ABC facing up to 250 redundancies in response to $41m ‘budget challenge’
The ABC will need to make up to 250 roles redundant to cope with a $41m budget shortfall, starting with a round of voluntary redundancies across the news, entertainment and specialist, regional and local, and product and content technology teams.
In an all-staff email yesterday, managing director David Anderson said job losses were unavoidable as the public broadcaster wrestles with $41m in government cuts per year until the end of 2022.
Anderson with ABC chair Ita Buttrose
… the ABC could easily avoid many of these redundancies by going back to public service broadcasting first principles and cutting out all of the excessive contract salaries paid to many – particularly “specialist” reporters and autocue readers in the news department. The current Employment Agreement provides for a salary range (including super) of up to $145,000 a year which should be adequate for all the positions required. And the MD’s own salary is double that recommended by the Remuneration Tribunal and more than that paid to the Director-General of the BBC with over 35,000 staff … it’s totally absurd …
Not to mention the constant line of contractors who come in to do the bare minimum because the are all running side gigs, or the fact that freelancers are directly appointed to programmes at great cost over the use of ABC staff or the numerous layers of management that are always slipping off for a coffee in Chinatown or looking at a screen doing nothing. No the answer is always get rid of the programme makers and content. When will a senates committee ever investigate the bloody nepotism and complete waste of exec salaries in the place, blind Freddy could see execs come in for a few years juggle a few things that fail and then quietly move out the door to guess what … a new joint venture with the ABC
Absolute joke if it wasn’t someone’s freaking life for those that are there proud of the service they offer the Australian people. When will the government realise it’s not starving them of finances that will kill their problems it’s looking into the crap that goes on there. They have bled it dry already mist of the good programme makers have left already and the few that are left are not greenie climate change wielding nutters just a people wanting to make good thought provoking Australian content, sadly you will all see less of that in both quality, substance and coverage of minorities. Enjoy the reruns of Grand Designs , Killing Eve and everything else Australian ?
Get rid of Q&A and overstaffed Media watch.