ABC Friends Inner Melbourne held a seminar with Clare Gorman, the Head of ABC International, and Dr. Phil Kaftaloudis, a former Radio Australia presenter, exploring the question: who actually benefits from the ABC's international broadcasting work?

The seminar, held in December 2025, was moderated by ABC Friends Inner Melbourne local group member, Jennifer Bowen.

Why independent, international broadcasting matters

Clare Gorman didn't take the usual path to ABC International. She worked with AusAID and in human rights research before joining the ABC. That background shaped how she thinks about the role of international media.

As she explained: 

"I was very interested in that, how independent media supported democracy, supported the rule of law and supported human development in a way that was, you know, sustainable and benefited all."

That's not just theory. Since 2022, the ABC's Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy (IPBS) has been transforming Australia's media presence across the region. With $8 million per year from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the program has:

• Doubled ABC Radio Australia's footprint in the Pacific
• Expanded bespoke Pacific content
• Significantly increased social engagement with Indo-Pacific audiences

But there is a potential problem, that funding ends in June 2025. And the government is yet to commit to renewing it. We think the funding should be increased!

Stories you can't tell from Melbourne or Sydney

One of the standout achievements has been the Pacific Local Journalism Network. Since it launched in 2022, you've probably noticed something different about ABC news coverage.

Clare Gorman certainly has: 

"Never before really would you have got a, on the 7pm news that looked at what was happening in the Solomon Islands. Now you do."

The network has 7 correspondents with deep local connections. They're not parachuting in from Australia for a quick story, they're living in these communities. They understand the context, the nuances, the things you simply can't grasp from thousands of kilometres away.

This matters. These stories are being told with care and accuracy that you can only achieve when reporters are embedded in the communities they're covering.

But what about Australian audiences?

All that content being created in the Pacific comes back to Australia and runs on ABC's domestic services.

Clare Gorman calls it "increasing Pacific literacy and increasing literacy in Asia amongst the Australian people. It's a really, really important thing to do."

And she was passionate about why this matters:

"Our coverage of international news and current affairs across the whole of the mainstream media is so focused on the UK and the US and our future is in Asia... Our future is in the Pacific. If we don't increase Australians' engagement with the region, they're not going to understand what our foreign policy output is."

How can Australians support a stronger relationship with Indonesia if we don't understand its people, culture and current affairs? How do we engage with Pacific nations on climate change if we know nothing about them beyond being holiday destinations?

Gorman put it bluntly:

"We're very Anglocentric in Australia and that needs to really shift and that's a lot of what we're about."

What happens without it?

Dr. Phil Kaftaloudis has spent years broadcasting to Asian audiences. He posed a simple question:

"If you just imagine there was no Radio Australia, no television into the region, how many more people would not know anything about who we are? And how hard would it be for the Australian government and for Australian people to integrate, you know, to have a dialogue, I think it would be a lot, lot less."

He described his own experience watching engagement grow:

"When we started, there was crickets, we would get nothing back, you know, no emails no texts, no anything. And over 9 years, we got a heap. You know, we started having dialogues with locals and we were doing outside broadcasts from there."

Building these relationships takes time. And they're fragile.

You don’t know what you’ve lost ‘til it's gone

The evening took an interesting turn when Kaftaloudis talked about Radio Australia's history. Turns out this isn't the first time the service has faced a funding certainty dilemma. But this time it was existential, and part of an ill informed ideological attack.

Under the Howard government, Communications Minister Richard Alston wanted Radio Australia shut down completely. It would have happened, too, except for an intervention by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Kaftaloudis described interviewing a Downer for his book about Radio Australia: 

"He said, you know what? You should have a statue made of me and put it in the foyer of Radio Australia because I saved you."

That happened when a Radio Australia reporter whispered to Downer's assistant about Alston's plans. Downer confronted Cabinet:

"Over my dead body... And Alston thought it was a thing, it was going to be done, and it was tied up and he'd had John Howard's ear and somehow we carried the day."

The service survived, though some programs were cut.

Kaftaloudis reflected:

"How many times did we come close to closing down? It was extraordinary."

The incident highlights the tensions between an ideological desire to shut down public broadcasting, and the desire to project soft power into the strategically important region.

Certainty is key for effectiveness

Right now, the Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy is facing its own moment of truth - though this time the threat is not existential, but just a lack of stability and certainty.

Funding ends in June 2025. Without a firm commitment soon, here's what could happen:

• The ABC has to set aside money for redundancy liabilities
• Skilled IPBS staff will start looking for more secure jobs (wouldn't you?)
• Content, distribution and syndication may wind down
• Four years of relationship-building across the Indo-Pacific starts to unravel

After all the work establishing the Pacific Local Journalism Network. After transforming both regional and domestic ABC coverage. After building trust and engagement across multiple countries.

The government must let it wither, but must provide a clear commitment to funding this vital work.

Clare Gorman was clear about the stakes, engagement with our region is vital to our national security and safety.

Dr. Phil Kaftaloudis showed us that building this engagement takes time, but it transforms relationships.

The seminar question was: who benefits? The answer is all Australians, and our Asia-Pacific neighbours. Pacific and Asian audiences get trusted journalism and quality content. Australia gains diplomatic influence and stronger regional relationships. Australian audiences gain understanding of the region that will shape our future.

The real question is whether the government will build on four years of hard work, or risk letting the program suffer a similar fate that nearly killed Radio Australia under previous governments.

Write an email now to tell Government Ministers to renew Indo-Pacific funding

Phil Evans
ABC Friends