If you missed watching or listening to the hearings you can read the transcripts on the APH website: Committee Hearing Transcripts
You can read the attendees submissions here:
CPSU
MEAA
MEAA (SA & NT)
Australian Children's Television Fund
Friends of the ABC (VIC)
Quentin Dempster
Bobbie Mackley
AFL NT
SANFL
WAFC
Screen NSW
ScreenWest
SA Film Corporation
Independent Producers
SPAA
ABC
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The Sydney Morning Herald - 26 September 2011
ABC could miss out the next Chaser
The ABC could lose the ability to foster and discover new talent, such as The Chaser, due to cutbacks at the national broadcaster's internal television program production operations, the public sector union has warned.
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) ABC section secretary Graeme Thomson says there needs to be a full and open inquiry into the issue.
"It loses the ability for the new Chasers, the new Andrew Dentons to actually be found and actually be developed and I think that's sad," he told a Senate hearing on Monday in Canberra.
The Senate environment and communications references committee is holding public hearings into ABC television management's August announcement of cuts to jobs, and program production and numbers.
The committee, which has so far received 267 submissions, is also looking at the decision to outsource the popular childrens' program, Bananas in Pyjamas, and the impact of the cuts on state-based football broadcasts.
The CPSU, which represents most ABC employees but not journalists, said ABC radio had a well-established place in Australia.
But television had lost its way and no longer had a clear vision of where it was headed or its role or purpose, the CPSU said in its submission.
"This confusion is in part created by the changed media environment and because of multi-channelling," it said.
"It has also been caused by management decisions that have shifted the organisation priorities."
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance equity branch federal director Simon Whipp said the government had provided additional funding to increase Australian content on the ABC, including the new children's channel.
But he said the alliance had expressed concern that even with this funding boost, it wasn't enough because the ABC's base funding had been under considerable pressure and declining in real terms.
"The ABC has struggled with insufficient funds for more than a decade in what has been a rapidly changing media landscape," he told the hearing via teleconference.
"The ABC operates three television networks, six radio networks and one of the largest suites of online services in Australia's media on an annual budget less than that available to Channel Seven and Channel Nine with whom it competes for audiences."
Mr Whipp said the MEAA supported a mixed model of in-house and out-sourced production.
"There should remain a critical mass of in-house production to ensure the benefits that in-house productions brings to the ABC and the industry are not lost."
Sydney Morning Herald - 21 September 2011
ABC Tackled Over Coverage
AN ''arts vacuum'' has opened up at the ABC following staff cuts and programming changes that have ''banished'' the topic from daily and weekly news coverage, according to Australia's major arts organisations.
In a submission to a Senate inquiry into ABC programming, ArtsPeak, a confederation of national peak arts organisations, said with the axing of ABC TV's Art Nation and Radio National's Artworks, the ABC was failing to ''effectively recognise that the arts were part of the everyday life experience and interest of the majority of Australians''.
ArtsPeak said the ABC's ability to exercise expert judgment about in-house and commissioned arts productions was severely compromised by job cuts. It recommended a freeze on staff cuts and a broadening of the ABC's charter to oblige it to cover not just performing arts but also visual arts, literature, indigenous and media arts.
The criticism follows a new ABC strategy to cut jobs and outsource internal production. The ABC's director of communications, Michael Millett, said the ABC was committed to its charter obligation and had no intention of reducing its arts news coverage.
Adelaide Now - 21 September 2011
THE ABC will be called on to confirm its commitment to South Australian football at a Senate hearing next week.
A committee inquiring into ABC programming is set to call the ABC to appear to defend claims it plans to cut its broadcast of SANFL football.
The committee will meet on Monday and will also hear from the SANFL, West Australian Football Commission and the Northern Territory league.
SA Senator Simon Birmingham said yesterday the hearing would be an opportunity for the ABC to make a commitment to local football fans.
"This inquiry will be an opportunity for the ABC to explain its thinking but also to justify if it's looking at cutting sports production, why it's doing so," he said.
"This will ensure they have to answer to the Senate on behalf of footy lovers throughout SA.
"So far, the ABC has refused to commit to broadcasting SANFL next year.
"We hope they will front on Monday and make a commitment that local footy and local sports will continue to be part of their line-up." Last week, the Senate unanimously passed a motion calling for the ABC to continue its coverage of SA local football.
The SANFL is campaigning at local matches, with petitions and support from MPs on all sides of politics.
The Senate inquiry was set up last month to look into programming cuts by the ABC, specifically for its arts programs. But its coverage of local football has been included in the inquiry.
Under its charter, the ABC is required to broadcast programs that "contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of the Australian community".
The ABC has put contract negotiations with the SANFL over future broadcasts on hold, sparking fears over the future of the coverage. ABC managing director Mark Scott has said no decision so far has been made on the SANFL broadcasts.
In a submission to the inquiry, the Community and Public Sector Union, which represents ABC workers, says rumours about the demise of local football broadcasting were "well-founded" but ABC management had backed off "to see how the dust settles".
