hear hear: THE ABC is “not a workers’ collective” but exists to efficiently serve the public, Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday, as he defended the possibility of hundreds of job cuts. The Communications Minister said he would not confirm speculation about the size or scope of possible budget cuts but he said a speculated funding reduction of $200 million over four years would not be a disaster. “The ABC’s annual budget is well over a billion dollars and people are talking about $200m over four years,” Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio in Melbourne. “So when you look at it in that way ... even the numbers that are being floated do not represent a very large percentage of the ABC’s revenues.” Asked about the prospect that could mean 500-600 job cuts and what effect that would have on programs, Mr Turnbull said it would depend on which staff were cut. “The ABC is not a workers’ collective. Right,” he said. “It is not designed to exist for the benefit of its employees, however wonderful and lovable and adorable as they may be. “It is designed to provide a service to the public. It’s about the public and so the obligation on the ABC is to run its business as efficiently as possible.” Mr Turnbull said this included delivering programming in accordance with its charter and to be accurate and impartial in respect of news and current affairs. theaustralian.au/media/malcolm-turnbull-says-abc-cuts-no-big-deal/story-e6frg996-1227072056164
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 02:04:08 +0000
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