The ABC Friends Inner Melbourne group hosted an open meeting this month with leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, their local Member.

Image: The Greens

While Bandt took the opportunity to confirm the Greens’ support for a well-funded ABC, the occasion also exposed tensions around the broadcaster. In Bandt’s view, reduced funding is the principal problem faced by the ABC and lies behind the reduced audience figures noted in its recent annual report. But for several of the evening’s audience, ABC news has lost its way.  

The evening began on a personal note – Adam Bandt grew up in a household where the ABC’s 7pm news was an institution. He was a triple j listener in his student days, political activism teaching him the art of crafting a story to attract media attention. He singled out Radio Melbourne’s Raf Epstein as an interviewer he admires, not for his softness but his rigour. Speaking as a parent, he expressed pleasure in being able to trust the ABC for reliably programming content appropriate for children, without ads.

Adam’s commitment to the ABC is political as well as personal: for him, democracy in Australia requires a media outlet that isn’t influenced by the need to turn a profit. 

He praised the ABC for opportunities to explain a position in detail; in particular, he repeated the endorsement of ABC Managing Director David Anderson by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Green’s media spokesperson, when Anderson’s resignation was announced. Bandt has yet to meet ABC Chair Kim Williams.  

But Bandt was also critical of media outlets, including the ABC, particularly over their coverage of the climate emergency. He attributes this in part to the limited diversity of media ownership in Australia, and acknowledged that this, as well as funding for the ABC, require political action to change. He spoke about the fragmentation of audiences, as audiences seek out outlets they believe they can trust – adding that the Greens are themselves producing videos to explain issues to their members. 

Several of the audience were open about their support for the Greens as well as their commitment to the ABC – but didn’t shy from expressing their unhappiness with the ABC’s current news output, in particular as they perceive it, its parochialism. Bandt listened carefully to these criticisms, where editorial decisions, it was argued, are influenced more by audience metrics than news values. 

The Greens had a detailed policy about the media at the 2022 election, touching on media diversity, fact checking and safeguards for whistle blowers, as well as greater funding for public broadcasting. The expectation is that much of this will be adopted for the election in 2025. For Bandt, the likelihood of ABC funding being increased depends on a larger cross-bench working in conjunction with the Greens.

Jennifer Bowen
ABC Friends Victoria