The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly owned body that is politically independent and accountable such as through its production of annual reports and is bound by provisions contained within the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013,[2] with its charter enshrined in legislation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983.[3] ABC Commercial, a profit-making division of the corporation, also helps to generate funding for content provision.
The ABC was established as the Australian Broadcasting Commission on 1 July 1932 by an act of federal parliament. It effectively replaced the Australian Broadcasting Company, a private company established in 1924 to provide programming for A-class radio stations. The ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news-gathering role. Modelled after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is funded by a television licence, the ABC was originally financed by licence fees on households with a broadcast receiver. However, the licence fees soon proved to be insufficient due to Australia's small population and the vast area to be serviced. In 1947 a proposal to increase the fee for a broadcast listeners' licence from £1 to £1/5/[4] was scotched,[5] and in 1949 the Chifley government decided that the ABC would be directly funded by the government,[6][7] with licence fees subsumed into general revenue. Later funding was supplemented with commercial activities related to its core broadcasting mission. The Australian Broadcasting Commission became the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1983.[3]
The ABC provides radio, television, online, and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia. ABC Radio operates four national networks, a large number of ABC Local Radio stations, several digital stations, and the international service Radio Australia. ABC Television operates five free-to-air channels, as well as the ABC iview streaming service and the ABC Australia satellite channel. News and current affairs content across all platforms is produced by the news division.
The postal address of the ABC in every Australian capital city is PO Box 9994, as a tribute to the record-breaking batting average of Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman.[8][9][10]
After public radio stations were established independently in the state capitals from 1924, a licensing scheme administered by the Postmaster-General's Department was established, allowing certain stations (with "Class A" licences") government funding, albeit with restrictions placed on their advertising content.[11] In 1928, the government established the National Broadcasting Service to take over the 12 A-Class licences as they came up for renewal, and contracted the Australian Broadcasting Company,[12] a private company established in 1924,[13][14] to supply programs to the new national broadcaster.[12][15]
After it became politically unpopular to continue to allow the Postmaster-General to run the National Broadcasting Service, the government established the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) on 1 July 1932, under the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act 1932.[16] to take over the Australian Broadcasting Company and run the National Broadcasting Service.[17][18]
The ABC became informally referred to as "Aunty",[19][20][21] originally in imitation of the British Broadcasting Corporation's nickname.[22] The structure and programming was broadly modelled on the British Broadcasting Corporation, and programs not created in Australia were mostly bought in from the BBC.[12]
In 1940 one of the ABC Board's most prominent members, Dick Boyer, was appointed to the ABC, becoming chairman on 1 April 1945. Today known for the continuing series of Boyer Lectures initiated by him in 1959, he had a good but not too close working relationship with Sir Charles Moses (general manager 1935–1965[23][24]), and remained chair until his retirement in 1961. He was determined to maintain the autonomy of the ABC.[25]
In 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing, and any exercise of the power had to be mentioned in the commission's annual report.[26]
The ABC commenced television broadcasting in 1956. ABN-2 in Sydney was inaugurated by prime minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956, with the first broadcast presented by Michael Charlton, and James Dibble reading the first television news bulletin.[27] Television relay facilities were not in place until the early 1960s, so news bulletins had to be sent to each capital city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city.[28] In 1975, colour television was permanently introduced into Australia, and within a decade, the ABC had moved into satellite broadcasting, greatly enhancing its ability to distribute content nationally.[29]
Also in 1975 the ABC introduced a 24-hour-a-day AM rock station in Sydney, 2JJ (Double Jay), which was eventually expanded into the national Triple J FM network.[29] A year later, a national classical music network was established on the FM band, broadcasting from Adelaide. It was initially known as ABC-FM (later ABC Classic FM) – referring both to its "fine music programming and radio frequency".[29]
ABC budget cuts began in 1976[30] and continued until 1998,[31] the largest cuts (calculated by the ABC as 25% in real terms) coming between 1985 and 1996.[32]
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, effective 1 July 1983. Although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains editorially independent as ensured by the 1983 Act.[33] At the same time, the newly formed corporation underwent significant restructuring, including a split into separate television and radio divisions, and ABC Radio was restructured significantly again in 1985.[34] Geoffrey Whitehead was managing director of the ABC at this time.[35] Following his resignation in 1986, David Hill (at the time chair of the ABC Board) took over his position[36] and local production trebled from 1986 to 1991.[34]
Live television broadcasts of selected parliamentary sessions started in 1990, and by the early 1990s, all major ABC broadcasting outlets moved to 24-hour-a-day operation.
In 1991 the ABC helped launch Australian children's music band The Wiggles, under the ABC music label.
In 1991 the corporation's Sydney radio and orchestral operations moved to a new building,[37] the ABC Ultimo Centre,[38] in the inner-city suburb of Ultimo. In Melbourne, the ABC Southbank Centre was completed in 1994.[37]
In 1992 Australian children's television series Bananas in Pyjamas first aired.
International television service ABC Australia was established in 1993, while at the same time Radio Australia increased its international reach. Reduced funding in 1997 for Radio Australia resulted in staff and programming cuts.[37]
The ABC Multimedia Unit was established in July 1995 to manage the new ABC website, which was launched in August.[37]
The ABC was registered on the Australian Business Register as a Commonwealth Government Entity on 1 November 1999.[39]
In 2001 digital television commenced (see Online, below). At the same time the ABC's multimedia division was renamed "ABC New Media", becoming an output division of the ABC alongside television and radio.[40]
In 2002 the ABC launched ABC Asia Pacific, the replacement for the defunct Australia Television International operated previously by the Seven Network.[36] A digital radio service, ABC DiG, was also launched in November that year.
On 8 February 2008 ABC TV was rebranded as ABC1, and a new channel for children, ABC3, was funded and announced by the Rudd government in June.[41][42] A new online video-on-demand service launched in July of the same year, titled ABC iview.[43]
ABC News 24, now known as ABC News, a channel dedicated to news, launched on 22 July 2010.[44] On 20 July 2014, ABC1 reverted to its original name of ABC TV.[45]
In November 2014 a cut of $254 million (4.6%[46]) to funding over the following five years together with the additional unfunded cost of the news channel[47] meant that the ABC would have to shed about 10% of its staff, around 400 people. There were several programming changes, with regional and local programming losing out to national programs, and the Adelaide TV production studio had to close.[48]
In November 2016 the ABC announced that ABC News 24, ABC NewsRadio, as well as its online and digital news brands, would be rebranded under a unified ABC News brand,[49] which was launched on 10 April 2017.[50][51]
Michelle Guthrie took over from managing director Mark Scott, whose second five-year contract finished in April 2016.[52] Between July 2017 and June 2018, the whole of the ABC underwent an organisational restructure, after which the Radio and Television Divisions were no longer separate entities each under a director, instead being split across several functional divisions,[53] with different teams producing different genres of content for television, radio and digital platforms. The Entertainment & Specialist (E&S) team focussed on comedy, kids' programs, drama, Indigenous-related programs, music, other entertainment and factual content; the new ABC Specialist team created content across the arts, science, religion & ethics, education and society & culture; while the Regional & Local team focussed on regional and local content.[54]
Around 23 September 2018 Guthrie was fired.[55] A leadership crisis ensued after allegations arose that ABC Chair, Justin Milne, had, according to the MEAA, engaged in "overt political interference in the running of the ABC that is in clear breach of the ABC charter and the role of the chairperson" by interfering in editorial and staffing matters. After pressure for an independent inquiry or statement from Milne, or his resignation, following meetings by ABC staff in various locations, on 27 September Milne resigned.[56]
In February 2019, after the roles of ABC chair and managing director had been vacant for more than four months,[57][58] Ita Buttrose was named chair. Buttrose named David Anderson as managing director in May 2019.[59]
On 5 June 2019 Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided the headquarters of the ABC looking for articles written in 2017 about alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan, later dubbed the Afghan Files.[60][61] The raid was countered by lawyers for the ABC in litigation against the AFP, challenging the examination of over 9,200 documents, including internal emails.[62][63][64][65] In February 2020 the case was dismissed by the federal court.[66][67][68] In June 2020, the AFP sent a brief of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), the federal public prosecutor, recommending charges be laid against journalist Dan Oakes for breaking the Afghan Files story,[69] but in October 2020, the CDPP dropped the case.[70]
In June 2020 the ABC announced it needed to cut 229 jobs,[71] a number of programs, and reduce its travel and production budgets after the Turnbull government's announcement of a freeze to indexation of its budget in 2018[72] this was estimated at the time to cost the ABC A$84 million over three years, however the actual appropriation did not decrease[73] and the ABC chair was quoted as saying it would actually increase "but by a reduced amount".[74][75][76]
In all, over a five-year period, there were 737 redundancies, a further 866 resignations, and 203 retirements; but the total number of staff only fell by 313 due to the ABC hiring 650 staff over that period.[77]
In June 2021 the ABC announced its plan to move around 300 staff to offices in Parramatta, in a plan which would see 75% of journalists and producers moving out of the Ultimo building by 2025 to reduce costs. Rental from some of the vacant space in the city centre would earn additional income to offset the ongoing effects of the significant funding cuts since 2014 and the recent indexation freeze.[78]
In December 2021 the ABC announced that, in addition to the 83 additional positions already established, it was to create an additional "50-plus" new jobs in regional Australia as a result of commercial agreements with digital platforms flowing from the Morrison government's News Media Bargaining Code.[79]
In May 2024 the ABC started moving from its Ultimo office to a new Parramatta office. The first program to be broadcast from the new studio in Parramatta was ABC Radio Sydney Mornings.[80][81]
The ABC logo is one of the most recognisable logos in Australia.[82][83][84] In the early years of television, the ABC had been using Lissajous curves as fillers between programmes.[85] In July 1963, the ABC conducted a staff competition to create a new logo for use on television, stationery, publications, microphone badges and ABC vehicles.[86][87] In 1965, ABC graphics designer Bill Kennard submitted a design representing a Lissajous display, as generated when a sine wave signal is applied to the "X" input of an oscilloscope and another at three times the frequency at the "Y" input. The letters "ABC" were added to the design and it was adopted as the ABC's official logo. Kennard was presented with £25 (about AU$715 in 2021) for his design.[86]
On 19 October 1974 the Lissajous curve design experienced its first facelift with the line thickened to allow for colour to be used. It would also be treated to the 'over and under' effect, showing the crossover of the line in the design. To celebrate its 70th anniversary on 1 July 2002, the ABC adopted a new logo, which was created by (Annette) Harcus Design in 2001. This logo used a silver 3D texture but the crossover design was left intact and was then used across the ABC's media outlets. After the on-air revival of the 1974 logo since 2014, the ABC gradually reinstated the classic symbol.[88] The most recent change happened in February 2018, with a new logotype and brand positioning under its tagline, Yours.[89] The 2002 silver logo is no longer in use by the corporation.
The operations of the ABC are governed by a board of directors,[90] consisting of a managing director,[91] five to seven directors,[91] and until 2006, a staff-elected director.[91][92] The managing director is appointed by the board for a period of up to five years, but is eligible for renewal.[93] The authority and guidelines for the appointment of directors is provided for in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983.[33][94][95]
Appointments to the ABC Board made by successive governments have often resulted in criticism of the appointees' political affiliation, background, and relative merit.[96][97] Past appointments have associated directly with political parties – five of fourteen appointed chairmen have been accused of political affiliation or friendship, include Richard Downing and Ken Myer (both of whom publicly endorsed the Australian Labor Party at the 1972 election),