Margaret O'Connor (ACT President), Gary Cook (NSW President) and Jill Greenwell (ACT Secretary) met LINDSAY TANNER on 9Feb at Parliament House .

ALP's commitment to the ABC
Our first question to Lindsay Tanner was directed at the level of support for public broadcasting generally, and for the ABC in particular, which the ALP had outlined before the last election.

He said that the ALP's position remained substantially the same, but with the significant addition of the policy, which he had ushered in last year, on appointments to the ABC Board. He had used the UK's Nolan Rules as a guide to making the appointment process both transparent and as independent of political influence as is consistent with his responsibility as Minister; he added that that was not necessarily the end of the process of developing policy on the ABC.

Political independence
He did make very clear that as a Minister he would not be interfering in ABC programming, management or budget priorities. He stressed the point that he regards it as important that the ABC is kept at arm's length from politicians. That theme also ran through his comments about government funding of the ABC: that it should not be tied to particular programming decisions or management initiatives as these are the prerogative of the ABC itself.

Funding - Tanner challenges FABC
Lindsay Tanner threw out a challenge to Friends of the ABC to identify the sorts of improvements which extra funding would make possible. He himself suggested as one possible example the extension of programmes and services to rural and regional areas. In his own efforts to secure extra funding for the ABC he expected that this approach would be received more sympathetically than if he came up with a figure or formula.

The ABC's budget allocation always has to be considered in the context of the Government's over all budget strategy. Outside that context any figure, such as going back to the levels of 1995 (the ALP pre-2001 election promise), or formula based on overseas comparisons, is arbitrary. Nevertheless he would be seeking an increase in funding for the ABC.

The future
The Shadow Minister made it a bit hard for himself to answer questions about his vision for the ABC because of his concern to be seen as not interfering in ABC management. However, he did say that digital broadcasting is one of the challenges facing the ABC; that with its intermediate-sized markets the ABC could be eased out by 'borderless broadcasting'. On the other hand, the ABC's importance as 'the Australian broadcaster' could enable it to retain a viable audience.

Interestingly, in discussions in 2002 with the Friends of the ABC, Lindsay Tanner made essentially the same suggestion - that the advent of digital television, and a multi-channel environment, will be a threat to the survival of the ABC; and it was that suggestion which was at least part of the reason for Darce Cassidy to write his paper 'Fifty seven channels and nothin' on'.

Perhaps next time we meet, FABC should be tackling Lindsay Tanner on what proposals he has developed to strengthen the ABC's capacity to survive the digital age. What is he doing to enable the ABC to cater to the needs of particular communities around Australia, and to contribute to our sense of national identity?

Jill Greenwell