AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION CORPORATION BROADCASTING AUSTRALIAN DIVERSITY ANNUAL REPORT & INCLUSION 2019-2020 DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Annual Report 2019-2020 Contents Planning and reporting context 4 About the ABC’s diversity and inclusion program 6 The year in review 12 Engaging with diverse audiences 18 Entertainment highlights 24 Celebrating events and significant days 30 Performance 36 Gender 36 Disability 42 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Australians 48 Cultural and linguistic diversity 54 LGBTQI+ 60 The ABC acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. The ABC pays respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging. Cover: Deborah Mailman in Total Control. Right: The cast of Hardball. The ABC acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. The ABC pays respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging. 3 Planning and reporting context 4 The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s national public broadcaster and was established as a statutory corporation under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 (The ABC Act). The ABC Act, which includes the ABC Charter, sets out the functions and duties of the Corporation. The Charter requires the Corporation to provide content that contributes to a sense of national identity, reflects the cultural diversity of the Australian community and takes account of the multicultural character of the Australian community. As a Commonwealth authority employer, the ABC is bound by the provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987 (EEO Act), the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Fair Work Act 2009. The EEO Act requires the ABC to promote equal opportunity in employment across four designated groups: women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from a non-English speaking background (NESB) and people with disability. The ABC has traditionally used the term ‘non-English speaking background’ or NESB when referring to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) representation in the workforce. Since the launch of the Diversity & Inclusion Plan 2019-2022, the ABC stopped using the NESB terminology, referring only to CALD. This report is made under the provisions of section 9(2) of the EEO Act and provides an overview of the ABC’s diversity profile and performance against the four designated groups in the EEO Act. The report also features key content and initiatives relevant to the Corporation’s broader diversity and inclusion commitments under the ABC Charter. The report covers the period from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020. Left: Aaron Pedersen in Mystery Road. 5 About the ABC’s diversity and inclusion program 6 The ABC released its Five-Year Plan1 in June 2020 re-affirming its commitment to its diversity and Indigenous strategy. The Plan outlines the fact that Australia has one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world, with 26% of Australians born overseas. Australia is forecast to be a nation of 30 million people by 2030. The rapid population growth and increasing diversity represents an opportunity for the ABC to reflect the national identity by giving a voice to diverse Australia. This includes people from different genders, ages, sexual orientations, social backgrounds and people with disabilities. The engagement and involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is also a key part of the ABC’s strategy. The ABC’s current Diversity & Inclusion Plan 2019-22 and the Elevate RAP underpin and support the initiatives of the Five-Year Plan. 1 https://about.abc. net.au/wp-content/ uploads/2020/06/ABC- Left: The cast FiveYearPlan_FINAL-1.pdf of The Heights. 7 About the ABC’s diversity and inclusion program Diversity and Inclusion Plan 2019-2022 The Diversity & Inclusion Plan2 provides a strategic roadmap to help the ABC develop an inclusive culture throughout the Corporation. The Plan covers a three-year period from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2022 and was developed after extensive consultation with the ABC divisions, diversity champions, external industry partners and specialist organisations. The Plan focuses on five key diversity areas – Cultural and linguistic Diversity (CALD), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Disability, Gender and LGBTQI+. The workforce targets are distributed and increase over the duration of the Plan. 2 http://about.abc. net.au/wp-content/ uploads/2019/11/ABC- Diversity-Inclusion- 8 ABC DIVERSITY & INCLUSION ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 Plan-201922.pdf Table of Diversity Targets Timeline Date Women Women CALD CALD Indigenous Disability Executives Technologists Executives Content Makers 2022 50% 20% 15% 15% 3.6% 8% Target 2021 49.5% 18.75% 12.5% 13% 3.4% 7% Target 2020 49% 17.5% 10% 11% 3.2% 6% Target The Plan is centred around three strategic goals: 1. A diverse community: To recruit, develop and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the make-up of the Australian community 2. An inclusive workplace culture: To foster a workplace culture that is inclusive, collaborative and accountable and supports the talent and diversity of our people 3. Inclusive content, products and services: To reflect and represent the diversity of the Australian community in our content, products and the services we provide 9 About the ABC’s diversity and inclusion program Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2019-2022 The ABC’s Elevate RAP 3 champions initiatives that recognise and embrace Australia’s Indigenous history and cultures. This includes the ABC’s commitment to Indigenous content across its media platforms, strengthening employment and business opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and building closer relationships with Indigenous communities. The Elevate RAP also includes a new commitment to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, voices and names within the ABC’s programs, so that this may become a part of the vocabulary of the nation. The Plan has been operational since July 2019. The ABC is one of only 25 organisations in Australia to be invited by Reconciliation Australia to develop an Elevate RAP, which is the highest form of RAP. The ABC was offered the opportunity to undertake an Elevate RAP because of the significant progress it had made under previous RAPs. Governance and responsibility The ABC has established a governance structure to guide and track its approach and ensure top-down accountability for diversity and inclusion outcomes across the Corporation. Under this structure, the ABC’s Managing Director and Leadership Team hold overall responsibility for the Diversity and Inclusion program, with appropriate targets and strategies included in their performance objectives. 3 https://about.abc. net.au/wp-content/ uploads/2019/11/ ABCElevate 10 ABC DIVERSITY & INCLUSION ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 RAP201922.pdf The Diversity & Inclusion Diversity Data Standing Committee Workforce The Diversity and Inclusion Standing The ABC seeks Equal Employment Committee (DISC) supports and makes Opportunity (EEO) data from employees recommendations on diversity and upon commencement of their employment. inclusion matters to the ABC Leadership Provision of this data is voluntary and Team. Members of the DISC are senior employees have the option to update their representatives of ABC divisions (who lead information at any point. Additionally, EEO their divisions in implementing their action data is sought from applicants for all vacant plan), the Chair-people of the ABC’s Employee positions advertised as part of the online Network Groups and the Chair of the Bonner recruitment process. At the end of August Committee. The work of the DISC helps 2020, 77.4% of all ABC employees had elected to prioritise diversity at the highest level to provide EEO data. Quarterly reports are of the Corporation. provided to divisional diversity leads and the ABC Leadership Team which tracks the ABC’s The Bonner Committee progress in meeting its diversity targets. The Bonner Committee is the ABC’s primary advisory body on issues relating to Aboriginal Content and Torres Strait Islander staff, content, Significant progress has been made by and communities. It is also responsible the ABC in tracking diversity in content. for monitoring progress against the ABC’s Modelled on the BBC’s 50:50 project, ABC Elevate RAP. Its members are a mix of News and Current Affairs are monitoring and Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff drawn improving the representation of women in from around the country. The Chair reports content. Across all platforms, the overall ABC to the Managing Director on matters arising News weekly reach in 2020 increased to 48% from the Committee’s work. female representation compared to 43% in 2019. In July 2020, ABC News partnered with the BBC to pilot tracking ethnicity, Indigenous and disability in content. Regional and Local (R&L) content teams have been tracking their content against a range of categories to assess how effectively the content is reflecting Australia’s diversity. Training videos have also been created for R&L content makers on the inclusion of diverse perspectives in their stories. Entertainment and Specialist have created a dynamic search tool to explore on-screen diversity representation across genre or individual program level. 11 The year in review Total ABC employees: VIC 692 4224 NSW 2163 QLD 455 SA WA 278 ACT 218 164 TAS 132 O/S 13 NT 109 WOMEN in Executive in Content roles: Maker roles: 50.7% 55.3% 12 35-44 30% 45-54 26% M F AGE PROFILE 45.7 54.1 25-34 25% Median age: 43.95 Median age: 40.67 55-64 15% GENDER UNDER 25 3% 65+ 2% DIVERSE 0.2 Median age: 37.9 CALD 8.4% 9.5% 13.9% Culturally and in Executive roles in Content Total CALD linguistically diverse Maker roles employees DISABILITY INDIGENOUS 4.6% 2.9% * Numbers and percentages on pg 12 and 13 based on Total Head Total employees Total Indigenous Count, excluding casual employees.