The Morrison government will restore ABC funding to 2018 levels, when Malcolm Turnbull imposed an $84m indexation pause, with the public broadcaster to be given $3.3bn for the next three years.
The communications minister, Paul Fletcher, has also announced SBS will receive $953.7m, including an additional $37.5m in ongoing funding to support its long-term sustainability.
Fletcher’s announcements follow a consultation process that commenced with the release of the government’s media reform green paper in November 2020.
The triennium funding package includes $45.8m for the ABC’s enhanced news gathering program to continue public interest journalism in regional communities.
“We’ve delivered an increase in funding for both national broadcasters compared to both the 2016-19 and 2019-22 funding period,” Fletcher said.
“This funding commitment is designed to provide certainty for both broadcasters and is being announced well in advance of the next funding period to assist the ABC and SBS to develop their forward plans.”
While funding remains stable between 2023 and 2026, the government will impose new reporting conditions on both public broadcasters. Statements of expectation will ask them to detail the levels of Australian content, and other key services.
The ABC’s managing director David Anderson welcomed what he called “funding certainty”.
“The $3.3bn over the next triennium, announced by the Minister Paul Fletcher, sees the resumption of indexation, the continuation of the Enhanced Newsgathering (ENG) program that provides vital services across the country, and ongoing support for audio description services for blind or visually impaired audiences,” he said.
“ENG funding has delivered more tailored news to local communities and has seen the ABC invest more in specialist resources that provide vital context and analysis about issues that matter to all Australians.”
ABC chair Ita Buttrose said she was “delighted” with the government’s funding decision.
“It will allow the national broadcaster to continue doing what it does best – provide information and entertainment to Australians wherever they live,” she said.
The Morrison government also announced a number of measures for media reform, including a scheme to make streaming services like Netflix invest at least 5% of their profits in Australian content and an extension of support for regional broadcasters and public interest journalism.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 editorial roles have been lost since 2010 and “many regional and remote communities no longer have a local journalist present and do not receive coverage of local issues and events”, the media policy statement said.
“This trend of service contractions and job losses accelerated through Covid, with some estimates suggesting that at least 1,000 journalists lost their jobs due to closures of smaller independent publications in 2020.”
To support regional journalism a new journalist fund will also provide $10m over two years to support the hiring of cadet journalists in regional newsrooms.
Screen Producers Australia has argued for a 20% quota of Australian content on streaming services as audiences have moved away from free-to-air television towards streaming on demand.
“Australia is not alone in grappling with the challenge of safeguarding access to content with local cultural relevance in an increasingly globalised marketplace,” the paper on regulating streaming said. “A number of countries have implemented regulations on streaming services to incentivise or require the provision of local programming.”
Guardian Australia reported last week that the majority of Australians would support restoring funding to the ABC after new figures showed it had been cut by $526m since the Coalition’s first budget.
Despite being elected after promising no cuts to the ABC and SBS, the Abbott government reduced funding to the ABC in the 2014 budget, with a further pause in the indexation of funding imposed in 2018 under Turnbull.
