implement- In his article, Brown congratulated ing on ABC Radio, said that the issue ed an open, transparent and non- Albrechtsen on getting on the board of bias was a priority for the ABC partisan method of finding qualified of the ABC, saying he could "already board. In the best Alstonian tradition, people to run our national broad- hear the irate rattle of spoons in a she continued, "I’ve written about the caster. So say the Friends of the thousand caffe lattes up and down ABC on some occasions where I ABC. the east coast as the inevitable rage have seen there to be, there have builds up to tsunami-like proportions." been problems of bias and how facts are presented. Now, whether that I wrote back taking issue with translates into a systemic bias, I Brown on behalf of the Friends. don’t know, but I’m certainly happy to look at that." The fact that the ABC continues to provide a world class broadcasting Friends of the ABC’s spokesperson service despite being grossly under- Margaret O’Connor issued the follow- funded, subject to political interfer- ing media release on 25 February. ence and board stacking, is a tribute Michael Kroger to its dedicated staff. Following the appointment of Ms Janet Albrechtsen to the board of Unfortunately the furore surround- But I’m afraid it must prepare for the ABC, Friends of the ABC have ing the Albrechtsen appointment has further attacks from this government. called on the government to reform given several ABC bashers the the process by which appoint- courage to come out of their holes. A ments are made to the ABC board. particularly nasty article appeared in Page 4 RADIO NATIONAL BUDGET CRISIS CALLING ALL

Radio National is rightly Opera House in 2001 would RN LISTENERS! described as the jewel in the remember her brave and passion- HELP LOBBY FOR MORE crown of ABC Radio. It has the ate speech in defence of the ABC. highest editorial and production As a former EP in the ABC’s Social RESOURCES FOR RN values, an impossibly eclectic and History Unit, she’s also been Write the to ABC Board, with a copy erudite spectrum of programming, responsible for some of the ABC’s to the ABC Managing Director NOW. and a devoted audience of influen- finest radio programs, including the tial people. However it’s also in the epic 100 Years In A Dayback in The ABC Board has a responsibility grip of a crippling budget squeeze. 2002. to cease hiding the ABC's funding diffi- culties from the community and to enlist Staff returning to RN after the Connors has been put in charge its support to pressure the government Christmas break were told that a of an internal review of program- for adequate funding. number of program assignments ming that’s due to be submitted by needed to be changed to meet the end of May. Possible outcomes Let them know you will not accept budget shortfalls. About a dozen mooted so far include: RN running any further loss in the quality and diver- members of staff, many with spe- more repeats, changing the pro- sity of RN programming. cialist qualifications, were re- gram briefs, splicing more music Write to: Donald McDonald, assigned to different programs. into the interviews to pad out time, Chairman, ABC Board, GPO Box 9994, Vacancies created by five resigna- and cutting shows altogether. tions were left unfilled. It seems Sydney 2001 & Russell Balding, ABC Managing Director that RN managers knew of the Recent media reports suggest shortfall when commissioning the RN’s budget takes up $13 to $14 Send copies to FABC: schedule for 2005, but went ahead million from ABC radio's total bud- [email protected] with it anyway. get of $90 million. The budget cri- or At subsequent union meetings sis has brought many RN support- PO Box 1391, North Sydney 2059 RN staff condemned the under- ers out of the woodwork, voicing staffing, and warned that programs their concerns on online forums were being put to air without and the letter pages of daily news- checking, and that some people papers. were working on two shows at once. RN staff also passed a motion of no confidence in their Program Manager Gordon Taylor. Taylor has since moved (or been moved) sideways into a job exam- ining the digital broadcasting future across a number of cities.

If one looks closely though, budgetary constraints at RN have actually been apparent for some Bold programs like Late Night Live in the Solomons make Radio National time. Over the last year or two a national treasure there’s been a shift from packaged programming into live program- FABC (NSW) Inc. Executive Committee ming. Packaged programming by President - Gary Cook its very nature is more considered, Phone: 9810 3358 better produced, and more expen- email: [email protected] sive. Needless to say, live pro- Treasurer James Buchanan gramming doesn’t need editing. In Phone 9371 5621 recent years one live RN program, email [email protected] Life Matters, has had its timeslot Secretary - Janet Crennan expanded. This year, Geraldine Phone 9810 1758 Doogue is presenting a live email: [email protected] Saturday breakfast program. Membership Secretary - Carolyn Green If there’s a silver lining around Phone 9144 1351 or 0417 650 443 [email protected] the dark clouds at RN, it’s the appointment of Jane Connors to Update Editor: Alison Rahill try and unravel the mess. Friends Phone 02 8204 6906 of the ABC who rallied at the [email protected]

Page 5 ABC FOLDS OVER The backflip eventually came just Rewind unwound FILE FOOTAGE, DIGS ahead of the ABC’s appearance at REWIND has indeed been axed, IN OVER DRAFT Senate Estimates in February, with and yet again we have an ABC man- the ABC dropping the offending agement decision that defies compre- CODE OF CONDUCT clause from its archival licensing pol- hension. After endless reruns of the icy. ASDA Executive Director Tudors on Sunday nights — where we After a struggle of more than a Richard Harris called the result ‘a learnt nothing new — at last we had a year, the ABC’s Content Rights great outcome for Australian inde- clever, revealing, home-grown piece Management Division has finally pendent documentary filmmakers.’ backed down on its requirement for of investigative history, presented by On another issue, the ABC is dig- the incomparable Michael Cathcart. documentary film makers to obtain permission from the subject of the ging in over its Draft Code of footage before its re-use. The ABC’s Conduct, highlighted in the last issue This is what Tony Moore had to of Update. The latest version of the say about Rewind in an article argu- motivation seems to have been an attempt to avoid embarrassment or controversial Draft Code has ing for Australian history on our tele- removed the attempt to seize the vision and cinema screens: censure by government politicians in what was an election year. However winnings of any ABC staff awarded cash prizes. However it is still trying Factual has long been the sick the decision was tantamount to allowing politicians to veto the use of to regulate their private activities out- man of ABC TV and we can only side work hours. hope its three new heads can make news footage in documentaries. it a clearing house for knowledge, The issue came to a head early If implemented ABC staff would critical thinking and creative story- in 2004, when the documentary have to advise their supervisors of telling. Factual must first recreate a maker Judy Rymer approached the memberships of any outside organi- centre of in-house documentary ABC to ask it to licence the use of sations, so the ABC can determine innovation, establishing units of some old news clips for a four-part if there is a 'conflict of interest; excellence in history, social issues, educational documentary series, potential, actual or perceived.' The culture and science equal to the Punished not Protected . The latest joint union submission on the standards set by the Religious and footage involved was of public state- matter says the draft constitutes an Natural History Units. These units ments by ministers in the Howard unreasonable and probably unlawful should be shockers with bright government during the children over- incursion on the rights of their mem- young things who are not beholden board affair in the lead-up to the bers. The submission also criticises to outdated TV rules from the last 2001 election. what it calls the confused drafting of century who are allowed to invent the proposal, adding that the final some new rules and to do their Rymer was astounded when told result would be open to inconsistent knowledge thing. Which brings me that she couldn’t use the news clips, and possibly capricious application. to the ABC’s latest attempt to unless she first got permission to It’s worth remembering that two address the history gap – Rewind. use them from the politicians involved - the Prime Minister, Philip years ago, a hypersensitive ABC management found RN’s Stephen The Rewind unit employs innova- Ruddock, Peter Reith and Amanda Crittenden guilty of ‘serious miscon- tive stylists and professional histori- Vanstone. The refusal hinged on the duct’ for writing an article on the ans, and has got off to a bouncy documentary being 'cause or advo- clash of Islam and the West for the start over the past two Sundays in cacy related.' Sydney Morning Herald. Meanwhile what Ruth Ritchie might call the Media Watch highlighted the a number of other ABC personalities ‘Bonnet slot’. The stories are aes- issue in July, provoking outrage in engage in a variety of seemingly thetically envelope stretching and the documentary film industry. ABC unregulated outside activities – from beautifully shot and edited, the sto- staff also revolted at what they saw writing newspaper columns to pre- rytelling is engaging and there is a as a fundamental compromise of the senting lifestyle shows on pay televi- playful element that should be ABC’s editorial integrity. ABC staff sion. That decision even had Gerard enhanced. The stories on the mys- unions, the Australian Screen Henderson complaining that the terious Pyjama Girl and the tragedy Directors Association and the ABC was being "timid and censori- of Billy Hughes’ society daughter Friends embarked on a campaign for ous." took us down unexpected paths the policy to be overturned. into social milieus we don’t usually encounter in Australian history. Update includes material from the Rewind could be the basis of a South Australia Friends publication centre of real innovation and histor- Background Briefing , ical excellence if senior managers compiled and edited by encourage staff to take risks and Joan Laing. tell us stories we don’t know. In Update this material is bb credited as: Tony Moore ‘Channelling bb History’ www.artshub.com.au

Page 6 ABC Shines In The It’s worth noting that a recent Tsunami Tragedy Government recommendation to boost The ABC’s reporting of the South Asian tsuna- Radio Australia’s funding was mi was nothing short of magnificent, particularly Should Rebuild ignored. Sheena Maclean the work by Indonesia Correspondent Tim Radio Australia wrote the following article in Palmer. While most Australians were still recov- The Australian in June last year. ering from Christmas, Palmer was on his way to In the middle of 2004 a par- Aceh. Having witnessed the devastation wrought Kevin Rudd liamentary inquiry into by the tsunami at Aitape in Papua New Guinea in Opposition Australia’s relationship with 1998 he had an inkling of the scale of the disaster. spokesman Indonesia urged increased He flew to Medan in northern Sumatra with the on foreign funding for the ABC’s Radio affairs writes Australia to enable it to resume after the high levels of programming tsunami into Indonesia.

“There is some criticism The report of the inquiry contained in this point, the was tabled on 31 May. It says that Radio Australia ‘is an Tim Palmer in Banda Aceh Government should rebuild Radio Australia. We have extremely powerful and rela- ABC’s Jakarta producer Ari Wuryantama and already attacked the tively cost-effective’ means of drove to the provincial capital Banda Aceh. He Government's decision to sell reaching into Indonesia and was the first western reporter to arrive in the dev- Radio Australia's massive Cox promoting greater understand- astated province, arriving at the same time as al- Peninsula transmitters several ing of Australia. It recommends Jazeera, literally days ahead of major world years ago. that the ABC’s international broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN. His radio and online service dra- heart-rending pictures and accounts of the car- Prior to that, Radio matically increase its program- nage in Banda Aceh and down the west coast of Australia could broadcast a ming, restoring it to the previ- Aceh were all world exclusives, told not with the clear signal across all of ous high levels of the 1970s breathless self-importance of some foreign corre- Southeast Asia, South Asia and ‘80s. spondents, but with humanity. and much of the Indian Ocean. Radio Australia's remaining It recommends the transmitters are only capable Australian Broadcasting of broadcasting to eastern Authority examine the cost and Indonesia and the southwest feasibility of Radio Australia Pacific. To supplement, Radio using spare short-wave capaci- Australia now has to beg, bor- ty so it can broadcast into Indonesia on multiple frequen- Peter Lloyd Geoff Thompson row and buy transmission space from other private trans- cies. Particularly telling was Palmer’s report from mitters across the region, In the 1970s and ‘80s its Leupung, the west coast town where the tsunami resulting in an erosion of the Indonesian audience was esti- washed on to limestone cliffs and back out killing historical predictability of the mated at 20 million. It is now 95% of the population. Radio Australia broadcast to down to about 5.4 million. ‘Our the wider region. audience figures are lower Palmer was ably supported by correspondents now than they were but you Peter Lloyd, Geoff Thompson and later on by a We now find ourselves in number of others including China Correspondent the bizarre situation that if we have to take into account that John Taylor, Philip Williams from London, and commit to a large scale, long- between 1997 and 2000 we PNG Correspondent Shane McLeod. While the term role in the rebuilding of had no transmission whatsoev- ABC presented an overview of the disaster that tsunami-affected areas across er,’ says Jean-Gabriel Manguy, spanned the whole Indian Ocean, commercial South and Southeast Asia we head of Radio Australia. networks tended to lose the big picture by chas- will have denied ourselves ing the stories of Australian victims and sur- much of the broadcast capability vivors. to tell the communities across the region what we are doing. ABC Managing Director Russell Balding called the coverage, ‘…testament not only to the dedi- The Government knows cation of our news and current affairs colleagues this is a dumb decision. On the but also to the commitment of the ABC to main- back of this disaster it should tain overseas bureaux. Only the ABC had the fix it. “ capacity and local knowledge to get the story The Australian 5 Jan 05 first. That is not a boast. It is our job.’ bb Cox Peninsula Transmitter Page 7 ALSTON’S FINAL FAILURE, ABA’S BOB EACH WAY However in a bizarre conclusion for so-called ‘serious bias,’ 4 for edito- that would seem to say more about rialising, and one for an inadequate the regulator than the ABC, Ms disclosure of sources. Maddock went on to say that the com- plaint findings compromised the quali- Most of the complaints upheld per- ty of AM’s coverage of the Iraq War. tained to reporters or presenters con- struing or attributing feelings or opin- At the time a draft copy of the Give up now! ions to US officials that the complaint report was leaked to Media Watch last The ABA has dismissed the vast reviewers felt amounted to speculation. year, David Marr called it probably the majority of complaints lodged by the silliest ABA report he’d read in the former Communications Minister The ICRP and ABA both took three years he’d been presenting Richard Alston against the ABC’s radio issue with reporters and presenters Media Watch, and further evidence program AM. In the final wash-up, the showing what many people would that the Authority doesn’t really know Authority determined that the program consider healthy scepticism and using how journalism works. had failed on four occasions to make terms such as spin-doctoring or propa- "every reasonable effort" to ensure the ganda in reference to various spokes- ABC Managing Director Russell program was balanced and impartial men and women for the U.S. govern- Balding welcomed the part of the in its coverage of the invasion of Iraq ment and military. ABA Acting Chair, report that found AM’s reporting was from the 21st of March to the 11th of Lyn Maddock said that ‘While scepti- balanced, and noted that the breaches April, 2003. cism and probing questions are a use- related to a few minutes out of many ful way to explore issues, when a pro- hours of coverage of the war So after almost two years of gram uses tendentious language in intense scrutiny and their passage connection with a controversial matter, He also voiced continuing con- through five layers of internal, inde- listeners are likely to understand that cerns that the basis on which the ABA pendent and external complaint review the program favours a particular view seeks to justify its conclusions is processes, 21 of Alston’s original 68 of the issue.’ flawed, and said he remains of the complaints were upheld in some form. view that AM's extensive coverage of Overall the ABA found that AM the war in Iraq was professional, com- Earlier in the process, the ABC’s presented a range of views and per- prehensive and balanced. Independent Complaints Review spectives during the period in ques- Panel (ICRP) found 17 breaches – 12 tion, and was balanced.

ABC JOURNALIST VINDICATED and the ABC's "babbling" about balance, asking: "Does it [the ABC] believe there can be some balance, some The following excerpts are from Adjudication No.1257 symmetry, some moral equivalence in presenting the by the Australian Press Council (adjudicated October father of a murdered teenager who spent her school holi- 2004; re-issued December 2004) days providing care for severely handicapped children and the father of a young man who believed it was his The Press Council has upheld a complaint by an religious duty to murder innocent people?" Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) correspon- dent against the Sydney Daily Telegraph over a bylined In his complaint Mr Palmer says that since the project opinion column dealing with the aftermath of the killing of was dropped, Mr Akerman could not possibly have an Australian-born 15-year-old girl by a suicide bomber in known what form the story would have taken or how the Jerusalem. two projected interviews would have been used.

The Piers Akerman column claimed that the corre- Mr Palmer, who says he was on the scene of the spondent, Tim Palmer, had revealed either "an appalling bombing within five minutes, quotes a paragraph from absence of any moral compass" or "a total lack of under- the report he provided for the ABC programme AM a day standing of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict". later: "When the Islamic Jihad group first claimed respon- sibility for this blast, it described the action as heroic, but At the core of the dispute was an attempt by Mr this was cowardly butchery. Indiscriminate in cutting Palmer to organise a feature story based on interviews down the old and the very young, it is believed as many with both Mr Roth and the father of the Palestinian as six of the dead are infants." bomber. At first Mr Roth agreed, but that was before he knew that the bomber's father was to be included in the The published opinion was based on an assumption of story. Mr Roth was immediately outraged at what he the facts, without seeking any input from the ABC jour- regarded as gross insensitivity and an attempt to create nalist. As a result, the article was unbalanced and unfair- a false symmetry between the two deaths. Mr Palmer ly derogatory of Mr Palmer, characterising him in a man- dropped the project. ner not justified by the matters raised in the column. For these reasons the complaint is upheld. The Piers Akerman commentary criticised Mr Palmer

Page 8 An even harder time for Aunty Trish Bolton lectures in Media from Aunty than for her to entertain vision, where national identity is Studies at Swinburne University. She’s them. defined by narrow and superficial rep- a member of a working party on resentations of what it means to be cross-media ownership set up by And what does this mean for some Australian. Friends of the ABC. She wrote this of Aunty's lesser known relatives article for the website New including Radio National; a public Aunty, once proud of nurturing her Matilda.com in February. sphere of ideas where interviews last country's cultural heart, now has few longer than a soundbite and journal- opportunities to offer the artists, writ- In July it is predicted that cross- ists investigate to bring us content that ers, orchestras et al, the creative media ownership rules will be abol- restores some balance to the pervad- sanctuary previously found at the ished by the Howard Government and ing dross, which if you let it, might ABC. Media barons, while clearly Aunty might be in a spot of bother. amuse you to death. devotees of popular culture, steer away from anything that might alien- Those of us feeling a touch para- Radio National is intellectual, eso- ate the large audiences advertisers noid about Packer owning Fairfax, or teric and sometimes challenging, but seek. Murdoch getting his hands on a televi- as Philip Adams often reminds us, sion station, are somewhat consoled only Gladys is listening. He's not jok- Their financial interests are much by the presence of the ABC. Yet how ing; with ratings at less than three per better served by imported fare (and realistic is it to expect that an under- cent, you had better enjoy it while you I'm not talking SBS world movies funded and besieged Aunty will be can – such an under-performer is sure here) than pleasing a measly two or able to perform her watchdog role to be on Howard's hit list. even five percent of the Australian when the pack is baying for her population. blood? ABC's flagship radio current affairs show, AM (along with The World There is no doubt that monopoly The ABC has already paid dearly Today and PM) had better watch its power in Australia's media is set to for scrutinising government and big back, too; AM was accused of more increase to levels that puts democracy business without fear or favour, and than sixty counts of serious bias when dangerously at risk. Aunty, whose for behaving as if she's a guardian of reporting the allied invasion of Iraq. A commercial yet editorially independent the Fourth Estate. Politicians of all subsequent independent investigation ally, Fairfax, likely to be swallowed persuasions have been cross with severely embarrassed the Howard whole by Packer, will have no-one to her; most recently it was nasty old Government and Senator Alston, the cry wolf when she too, gets 'done Dick Alston, but Paul Keating, Bob then Federal Communications over'. Hawke, not to mention Aunty's Minister, who had made the allega- favourite nephew, Jeff Kennett, have tions, by finding all but two of the Aunty’s been starved of funding, all been equally displeased with her charges unfounded. It's not surprising beaten into submission and found coverage during their period in office. then, that a government used - with a wanting. But she's still our few notable exceptions - to a syco- ABC and her Australian fami- bb Let's not point out the bleeding phantic press, becomes incensed ly needs her more than ever. obvious here. when held accountable.

But nothing holds a candle to the Aunty has, in her many incarna- present government's war of attrition; tions, under intense political examina- Come in Spinner boards stacked with liberal cronies, tion and often deprived circum- Crikey columnist "Outside Centre" budgets decimated and reporters vili- stances, bonded Australians far and has drawn attention to the popularity fied. A now vulnerable Aunty has to wide, in cities, country regions and the of ABC radio commentator Kerry bend over backwards to please the outback; a network of diverse, yet O’Keefe. More than 500 fans lined hand that feeds her, bowing to pop- shared identity, which talked of nation up outside the ABC Shop Brisbane’s ulist demand, and even lifting her and nationhood, community and kin- Indooroopilly Shopping Town before skirts, to chase ratings. ship. She has not however, spared us Xmas to get the 70s era spinner to a 'warts-and-all' look at ourselves. sign copies of his autobiography, Outsourced and demoralised as “According to Skull." (ABC Books) she is, she's had more than a little A very first memory of ABC televi- “Outside Centre” noted that O’Keefe success to boast of to a board more sion was a Four Corners episode that calls ABC cricket matches in interested in dollars than a Charter brought home to me the absolute Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, that talks about the public interest. It neglect of Aboriginal people, which in but doesn’t get to go to other capi- would be churlish not to acknowledge my outer suburban enclave, had tals because of "budget restraints". the quality of some popular program- never intruded upon my conscious- ming but imprudent not to consider ness, let alone my conscience. It was what is being lost in order to seduce an awakening that could not, indeed new audiences who want little more cannot take place on commercial tele-

Page 9 BEST OF THE FABC BULLETIN ONLINE FORUM FEEDBACK

The FABC Bulletin is an email update with the latest The FABC List is a forum for passionate debate on all news about the ABC. It’s available to all members who matters pertaining to Aunty. subscribe to the FABCList. Here’s a taste of some of the issues that FABC mem- 3 Dec - LANDLINE UNCHANGED IN 2005 bers have debated over the last few months. The one-hour program "will return in 2005 at midday on Sundays". There had been rumours of a cut to a half- The F* Word . Janet Simpson took issue with some hour format. Apparently the decision was made after fruity language in the Summer book reading on RN, in intense lobbying. (ABC Media Release 29/11, The particular the repetitive use of the F* Word. Janet said Australian 2/12) she looks to the ABC to present higher standards and wondered whether the ABC was chasing rating by lower- 18 Feb - JONATHON SHIER: DUI ing standards. This prompted several responses. Darce In court to face a drink driving charge "The former Cassidy said he could remember it being used in a pro- ABC chief Jonathan Shier told police he would not have gram he produced on then-Radio 2 more than thirty driven his silver Saab convertible had he realised that years ago. Jill Keogh said that the f-word was liberated four glasses of red wine would put him over the limit." in the 50s by the Beat Generation. She said she would The former ABC boss was fined and banned from driv- know because she was there! ing. Apparently he has not found new employment and is "living off his capital". ( SMH 13/01) Carnivale . Some folks on the Central Coast approached FABC Board member Klaas Woldring won- 18 Feb - COST OF ABC BULLYING DEPENDS dering why the mysterious American-produced drama ON PERSPECTIVE had been shown at all. It wasn’t a mystery to Ron Dale After a Senate estimates hearing focused on bullying and Ariel Marguin who said they loved it. Comments to of staff ABC MD Russell Balding said that $1.98M was the List indicated Carnivale had an appeal across a num- not the amount paid out for psychological injuries. It was ber of age groups. FABC Webmaster Mike Hudson said the total workers compensation premium for 2003-04. his two sons didn’t miss an episode. Neither did John The staff union says the premium has increased 63% Neilson – who describes himself as "73 going on 16." because of the bullying. (The Australian 17/02) New Dimensions program on RN. Richard Gates of 1 Mar - MURDOCH COLUMNIST JANET Evans Head asked "Please, please oh please deliver us ALBRECHTSEN MAKES ABC BOARD from the drivel served up in New Dimensions." Annie The appointment for 5 years was immediately contro- Nielsen from the Parramatta Branch didn’t agree. She versial (SMH 24/02). John Gallagher was reappointed for thought each of the programs she’d listened to was a second term. David Marr said he was stunned and that excellent. Roger Gould thought the program was a Albrechtsen had been exposed two years ago as "an "mind-opener." extremely sloppy journalist" (Yahoo/ABC biznews 24/02). On AM the next morning Albrechtsen denied any conflict Successful complaints. Moya Crowe also reported of interest, saying she was not a News employee but a on her success in getting the ABC to address two of her contractor (ABC AM 25/02). She later said that "eliminat- complaints. Moya emailed ABC TV to complain about the ing bias from the ABC" would be a major priority for her new weather map being hard to read. She got a reply (SMH 27/02). The ABC Staff Union said she has "no rel- the next day to say others had said the same and that it evant broadcasting or program-making experience" and was going to be altered. repeated its call for reform of the method of board appointments ( CPSU 25/02). Albrechtsen displayed her As a wearer of hearing aids she also asked if The solicitor skills in a letter to the Herald repeating her state- World Today could adjust the level of Eleanor Hall's ment that she was not a Murdoch employee but an voice to nearer the level of the taped reports, so she did- "independent contractor". n’t have to be constantly turning the volume on her hear- ing aids up and down. She got another immediate and a 1 Mar - COINCIDENTAL DOSH FOR REGIONAL positive response. RADIO The day after Albrechtsen's appointment, it was To follow the debate on the FABCList and receive the announced that more money would go to "a new subsidy FABC Bulletin, send an e-mail to: scheme" for regional communities. The Government will [email protected] with SUBSCRIBE allocate $1.5 million to enable up to 50 rural and regional as the only entry in the Subject line and your communities to access five ABC radio services, including full name and phone number in the body of the Radio National and NewsRadio. The money will go to e-mail. installing transmitters." If at any stage you don’t wish to receive these Bulletins simply reply to your e-mail and write "Unsubscribe Bulletin" in the subject line.

Page 10 The Walkley in the Australian media. Since ABC’s Walkley then, winning stories have Awards History chronicled Australia's history, people and events. Triumph “Australia's journalists know Today, the Walkleys has Congratulations to all the ABC winners that winning a Walkley is a rea- grown to more than 30 award in the annual Walkley Awards for son to celebrate. It is the recog- nition by one's peers that spe- categories with an estimated Excellence in Journalism. cial initiative deserves a special 1000 entries pouring in each The ABC’s Foreign Affairs Editor Peter reward. To the winner it means year as journalists around the country aspire for the pinnacle Cave won the awards for Radio News all those years of training and of Australian journalistic and TV News for his reports into the cap- being barked at by demanding editors were not entirely in achievement. ture of the American hostage Thomas vain". - John Hurst, author of Over the past 46 years some Hamill in Iraq. The reports were a world- The Walkley Awards wide scoop and the footage even ended of the top names in Australian up in Mike Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. The annual Walkley Awards journalism have been honoured recognize excellence in by the awards including: Kerry Rafael Epstein and Nick McKenzie Australian journalism across all O'Brien, Mark Davis, Mike won the Radio Current Affairs award for mediums including print, televi- Steketee, Tony Koch, Marian their report into allegations of police cor- sion, radio, photographic and Wilkinson, Helen Dalley, Liz ruption in Victoria, while the RN’s Late online media. The prestigious Jackson, Chris Masters, Bill Leak, Ron Tandberg, Evan Night Live team won the Radio Feature Gold Walkley is considered the Whitton, Alan Hall, Adele Horin, category for their "Solomon Islands pinnacle of journalistic achieve- ment and the awards are akin Paul Bongiorno, Peter Series." only to the esteemed Pulitzer Nicholson, Jenny Coopes, Media Watch won the TV Current Prizes. Monica Attard, David Dare Parker and many more. Affairs award for its piece "Cash for The Walkleys were estab- Comment II and Professor Flint’s Fan lished in 1956, with five cate- The Walkley Awards have Mail." Lateline’s Tony Jones also took out gories, by Ampol Petroleum continued to develop with the the Walkley for Broadcast Interviewing. founder Sir William Gaston ever-changing media, adapting Walkley. He envisaged awards existing categories and recog- that recognised emerging talent nising new areas of journalism. 30 Years in 30 Days In January 2005, triple j - Australia’s only national youth network - celebrated its 30th anniversary. To mark fostering Australian music and the part it has played in this major milestone in its - and indeed the ABC’s histo- Australian youth culture since it opened as 2JJ in ry - triple j broadcast, across all programs, 30 Years in Sydney in 1975. In 1981 the station moved to the FM 30 Days a special series of features and segments. band as 2JJJ then by 1990 had expanded to the triple j These reflected the events that have shaped the net- network, available in capital cities and Newcastle. work, music and Australian youth culture over the last By 1996 triple j could be heard in 48 regional areas. three decades. 30 Years in 30 days kicked off on 19 January with the best of the musicians who have been unearthed by triple j‘s significance was highlighted with mini docu- triple j in the last few years paying musical homage to mentaries looking at its stand against music censorship, those who went before them. its influence on the live music scene, its role in update Print Post Approved PP 245059/00002 Update is published four times a year by Friends of the ABC NSW, P.O. Box 1391, North Sydney 2059. Phone 9810 3358 To become a member phone 9990 0600 or visit our web site at: www.fabcnsw.org.au/ Extracts from newspapers and other publications appearing in Update do not necessarily reflect members’ views. Update goes to all members of FABC (NSW) Inc., as part of the membership fee. Update is also supplied to journalists, politicians and libraries across Australia. It is produced and edited in Sydney but contributions are welcome from NSW country and inter- state branches. Material may be freely quoted or reproduced from the newsletter provided the source is acknowledged and repro- duction is sent to FABC s President Gary Cook, Editor Alison Rahill, Layout, format and assembly Irwin Kurtz. Unattributed text is by the editor. email: [email protected] FABC Update Post The Editor STOP PRESS C/—FABC Update Alison Rahill has resigned as Editor of Update. We PO Box 1391 thank her for her efforts of the past two issues. North Sydney NSW 2059

Page 11 ABC Launches New Digital TV Channel The ABC will begin transmission switching between the main channel put. This means of a new free-to-air digital TV chan- and ABC2 each weekday, access a audiences will be nel - ABC2 - on 7 March, marking a total of 13 hours of continuous, safe able to see some significant development in free-to-air and trusted ABC Kids programming. programs (such digital TV in Australia. ABC2 will The channel will also cater for young as Australia broadcast a wide range of new and teens. Wide) on ABC2 repeat programs including children’s, or watch them as regional, documentary and arts as The new digital channel will have video on demand well as international and regional a strong regional and rural focus with on the companion ABC Broadband news coverage. repeat screenings of Landline and service online at abc.net.au/broad- the opportunity for band. Other integrated TV and ABC2 will be a complementary broadband programming will include service to the main ABC TV channel, viewers around the country to view a variety of regularly up-dated news, offering time-shifted programming by all eight versions of Stateline. A new business, sport and rural bulletins. which audiences can see favourite prime time fifteen-minute regional programs again or catch programs news program, Australia Wide will be ABC2 will be on channel 21 on they missed on the main channel. exclusive to ABC2. International free to air digital television, on chan- These will include Foreign news and analysis programs will be nel 126 on Foxtel Digital and Austar, Correspondent, Australian Story, At an integral part of the ABC2 sched- on channel 22 on TransACT in the Movies, Catalyst and Gardening ule with the ABC Asia Pacific TV pro- Canberra and on channel 20 on Australia. It will also offer a range of gram Hemispheres being broadcast Neighbourhood Cable in Victoria. new programs. in Australia for the first time. inside the abc feb. 2005 No. 29 The addition of the new digital An innovative component of ABC2 channel to ABC services means that will be the use of content created for families and children can now, by both broadband and television out-

TOUGH TIMES FOR and claim they In Japan, the Chairman of the PUBLIC BROADCASTERS could destroy the Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, heart of the cor- Katsuji Ebisawa, resigned on the poration. Further 25th of January after months of pub- It’s been a bad few months all redundancies are lic pressure for him to take the blame round for the world’s public broad- expected to be for a series of financial scandals in casters. announced soon the corporation. The controversies in other areas, have led to a budgetary crisis at In December, the first round of including news. Japan’s public broadcaster, with over extensive job cuts was announced at BBC staff held a 100,000 households refusing to pay the world’s foremost public broad- On the 1st of Japan’s mandatory licence fees. caster, the BBC. 1,900 posts were day of action on March 2 March a British axed from support services and the government green The scandal began erupted when factual and learning department. paper on the future of the BBC advo- a producer was found to have Most of the first wave of support cuts cated the scrapping the BBC's board embezzled more than half a million will come from the BBC’s human of governors, and replacing it with an dollars in funds for program produc- resources department, with other independent board of trustees. The tion. Several other staff members substantial cuts in finance and prop- new trust members will need relevant were also reported later to have erty, marketing, policy and legal, and experience and background and be engaged in embezzlement, fictitious strategy and distribution. appointed by the Department for business trips and irregular account- Culture, Media and Sport under the ing operations. The exact scope of the cuts Nolan rules. remains a subject of much conjec- Ebisawa also came under fire for ture, with estimates varying from British Culture Secretary Tessa ordering NHK producers not to 5000 jobs to up to 10,000 in a work- Jowell guaranteed the BBC a 10- broadcast live his testimony as a wit- force of 27,000. Several commercial year charter from 2007 – but says ness on the scandals at a parliamen- ventures are also for sale or inviting the government would conduct a tary committee hearing. The last joint venture partners in an effort to review of alternative methods of straw came when an NHK whistle- direct an extra £320 million a year funding the BBC and investigate the blower alleged that the network had into improving programs. possibility of a subscription-based bowed to political pressure to tone system before the end of the next down a program on Japan's wartime British Union leaders say the job charter period. atrocities. cuts are the biggest in BBC history

Page 12 THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Adam Singer is a Content Board falling cost line. In the ‘90s it cost £4 ous streams of Public Service Broad- Member of the British communica- million per annum to transmit to the casting are not necessary, as you tions regulator, Ofcom. home on satellite; it now costs under move to an on-demand world. You £500,000. The falling cost of technol- pull down the public service pro- This is an abridged transcript of a ogy changes the nature of program gramme at the time most convenient speech he gave at Britain’s Voice of content. ‘Big Brother’ only exists to you. the Listener & Viewer’s 10th because of the falling cost of cam- International Conference at The eras. As television distribution and As fragmentation and hard drive Royal Society in London in February. reception gets ever cheaper you storage increases, advertising is have more television signals, audi- going to be harder to sustain. The The full speech can be found on ences fragment, and it gets harder to underlying pressure over the next ten the VLV’s website at www.vlv.org.uk. maintain a monolith like the BBC. If years will be the rise of on-demand audience share - as more of us revenues. Today this is being driven Public Service Broadcasting has watch and use alternative services – by music services like Napster and created major institutions of public falls, the harder it will be to sustain Apple’s iTunes, where you can service provision. But we must the BBC. download music tracks from the remember it is the fate of every insti- internet for 79 pence per tune. Music tution to meet its Martin Luther. The The choice is how do you harness is always the first into a new, digital, Catholic Church could have defeated and ride these economic forces for economic model, and where music Luther but it could not defeat the your own ends? The one choice you goes television always follows. If you combination of Luther and the new don’t have is to ignore them. You doubt this downloading phenomenon, technology of the printing press. The can’t slow it down, because we all last December, the BBC streamed printing press was to the Catholic demand the benefit of constant and downloaded 6 million programmes. Church what multi-channel television falling costs. For example, nearly is proving to be to today’s institution- every one of you has an electronic The ghastly truth is that if you al public broadcasters. device that takes pictures, video, don’t have a mobile phone, don’t use stores music, sends written mes- the Internet, and you are still receiv- The Music Hall met its Luther in sages, pulls down information, plays ing television as an off-air, five chan- the guise of The Cinema and video games and you can talk to nel, analogue signal, you are as rele- Television. people on it – it’s a mobile phone. At vant to the future of this debate as a each purchase you are all signing a telex machine in a world of e-mail. The British Motorcycle Industry pact with the devil that says you are met its Luther in the guise of Soichiro contributing to this economic force. Nowhere have I said that change Honda. You can’t have those things and iso- is good, but we can’t preserve Public late television from that force. Service Broadcasting in aspic, nor The most powerful telephone should we. What we can do is keep company in the world, Bell Telephone, So the cathedral-like Public reinventing PSB, so that it is rele- met its Luther in the guise of Judge Service Broadcasting of yesteryear vant, and desired. The question we Green, who broke it up in the ‘80s, that produced programmes like should be asking after the and last week the final part of Bell - Civilization and The Ascent of Man Catholicism of 80 years of institution- AT&T - was gobbled up: an unthink- start to change into new forms of al Public Service Broadcasting is, able thought in the first seventy Public Service Broadcasting. Of "What in this new technology world years of the last Century. course as a society you can elect to does Reformation Public Service have any Public Service Broadcast- Broadcasting look like, and how do Great institutions produce glories ing that the citizen is prepared to pay we help create a new and different, for us all, but they survive in direct for. But there are some questions but equally important, form of Public proportion to their ability to maintain you need to ask. Who is this public Service Broadcasting?" their relevance. broadcasting for?

So different eras produce different If everyone has a mobile phone What is Ofcom? economics, and different glories, and capable of receiving video from the this is the issue Public Service internet, as you all will have in ten Ofcom is the regulator for the UK Broadcasting is facing as it moves years, what form does Public Service communications industries, with out of it’s cathedral age, and contem- Broadcasting take on that? If muse- responsibilities across television, plates what form it should take to be ums can digitise their collections and radio, telecommunications and wire- relevant to a mass information age. put them out on broadband is this less communications services. not a new Public Service Broad-cast- Ofcom exists to further the inter- The key to analysing what is hap- ing that needs to be encouraged? ests of citizen-consumers as the pening in television is simple. The communications industries enter the principle is there is no such thing as In this world of new PSB the rise digital age. technology, there is only an ever- of cheap storage means that continu-

Page 13 AROUND THE BRANCHES NORTHERN RIVERS The Northern Rivers branch of the Friends of the ABC began the year with a visit by recently retired Visit La Perouse with a ABC radio current affairs presenter John Highfield. John was the guest of honour at an inaugural meeting Tour of Bare Island of the Tweed sub branch. 20 members attended the function that was held on Saturday 19 February at the Tweed/Gold Coast Campus of Southern Cross University. The next evening John was keynote speaker at the Bangalow Bowling Club where 70 members attended and were enthralled by his lively address. .John vividly recounted experiences as a foreign correspondent in Germany, Ireland and South Africa. His recollections at the national level included insights gained from infor- mal press briefings with Malcolm Fraser, Gough Sunday 17 April Whitlam and John Howard in the 1970s. Location: 11.30 tour of La Perouse Museum – John Highfield expressed concern over a creeping at your leisure (not organised) corporatism within the ABC. However he felt that 12.00 – 1.15 Picnic (BYO) regional radio in particular played an important role in with other FABC in park overlooking Bare Island reflecting community views and promoting democracy 1.30 pm tour of Bare Island at a grassroots level. (with National Parks & Wildlife guides) Before departing visit the Snake Man (optional) It was great to have such a well-known ABC identity visiting the North Coast and his visit was given a high $10 per person; $8.00 concession for Bare Island Tour profile by ABC North Coast, as well as the Northern Please ring to book for the Bare Island tour Rivers Echo, Byron Shire Echo and the Northern Star as numbers are limited. newspapers. Ring: Gillian on Ph: 9144 2891, Ireen on Ph: 9745 4487, Branch members appreciated the role that he has Jason on Ph: 9489 1420 to secure your place. played in addressing threats to the national broadcast- Payment via credit card or cheque. er - especially in relation to access by advocacy Bookings will close on 5th April unless filled earlier. groups and film makers to ABC archival material. Plenty of parking for cars, The next committee meeting will be held in mid April Bus departs city every 15 minutes from 10am, and the AGM for the branch will be held in May. Details duration of journey is 45 minutes. will be provided in the local press and on the branch web site. Picnic on grass between octagonal stone fort and Bare Island. Neville Jennings

Holding a Friends event? Don’t forget to let Update know… and please, please send us some photos!

A packed Bangalow Bowling Club, Northern Rivers Branch John Highfield addresses Northern Rivers Friends

Page 14 AROUND THE BRANCHES CIR HUNTER CLE OF FRIENDS 1233 ABC Newcastle has confirmed a tour of the studios Saturday April 9 at 10:30 am Being a member of the Friends of the ABC Bring a picnic for lunch in the park adjacent to the studios means you’re part of a on the corner of Wood and Parry Streets truly national organisation. at Newcastle West. Allan Thomas Apart from the 15 branches in NSW there are branches ORANGE GREAT LAKES in the capital of every other state and territory and more The Orange Friends have decided to The Branch is still hoping to arrange groups in country areas. submit an entry to The Country Hour’s a date with Geraldine Doogue sometime 60th Anniversary Roadshow competi- soon. We’ll have to accommodate Branches organise a wide tion. One town in each state and the NT Geraldine’s new weekend working range of events for their mem- will be chosen to host an ABC Radio hours – she’s presenting Saturday bers – from film nights and breakfast on Radio National. event. Cumnock near Wellington, was guest speaker gigs to simple the first place from which The Country coffee and a friendly chat. Grahame Burns Hour was broadcast, and the Orange Friends will be stressing the historic So if you’re interstate or in links in their submission. Apart from a PARRAMATTA the regions, why not get in touch with the local Friends chance to be a part of history, the win- We had a post-election wake as our and pop in for a chat? After ning entries will get a 60th birthday final meeting of the year, but were able all, you’re one of the family! BBQ, a community skills workshop, a to celebrate the fact that in Parramatta free concert, and national ABC Radio the national trend was reversed, and For information on the lat- exposure. the sitting Liberal member, Ross est events go to the web Cameron, was defeated. The Orange Friends will again have www.fabcnsw.org.au a stall at the city’s Or you can call or Plans for 2005 will focus on informa- annual Food Affair on April 1. email the local FABC tion and awareness-raising activities for contact person. people in the Parramatta area involving Bev Holland They’re easy to find several guest speakers. – all their names are on the back CENTRAL COAST Watch for details in the next issue of page of Update. Update. Coffee, tea and FABC. Members of the Central Coast Branch have decided Mal Hewitt to meet informally each alternate month at the Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford. No meeting procedure, just an opportunity for members and friends to meet and exchange ideas. The meet-
    ings will be held at 2.30pm on the sec- ond Saturday of every odd month. at Flat Rock Gully Our next meeting is 14 May, 2:30 Thursday 5th May 2005 11:30am-1:30pm Poems read by Don Swonnell 12 to 1 Committee Meetings for 2005 will Members can bring a poem to have read again be open to all members of the branch and will be held at the Central Bring a picnic lunch and a rug, cushion Coast Leagues Club on selected or camp chair to sit on. Saturdays from 2pm - 4pm. The Henry Lawson Cave This year’s dates are: Saturday 2 April, Saturday 4 June, is located behind Saturday 6 August, Saturday 15 Oct. . Willoughby Leisure Centre (Small St., Willoughby) rear car park on bike track 50 metres flat walk John Hale

Page 15 State and regional branches of Friends of the A B C New South Wales Central Coast Northern Rivers ACT Gary Cook John Hale Neville Jennings Jill Greenwell PO Box 1391 21 Stephenson Rd. PO Box 167 Alstonville 2477 GPO Box 2625 North Sydney 2059 Bateau Bay 2261 Ph/Fax: 6674 3830 (H) Canberra ACT 2601 Ph: 9810 3358 Ph: 4333 8107 [email protected] Ph: 6253 3531 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Orange Eastern Suburbs Albury Bev Holland South Australia Jim Saleeba Nizza Siano (Secretary) 26 Sunny South Crescent 16 Holland Rd Orange NSW 2800 Joan Laing 621 Lindsay Ave. Bellevue Hill NSW 2023 Ph: 6362 4744 P.O. Box 1758 Albury 2640 Phone / Fax 9327 3423 [email protected] Hutt St, (02) 6021 5690 [email protected] Adelaide SA 5000 [email protected] Parramatta Ph/Fax 08 8271 0751 Eurobodalla Mal Hewitt [email protected] Armidale Keith Simmons 31 Queen St, Granville 2142 Priscilla Connor 1/29 Mathew Pde. Ph: 9637 2900 Western Australia 41 Judith Street Batehaven 2536 [email protected] Roger Raven Armidale NSW 2350 Ph. 4472 9898 PO Box 179 Ph: 6772 3454 or 6772 2217 [email protected] Port Macquarie/ Darlington, WA 6070 [email protected] Mid North Coast Phone: (08) 9370 1785 Great Lakes Drusi Megget [email protected] Bathurst Audrey Semon (Secretary) PO Box 1752 Tracey Carpenter P.O. Box 871 Port Macquarie NSW 2444 Tasmania 76 Havannah St Forster 2428 Ph: 02 6583 8798 Anne O’Byrne Bathurst 2795 [email protected] Ph: 6554 8507 GPO Box 883 Ph. 6331 8305 [email protected] Hobart Tas. 7001 [email protected] Victoria Ph (03) 6331 1108 Illawarra Friends of the ABC (Vic) [email protected] Bega Jan Kent (Secretary) PO Box 2103 Alec Bacon, Friends of the ABC Illawarra St Kilda West VIC 3182 Northern Territory 25 Surf Circle, PO Box 336,Unanderra 2526 Ph: 03 9682 0073 Please contact Tura Beach 2548 [email protected] South Australia Ph: 6495 9029 Phone/Fax: 4271 3531 (see above) [email protected] [email protected] Queensland Blue Mountains Newcastle Don Sinnamon Hank Willems Suite 14B1 NATIONAL RESOURCE John Derum CENTRE P.O. Box 469 c/ PO Box 265 7/421 Brunswick St Darce Cassidy Springwood 2777 Merewether 2291 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 www.friendsoftheabc.org Ph: 4758 6979 Ph 4961 4401 Ph 0405 721 617 [email protected] [email protected]

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