Andrew R Watkins

The formatting of this submission may have been altered due to the processing required for publication on the Department's website.

The review should recognise that the Australian community wants the ABC and SBS to be independent and well-funded, and to be producers of high-quality content, free of commercial advertising and accessible to all Australians. In particular:

• The ABC and SBS should be fully and well funded by Government, in a manner that upholds their independence from government.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should be independent of commercial influence, i.e. there should be no advertising on the ABC or SBS networks or web-site, there should be no on-air announcements beyond information about their own services, and their should be no business activities which risk damaging the public trust in the integrity of the national broadcasters or influencing its content.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should be accessible to all Australians without fee, regardless of the delivery platform. In particular, archival material, which is a record of the history of our nation, should be freely accessible to all.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should be producers of programs of cultural value and intellectual integrity, and should be foremost producers of innovative, quality content, while not relying heavily on outsourced production in any program areas.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should play an even greater role in education. The ABC is Australia's open university, and the SBS has a vital role to play in acting as a window to other cultures.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should be well resourced to be at the fore-front of technological change, offering quality content on all delivery platforms - radio, TV and on-line.
  
  
• The ABC should provide national services which broadcast matters of national significance and reflect regional differences, and the SBS local and ethnically-based services which address matters of importance to local communities and ethnic and cultural groups.
  
  
• The ABC should have a strong international presence. Radio Australia must be rebuilt and its access to suitable transmission assured, and the Australia Network adequately funded without commercial input.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS Charters should not be changed in any way which will diminish the national broadcasters or compromise their independence.
  
  
• The ABC and SBS should remain separate and distinct broadcasters, the ABC as a comprehensive broadcaster which reflects the full spectrum of interests of the Australian community, and SBS with its focus on multiculturalism. Australia needs more media diversity, not less.

Document ID: 102855 | Last modified: 24 May 2011, 4:40pm