NSoS Past Speakers, Events & News:
NEWS 8.2.25
ABC News: Managing Director David Anderson continues evidence in Antoinette Lattouf unlawful termination case, by Jamie McKinnell, 6 February 2025
ABC News: Dutton praises 'shrewd' and 'reasonable Trump after Gaza comments by Tom Crowley, political reporter
The Guardian: The Lattouf trial reveals an ABC so paralysed by process even its managers can’t keep up by Hugh Riminton
liblawlib (@gld301218) posted Sat, Feb 08, 2025: So, according to the ABC (or the barrister representing it) Human Rights Watch is not a "reputable source" and its reports are not "factual". https://t.co/mWqtZBGXYF
SMH: Antoinette Lattouf v ABC As it happened: ABC did not want to bow to pressure from The Australian says content chief by Calum Jaspan, 7 February 2025
https://x.com/gld301218/status/1887781432174444833?t=ZdkjOAbr
7 News: Australia Post warns of new text-messaging scam targeting those awaiting deliveries
ABC 7.00pm news : Mr Oliver-Taylor was the ABC's "Chief Content Manager" yet he asserted he was "not an expert " on the Israel/ Palestine conflict (aka genocide), it's a complex issue, and he didn't have a view on the "debate". What an air-head.
(https://x.com/gld301218/status/1887783608020082771?t=b82ndbu
ABC News: ABC executive Chris Oliver-Taylor tells court he was unaware of Antoinette Lattouf's race by Ethan Rix, 7 February 2025
ABC News: ABC executive Chris Oliver-Taylor tells court he was unaware of Antoinette Lattouf’s race by Ethan Rix, 7 February 2025
Independent Australia News: Lattouf, Lalor dismissals another salvo in attack on free speech by Rosemary Sorenson, 5 February 2025
SMH: ‘Standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic’: Usman backs dumped cricket journalist by Daniel Brettig and Tom Decent, 3 February 2025
The Guardian: Antoinette Lattouf hearing day five – as it happened by Kate Lyons, 7 February 2025
ABC staff ‘disgusted’ by handling of Lattouf case
Kim Williams AM
Wed 5 February, 2025 4.30-6.30pm
Parliament House, Dorothy Tangney Alcove, Canberra
ABC Chair Kim Williams AM and award-winning journalist and author Margaret Symonds
Hosted by Parliamentary Friends of the ABC
The aim of the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC is to provide a forum for raising awareness and support for the vital services the ABC provides to the Australian community. It will also facilitate initiatives and events to promote and enhance the ABC. The Co Chairs are Mr Andrew Wilkie MP and Ms Rebekha Sharkie MP




Confused about how preferences work? Here's how they'll count at this federal election
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2025
Subject: January News: Why we’re fighting for the ABC this federal election
News
What will happen to Voice of America in Trump's second term? 23 Jan 2025
Peter Greste begins hunger strike to support Egypt's political prisoner
From Mike Carlton: https://bsky.app/profile/mikecarlton01.bsky.social/post/3lgjbwjiazc27
Check out Murdoch coverage of the Prince Harry settlement that cost them over 10 million British Pounds: https://youtu.be/_Ktt9Z6NpSo?si=dxA2Vd1-BbGzzOMY
Dr Vic Fielding posted: https://youtu.be/_Ktt9Z6NpSo?si=dxA2Vd1-BbGzzOMY
BBC: Headline "Sun Owner to Pay Prince Harry "substantial damages". Why no mention the name Murdoch? https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3wn1k6drqo
Peter Greste begins hunger strike to support Egypt's political prisoner: https://youtu.be/4jfWD5MH1kA?si=-3TC4KAPijfOhUX2
List of goals of Project 2025, which Trump is starting to implement via Executive Orders: https://bsky.app/profile/jazzyjones.bsky.social/post/3lgm5hsjfms2k
Independent Journalism about Atlas, a threat to democracy around the world: https://theaimn.net/the-atlas-network-talking-about-itself/
https://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/category/media-watch-dog/
LISTEN to ABC CLASSIC INTERVIEW: Kim Williams shares his love of music HERE
Classical music has been an enduring passion in the life of Kim Williams AM. He has been involved and connected to the industry since he was a young man, from being a former student of Peter Sculthorpe, to studying with Luciano Berio. Kim Williams is currently the Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Along with his other leadership positions, Kim has been Chair of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Musica Viva Australia, and the Sydney Opera House Trust from 2005 until 2013, gaining close relationships with some of Australia’s biggest names in classical music. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2006 for his services to the arts and public policy formulation in the film and television industries.
Passionate about recognising and honouring Australia’s history of classical music, as well as fostering our unique Australian sound, Kim Williams has commissioned upwards of 50 new compositions from different artists. These range from large-scale works like concertos and symphonies, to smaller and more intimate forms like chamber music.
“I think if you're really into music, it captivates you in a way which liberates your mind and your thinking. It liberates your openness to other cultures. It makes you attentive to all the ways in which people express themselves, because the one thing that is common all over the planet is music. Music is everywhere, and it’s not about our material world… it’s about something that lives inside your head but moves your heart. It’s a special, precious phenomena.”
- Kim Williams
Today Kim Williams joins Tamara-Anna Cislowska to share some personal insights into his passion for classical music, including memories of learning the banjo at an early age thanks to his grandfather, studying clarinet at the Sydney Conservatorium, and even sharing a post-concert drink with legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
For their Duet, Kim Williams reads poetry by Anna Akhmatova and Judith Wright while Tamara-Anna Cislowska performs music by Scriabin and Sculthorpe.
‘The Return’ (1944) by Anna Akhmatova (1889 – 1966)
Music:
Scriabin, Alexander: Preludes, Op. 11: No. 15 in D-flat major
‘Age to Youth’ from Five Senses (1963) by Judith Wright (1915 – 2000)
Music:
Sculthorpe, Peter: Night Song (adaptation by Tamara-Anna Cislowska)
Credits
Image Details
Kim Williams AM, Chair of the ABC and a passionate classical music enthusiast, shares personal reflections on his favourite classical pieces and recounts stories from his experiences collaborating with some of Australia's finest classical musicians and organisations.
Article: Foxtel axing online access to streaming services in country Australia, including Binge, Kayo Sports 24.1.25 HERE
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Summary:
- Mid-March: new ABC Managing Director, Hugh Marks, starts work
- 2025 Federal Election will be crucial for the ABC
- The Albanese government has promised to continue the modest increases to the ABC’s funding that it delivered in 2022 and 2023 and that it will not disappear on 30 June 2026, but will be permanently built into the ABC’s operating budget.
- ABC Alumni will be campaigning with ABC Friends - saying that while the Albanese government's work for the ABC is hugely welcome, and far better than a Coalition government, but it hasn’t fixed the problem of the ABC falling off a cliff in 2026. It is still does not have the budget to restore the ABC to a position where it can really do its job in an age where disinformation is rife. You can read the ABC Friends’ case here, or ABC Alumni's case here
- In 1990, the ABC operational budget represented 0.5% of total federal spending. In 2024, even after the Albanese government’s modest increases, that figure is 0.13%
- Quentin Dempster writes: “When the election date is announced Alumni directors will be writing to the major party, parliamentary and organisational leaders and selected independents to succinctly put the ABC’s case. The ABC is Australia’s democratic bulwark. But it must have the resources to rebuild its capabilities across the genres to fully meet its ABC Act Charter obligations: to enhance a sense of national identity through education, fact-checked information and entertainment.”
- ABC Alumni webinar with Jonathan Holmes, Quentin Dempster and Cassandra Parkinson (ABCF National President)on Wednesday February 12, at 5.30pm
- Concern that the Liberal Party will privatise the ABC, in whole or in part, or introduce a subscriber funding model
Message from Cassandra Parkinson, ABC Friends National President
19 December 2024
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Guest Speaker Jonathan Biggins
12 December, 2024
11.30am - 1pm followed by light luncheon
Roseville Uniting Church, 7A Lord Street, Roseville
30 metre walk from Roseville Station (on the east side)
Jonathan Biggins is an actor, director, writer, entertainer and musician
Jonathan has played Peter Sellers in Ying Tong, Koko in The Mikado, co-created the Wharf Revue since 2000, written for the Good Weekend for seven years, and directed the Australian productions of Avenue Q and Noises Off.
Jonathan is also regarded as one of the country's most polished corporate performer
LISTEN TO JONATHAN BIGGIN'S TALK HERE
ABC Friends - Northern Suburbs AGM
12 December, 2024
ELECTION OF ABC FRIENDS NORTHERN SUBURBS OF SYDNEY (NSoS) COMMITTEE: Corin Fairburn Bass, Jenny Forster, Beverly Inshaw, John Inshaw, Janine Kitson, Karen Matthews, Charles Murray, Tim Prescott, Wendy Sirianni, Peter Vail
2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Roseville Uniting Church, 7A Lord Street, Roseville
Support Loosely Woven who have supported ABC Friends
Thank you to Loosely Woven for their donation of $1,500 from their their last fundraising concert at Humph Hall. Let's support Loosely Woven by attending their Suo Gan Concert.
Jacqueline Deacon's READING LIST 5 December 2024 - ABC Chair's comments on Joe Rogan
The Guardian: ABC chair’s comments that ‘people like Mr Rogan prey on vulnerabilities’ sparks furious response.
(from Gayle Davies)
NSW Schools Spectacular
Friday 29 November, 2024
Sydney Olympic Park
This is something that should be broadcast on ABC TV. If you would like to join campaign to get it back on ABC TV contact Janine on 0428 860 623
Jacqueline Deacon's READING LIST 28 November 2024 - ABC Chair Kim Williams at National Press Club
Good to see that Kim Williams mentioned fact checking, and would like to see the ABC bring back a Fact Check function, previously cut by then MD Michelle Guthrie. AAP does some fact checking but not enough for the amount of material that badly needs it!
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/21/abc-radio-changes-sarah-macdonald-sydney-mornings-fran-kelly?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
A brief highlight of David Marr at the recent annual Ron McCallum debate "AI at work - trick or treat?" discussing the lack of protections for authors and other creatives in Australia who have had their worked scraped to teach generative AI. #StopAITheft https://t.co/K4u5aVmppZ
(https://x.com/withMEAA/status/1861241912306606120?t=p3epHSKznbXtL54p4E2W6A&s=03)
National Anti Corruption Commission integrity officer quits over integrity. Rick Morton @SquigglyRick @SatPaper scoop. Free copies in the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge. Still waiting for NACC’s “eminent person” to review Robodebt 6 inaction. https://t.co/voeMwzvbKN
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1860117763932799222?t=q84AFM039
Read ABC Chair Kim Williams AM speech to the National Press Club, 27 November 2024 HERE
Watch it HERE
- Guardian Australia article by Amanda Meade (27.11.24) about Kim Williams National Press Club Speech - 'Chair Kim Williams makes rare admission about ‘poorer’ state of ABC’s output'. It has some excellent quotes on the importance of the ABC and funding cuts statistics that ABC friends can use use in conversations with our local communities.
- ABC News, 'ABC chair Kim Williams says investment in national broadcaster the best counter to 'flood' of misinformation' by Jake Evans
‘Deeply repulsive’: ABC chair Kim Williams rails against Joe Rogan amid pitch for greater funding
ABC chair Kim Williams faced the National Press Club today, during which he pitched for funding and railed against podcaster Joe Rogan.
ABC chair Kim Williams addresses the National Press Club (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch) ABC chair Kim Williams, addressing the National Press Club on Wednesday, has called for greater investment in the national broadcaster as the best method of fighting misinformation.
Williams said that “as our nation has become richer, our nation’s broadcaster has become much poorer”, noting the $150 million annual reduction in the ABC’s budget over the past decade.
“Everywhere you look: down, down, down the numbers go,” he said.
Ahead of the federal election, Williams pitched the case for a better-funded national broadcaster as a bulwark against the rising “waters of misinformation and disinformation”, arguing that “the continuing existence of the ABC as a trusted source of the truth will help save our democracy from the populist damage going on elsewhere”.
Williams’ call for a revitalised ABC comes as the radio division of which he spoke so glowingly was shaken by the exit of the much-loved Sarah Macdonald and Simon Marnie in Sydney, alongside a host of changes to the broadcaster’s audio lineup in 2025.
Journalists then grilled Williams on the ABC’s conduct under his leadership, with The Nightly’s Ellen Ransley asking whether the ABC, in light of the Heston Russell review findings, had contributed to a misinformation environment and how public trust in the broadcaster could be reestablished.
The Mandarin’s Daniel Holmes then asked if the ABC’s executive was appropriately discharging its statutory responsibilities in its handling of the Antoinette Lattouf dismissal. Despite the Fair Work Commission findings that the broadcaster had dismissed Lattouf over a social media post relating to Israel’s war in Gaza, Williams insisted she was not sacked.
Williams said he hoped for a “sensible, constructive, respectful” resolution with Lattouf, though he stated, “Ms Lattouf was not dismissed. Ms Lattouf had a five-day contract, and under that contract, the contract was brought to a close at the end of the third day.” Holmes pushed back, noting the FWC’s findings.
The ABC’s Jane Norman inquired about how the ABC could capture the “bro” market given the recent popularity of Joe Rogan in the United States, as evidenced in the 2024 presidential elections. Williams railed against the likes of Rogan, saying they “prey on people’s vulnerabilities”.
“They prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narratives. I personally find it deeply repulsive, and to think that someone has such remarkable power in the United States is something that I look at in disbelief,” he said.
Crikey asked whether Williams’ more outspoken tenure as chair was an attempt to “reinvent” the role, but was batted away with a response that he had remained firmly within the confines of the ABC Act, sections 6 and 8 of which he recited.
The ABC’s David Speers asked Williams’ thoughts on the government’s teen social media ban proposal, and the chair said he commended the government for acting with “fortitude” on an issue that causes widespread and “legitimate” anxiety among parents. Williams said he had met with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and her opposition counterpart the previous day, that the pair appeared to be in “alignment” and that he anticipated progress on the bill soon.
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 22.11.24 - Letter to the ABC Managing Director

Today on #AfternoonBriefing Greg Jennett spent 4 minutes of his opening on Kevin Rudd, pushing his tenure is precarious & positively gleeful at the prospect of Rudd's expulsion.
Rudd was specifically mentioned - 37 TIMES - across 6 segments in 43 minutes.#Auspol cc: @abcnews https://t.co/qAi1BkEIAI
(https://x.com/slpng_giants_oz/status/1856984918351290404?t=tewCHX5PrhLyLHH8rRSOrw&s=03)
Hartcher: "So what’s driving the campaign to target Rudd? The Murdoch media, in short. Some other commentators have been drawn into it, too, useful idiots for Murdoch effort."
And that, generally, is what @abcnews has become.
https://t.co/z9UPHjprpQ
(https://x.com/eatatjoe2/status/1857599385401700618?t=2BGoyVLJbaRGd
Dear God. In a previous atheist’s prayer I asked you to let me outlive John Winston Howard. Please change that to“outlive Donald J. Trump”. (Even better, both).
(https://x.com/PhillipAdams_1/status/1856198522187722890?t=9wYRoJV2fL53hIc12i93gQ&s=03)

Rick Morton on the money, but it goes further
Justin Gleeson was due to be announced as the eminent legal person last Mon 4 Nov.
But Brereton pulled the rug on it all terrified of Scott Morrison's reaction.
Scott Morrison is the unnamed minister, the 6th person in the Robodebt. 6 https://t.co/J19plNRiFE
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1857545518756540785?t=kHLiDMTYSOPMYO3LgL2Cfg&s=03)
Last night's @abcnews described Trump's Presidents Pick of Gaetz et al as "colourful".
If you regard child sex trafficking and statutory rape as "colourful" then I'd suggest you get a thesaurus or a new moral compass. Do better. Please. https://t.co/o4fyloCN30
(https://x.com/sszinglehead/status/1857517341384520011?t=JnbscZWRIaBna1ne4aPngw&s=03)
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 16 November 2024 - The National Anti Corruption Commission - NACC
Rick Morton (@Squiggly Rick)Exclusive: NACC asked former Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson to review its Robodebt decision and then rescinded the offer over concerns that a former Coalition Minister (Person 6) would rain hellThe Saturday Paper:(see 16 November Saturday Paper article attached)
It looks like “revolver in the library”* time has arrived for @NACCgovau Commissioner Paul Brereton after his admission of Robodebt “mistake of judgment”. He’s managed to turn the NACC into a Canberra laughing stock to be satirised as an under-the-carpet sweeper. *old military
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1852203220149411970?t=DPm_2OY

Paul Brereton authorised asking the alleged perpetrators, inc Kathryn Campbell, for their input into the #NACC's media statement
The investigators asked the ALLEGED
PERPETRATORS IF THEY WERE OK WITH WHAT THE INVESTIGATORS WERE SAYING ABOUT THEM! https://t.co/qeHJvGZVNa
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1852117107737305474?t=fqUZj7KssIh1WqrOdoetSw&s=03)

He won't be sacked. That requires the majority agreement of both houses of Parliament and then both houses "praying" to the Governor General.
I am not even kidding.
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1852304227844173943?t=1b9FRYRmrzamI

Of public interest, is the fact that Brereton has previously found himself in sticky issues with recusals.
This is not an assertion of anything, simply highlighting what's been reported previously.
In 2006, Paul Brereton originally refused to recuse himself in this case

(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1851517768845418928?t=5LRQzHpHIMLnGB0eVHS6-w&s=03)
Add reaction
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Watch the full story here: https://t.co/uP6wJF1HiP
(https://x.com/ABCmediawatch/status/1855925092670394566?t=fUObCVih4b4rlyaNGhXi1Q&s=03)
https://t.co/A6aTaXiwDI
(https://x.com/GeorgeSalt5/status/1852434457393012994?t=DbbO0rIt82OfzBw2rwvyAA&s=03)
ABC Friends NSW & ACT AGM
Saturday 16 November, 2024
2pm
Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts (SMSA),
280 Pitt Street, City (walking distance from Town Hall Railway Station)
Read Guest Speaker Helen Grasswill's speech HERE
University of the Third Age, Sydney Leichhardt
The ABC - Achievements & Challenges
Friday 15 November, 2024
10.30am- 12.30pm
Janine Kitson, Convenor of ABC Friends NSoS talked about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape.
u3a Leichhardt Library
23 Norton Street Forum Piazza Level, Leichardt
Bookings: Dianne Bierhuizen [email protected] 0412 010 326
Wendy Lindgren
Symphony Choirs & the Performing Arts
14 November, 2024
11.30am for 11.45am start. Finish at 1pm
Roseville Uniting Church, 7A Lord Street, Roseville
30 metre walk from Roseville Station (on the east side)
Wendy Lindgren OAM President of the Willoughby Symphony Choir shared her insights into the importance of symphony choirs, the performing arts and of course the ABC!
PRINT OUT POSTER TO PROMOTE HERE
At the meeting Wendy Lindgren handed out to the audience a list of questions about the performing Arts:
A Personal Questionnaire regarding the performing Arts
- How important are the arts to me what is it that I value?
- What area(s) of the performing arts do I personally support? How?
- Are the performing arts universally valued?
- Are the performing arts "elitist"? What exactly does this mean?
- Are the arts in decline or just changing/ expanding?
- Is the supporting demographic declining?
- Who should be responsible for the arts?
- How should the arts be funded? User pay, grants, other?
- What role can individuals play to best support, maintain and grow the performing arts?
- How should governments at all levels prioritise the performing arts when facing existential competing issues like housing, transport etc?
- At a local level how can I raise awareness about the performing arts in Willoughby and the access to the resources that we have?
- Do we need to have a different approach to selling concert tickets to that required to sell ice creams or groceries?

JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST - ABC Chair calls for more funding for Australian stories
ABC Chair says ABC needs more investment and regulation to fund Australian stories.
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 1 November 2024 - Loss of Matt Peacock
Guardian: ABC Chair "The ABC is deeply saddened to hear we have lost Matt Peacock.
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 1 November 2024 - Former ABC Chair central to Lattouf sacking
https://antonyloewenstein.com/abc-radio-late-night-live-interview-on-the-palestine-laboratory/ (from Beth Orme)
How's the @abcnews "Was it a Labor smear campaign that turned tide in Bundaberg?"
Aunty might as well be Newscorpse with a caption like that. Katter has already shown he will run a vote on abortion rights & many Libs will vote for it. Scare? B/S #auspol
(https://x.com/eatatjoe2/status/1851943211947954246?t=7wfH-aM158I7J16jjv
Dr Tess Howes, ABC Friends NSW & ACT President Interviews Corin Fairburn Bass on the History of the ABC Friends
Friday 1 November, 2024
In 2026 the ABC Friends will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The ABC Friends began in their loungeroom of Walter Bass and his wife Corin Fairburn Bass in 1976. Corin is an active member of the Northern Suburbs of Sydney Branch of the ABC Friends.
Dr Tess Howe, ABC Friends NSW & ACT President has prepared these interview questions to ask Corin about her experiences, insights, and reflections, providing a rich personal record of our life and activism with ABC Friends.
Personal Journey
1. What experiences or events in your life motivated you to support the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)?
2. Can you tell us about your early life and what inspired you to establish ABC Friends in 1976?
Advocacy and Impact
3. How did you perceive the role of the ABC in Australian society when you first founded ABC Friends?
4. What are some of the most significant achievements of ABC Friends over the years that you are particularly proud of?
Challenges and Triumphs
5. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while advocating for the ABC, and how did you overcome them?
6. Can you share a memorable moment from your activism that stands out to you?
Changes Over Time
7. How do you think the landscape of public broadcasting has changed since you founded ABC Friends?
8. What are your thoughts on the current state of the ABC and its role in the community today?
Advice and Reflection
9. What advice would you give to younger generations who are interested in activism and supporting public assets like the ABC?
10. Looking back, what lessons have you learned from your decades of activism?
Future Vision
11. What do you hope for the future of the ABC and public broadcasting in Australia?
12. How can individuals today continue to support the mission of ABC Friends and public broadcasting?
Personal Insights
13. How has your own life changed as a result of your activism and involvement with ABC Friends?
14. What do you enjoy most about being part of a community dedicated to such an important cause?
NSoS Meeting with Kylea Tink
Tues 29 October 2024 11.30am
Ms Kylea Tink MP
Federal Member for North Sydney
Level 10/2 Elizabeth Plaza, North Sydney NSW 2060
PO Box 1107, North Sydney NSW 2060 (02) 9929 9822
[email protected]
w: kyleatink.com.au
Rachel Hill (Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays) Diary Manager [email protected]
Map of North Sydney suburbs include Artarmon, Castlecrag, Cremorne, Crows Nest, Greenwich, Henley, Hunters Hill, Kirribilli, Lane Cove, McMahons Point, Middle Cove, Naremburn, Northbridge, North Sydney, Riverview, Waverton, Willoughby and Woolwich.
DRAFT Agenda
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Introduction
Northern Suburbs of Sydney (NSoS) Branch represent ABC Friends NSW members living in the North Sydney Electorate
NSoS formed in North Sydney Electorate at Doughty Centre, Chatswood in 2019
The ABC's history is inextricably linked to North Sydney - especially with the ABC's TV Studio's at Gore Hill with many renowned ABC journalists living in the North Sydney including Andrew Olley
- Thank you for meeting
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Urgent need to restore funding to the ABC
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Reinstate the NSW School Spectacular Concert back to being broadcast on ABC TV
- Need for Interpretative Signage on the old ABC TV Studios at Gore Hill to commemorate its contribution to Australia’s media and cultural heritage
- Request that the Federal Minister for Health recommend that the ABC be the preferred channel to be shown in public hospitals including the North Shore Hospital waiting rooms. The Australian Government jointly funds Australia’s public hospitals, which are owned and operated by state and territory governments. More information HERE
Join us to watch 'Lee'
Oscar winner Kate Winslet stars in this fascinating portrait of the great American war correspondent Lee miller, whose singular talent and ferocious tenacity gave us some of the 20th century’s most indelible images.
It is interesting to watch this film in light of ABC Williams AM 2024 Lowy Institute Lecture 2024 Read HERE Watch HERE
Roseville Cinemas, 112 Pacific Highway, Roseville
Screening from 24- 30 Oct Tues-Sat: 12noon, 2.15pm, 4.30pm 6.50pm; Sunday: 11.30am, 1.50pm & 3.40pm
Official Trailer HERE
Booking HERE
It is interesting to watch this film in light of ABC Chair Kim Williams AM 2024 Lowy Institute Media Lecture, 25 Sep 2024 or watch his talk HERE
The ABC - why it's needed more than ever
Janine Kitson will talk about the value of the ABC which provides irreplaceable national benefit. For many citizens, of all ages, living across the vast Australian continent, the ABC is like a friend who comforts, nourishes and delights them with entertainment, educational documentaries and trusted news.
October 22, 2024 11:30am - 1pm
Manly Central Probus Club, Balgowlah RSL Club, 30/38 Ethel St, Seaforth Google map and directions
RSVP: Barbara Moseley · [email protected] · 0408 227 150
More information about the Manly Central Probus Club HERE
Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2024
The Andrew Olle Media Lecture is an annual black-tie dinner that focuses on the role and future of the media, hosted by Richard Glover. The lecture is held in honour of one of the ABC’s iconic broadcasters, Andrew Olle.
Fran Kelly delivered the 2024 lecture.
Friday 18 October, 2024 6:30pm
W Sydney, 31 Wheat Rd, Sydney
https://radioinfo.com.au/news/our-only-credential-is-the-truth-fran-kelly-at-andrew-olle-media-lecture/

Our only credential is the truth: Fran Kelly at Andrew Olle Media Lecture
Speaking tonight at the annual Andrew Olle media lecture, the ABC’s Fran Kelly talked about the influence of Andrew Olle on her early career and the focus he had on facts and the people who were impacted by the story.
At the W Hotel in Darling Harbour, Kelly also spoke about social, political and cultural divisions in today’s society and how perceptions of reality and truth can be manipulated, commenting that it is more difficult today to report irrefutable facts.
“Our only credential is the truth,” she said.
Speaking of her passion for radio, Kelly said: “radio is the medium of the future … and we should invest to make it so… ninety-five percent of the population consume audio content every week and the most consumed audio type is radio…. Radio is immediate and it’s responsive …. and it’s personal.”
“This genuine human interaction of live radio will become even more imperative as bots and AI generated half truths and nonsense take hold elsewhere. We are real. And we are there, right now.”
Fran Kelly was introduced by Richard Glover, who will leave his ABC Radio Sydney drive shift at the end of this year. Glover has been the host of the Olle lecture for most of his 26 years on air.
WATCH HERE on ABC IVIEW
Here is Fran’s full speech.
When I moved to Sydney thirty years ago for a three-month gig on Triple J‘s daily current affairs program the Drum (the original!) I was young, green and wildly inexperienced. But I was also dead hungry … and this was my big break.
Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long – in a new city, in a new career – for my bravado to crash and risk burning me along with it, forcing me to realise I was actually raw, unblooded and all but unskilled. In other words, utterly out of my depth.
My good friend and mentor…and presenter of the Drum at the time … Helen Thomas, a fantastic journalist whom many of you know and respect and who was later the manager of ABC News Radio, took me aside. “Just listen to Andrew Olle on 2BL every morning, Fran. Really listen. And make sure you catch his political cross with Paul Lyneham. If you want to know what a good story is, and what good radio is, that’s the place to start.”
I did. And it was.
I listened and learned, soaking it all up. I learned about speaking truth to power and holding the powerful to account. I learned about objectivity and balance, but importantly I also learned that the story was never about me and what I thought. It was about the issue and the facts and the people impacted by them. The people. And most of all it was about asking the questions that the listeners wanted or needed answered. It was also about warmth and humour and connection as those two old friends brought the political news of the day alive and invited the radio audience in.
Andrew Olle taught me all that without even knowing it…or knowing me as anything other than a kid he might have passed in a corridor…and I have always thanked him for it. I still think of him sometimes when I’m on air, mid-interview …and others, too, like the great Paul Murphy, another of Andrew’s great mates and one of the best political interviewers in the business. How would they handle this? Frame this?
And so to stand here tonight, in Andrew’s name, is an unbelievable honour.
I’d like to begin tonight with a dog story… and apologies to those of you who aren’t into dogs … but I don’t have a cat.
About ten years ago my little dog Buster got lost. He was a sweet rescue mutt who much later, during Covid, earned a bit of a national profile. Every morning for those Covid months we broadcast RN Breakfast from my living room Buster would lie curled up beside me in a tangle of cords and doze, quietly. He was so good … unless the delivery person came to the front door, then he would spring awake and bark loudly. My partner, listening from somewhere else in the house, would fly in and drag him out in disgrace. But it wasn’t only the delivery guy. Buster for some reason would also bark very loudly … whenever Anthony Albanese came on the radio. At the sound of the now PM’s voice Buster would sit up, twitch his ears and vocalise. Albo might have been slightly offended, he is a dog lover after all … but the listeners loved it and loved Buster for it. Dogs around Australia, I’m told, would join in with him in a scene straight out of 101 Dalmations.
Anyway, a decade before that when Buster was a trembling new arrival in our home he ran away and despite papering the streets with his photo and calling his name night and day we couldn’t find him. He was missing for several days until a man who lived nearby heard the softest of frightened whimpers, and peered over a fence to find Buster cowering in the corner of a dead-end laneway. The man, whom I’d seen before but never met, immediately scaled the fence and gently lifted the unhappy pup back over. There were cheers and handshakes all round.
I didn’t see that guy again for quite some time and when I did, months later he came towards me in the street and let rip… screaming uncensored expletives and spitting hate. I was shocked and intimidated. “But it’s me … you found my dog,” I tried. His face contorted into absolute revulsion. “And if I’d effing known it was you from the effing ABC, you effing dyke, I never would have got ‘im.” The hatred ratcheted up to a chorus of “effing ABC, effing ABC, effing ABC” and in all the years since, he still mutters it in my direction.
He doesn’t like the ABC.
And every morning when I’d get in my car in the pre-dawn dark to go do my breakfast show I’d be aware of the hate that lived so close.
Call me naive, but I thought I was going to work to try and do something good. To deliver three hours of objective current affairs radio that I would give my absolute heart and soul to …that would be informative, well researched. Accurate, balanced and empathic. That’s what my team and I were striving for every day. I could understand he might not like some of the guests … I didn’t like some of the guests … but to hate the national broadcaster, to have such visceral, threatening hate for it and so for me personally, was something I could not get my head around.
This was no anonymous keyboard warrior with cyberspace a protective barrier between us. He was, and often is, in touching distance. And when I picture us standing there – him screaming, me stunned – I see the horrible frozen tableau as representative of something much bigger, of feelings from some quarters towards the ABC and perhaps the mainstream media in general. Of deep social, cultural and political division. Of the unbridled hate which is increasingly shaping how as journalists we think and what we do.
I keep trying to understand this man but the division between us is confusing. To me it is irrational and unfair. To him it must be a valid response to a set of experiences or perceptions that I can’t see. Or is it simply anger for anger’s sake, an outlet for suppressed rage born of other things in other times. Of hurt? Suspicion? The powerful elites that control his life? He was so kind to a little dog. He clearly has love and kindness within. So where does it come from? This overt hate and division.
The political as the personal.
It comes, at its essence, from perception. From where we sit and how we see things. All of you sitting here tonight have a different view of these proceedings. As do I. Later, we will all describe this event in our own way. How we found the food. The other guests. The keynote speaker (be nice). We will take a shared reality and spin it differently. Layer it with our own views, expectations, experiences and emotion and make it our own.
Forty years ago, the magician David Copperfield – who, for the record, this year has had serious allegations of sexual assault made against him – made the Statue of Liberty disappear. He did! People who were there that night saw it happen. One minute it was towering above them, the next it was gone. The cheering audience and fifty million TV viewers were not wrong in believing it had disappeared. It had gone from right in front of their eyes. Only, of course, it hadn’t.
In an audacious sleight of hand, aided by clever engineering, the stage upon which the audience sat had been moved surreptitiously to change their perspective – to block their view of the statue behind two giant columns. To obscure their view of what was really there.
David Copperfield was in the business of magic, benign trickery, so people who turned up and tuned in for the show knew he was out to deceive them in the name of entertainment … but vox-pops with people in the crowd showed they were so happy to believe the statue was gone. Their incredulity and delight was real. No-one would fall for it in 2024, but back then, the thumping bass-heavy music and flashing lights used to distract from the moving floor beneath them had done the job.
The paradigm of perspective had framed the audience’s belief and reinforced their desire and need to believe.
But I saw it. So it must be true.
As Copperfield so boldly demonstrated, perception of reality, of truth, can be manipulated. And easily, if you’ve got the chutzpah, the confidence, the malign intent to con maybe – and nowadays an accommodating mass media to spread the deceit. You can make people believe the unbelievable and – stepping away from the conjurer’s stage and onto the political one – you can easily flame the embers of mistrust, fear and hate, reinforce the negative bias that lies within us all – and send them into the wind, or onto the internet where they will glow and burn.
People in power have always known it; that facts can be manipulated, distorted and denied in the quest to hang onto that power or expand it. Call it what you will. It used to be propaganda. Now it is misinformation, disinformation. Or false facts…. An Orwellian contradiction in terms that is increasingly reshaping our realities.
I read it on Facebook …I saw it on YouTube… So it must be true.
The world has become an echo chamber of conflicting perceived truths, fuelled by the internet. Small groups of plotters whispering in a village tavern have morphed into harnessed groups of hundreds of thousands if not millions. What once could be proven categorically is now up for bitter, sustained debate on a scale that was simply impossible to achieve before we all moved online. Fact-checkers around the globe cannot keep up. We’re trapped in a crazy battle of the so-called, conflicting truths … or as Trump counsel Kellyanne Conway put it “alternate facts”… with those most intensely invested in one side or the other marshalling their forces, their own version of the facts and spreading their lies more potently. It seems we’ve lost any notion of “agreed facts.” as a baseline for civilised debate.
Indeed, arguments abound that facts don’t matter anymore … only perception. Only emotion. Copperfield’s trick. The politicians’ lie. The conspiracy theory.
But no, no, no.
As journalists, verified, irrefutable facts are our stock in trade, our only credential is the truth. And as the waters of disinformation swirl, we must seek it, hold it and raise it above the waves. Literally, as we saw in the US this month with the reports that Hurricane Milton was a government scam, that meteorologists were somehow creating and steering these storms. Ridiculous, right? But a Republican congresswoman was one of those spreading the accusation on her social media.
The cost of abandoning our brief of factual truth and dogged inquiry is too high.
Yet, as we’ve seen it’s not easy to do and is getting harder. Let’s not kid ourselves that what Trump’s managed to achieve with his populist truth re-imagining could never happen here.
Let’s take a look at the Voice referendum. It’s in no way a direct comparison but the vibe – the shift – is of the same genus. Facts were brutalised – abandoned even – and fault lines mined for political advantage.
I did a ten-part podcast series in the lead-up to the Voice with my colleague Carly Williams, a proud Quandamooka woman with the ABC’s Indigenous Affairs Unit and producer Madeleine Genner. Carly and I spoke to as many players and experts and communities as we could fit into ten short episodes, trying to explain the proposal itself, the issues at the heart of it, the implications of the constitutional change and the concerns about it. Trying to help people unwind all the misinformation and understand the proposal we would all be voting on. We explored the claims and arguments of both sides.
It is one year since the referendum that proved to be a case study of the widening fissures in our society and the distorting impact misinformation and disinformation can have on our democratic processes. It’s also a case study of how ill-equipped our media and our institutions are to deal with it, taking sides early and backing into corners from which there is no emerging. A hard line, taken early and argued forcefully has much more impact than a nuanced open minded, consider-all-sides campaign.
Indigenous Australians are still reeling from that tactic.
We’ve had plenty of referendums with a No outcome in this country – only eight out of the forty-five have been successful – but none of these No votes came with such an avalanche of fear-mongering and false claims. We know the fault lines are not new and division in referendums is certainly not new … they were on noisy display back in the 1999 vote on a Republic but the argy bargy of then seems almost benign by comparison.
But disinformation during the Voice was in a completely different league. It was used to spark hate and division. It was used to cause damage and hurt.
This is not to say that the outcome of the referendum would necessarily have been reversed if the online disinformation industry hadn’t been unleashed but the impact on Indigenous Australians of a no vote would certainly have been less brutal, less hurtful, and on the community more broadly, less divisive.
For months while making the podcast Carly and I sat down with academics, lawyers, traditional owners, politicians in a climate of confusion, resentment and orchestrated fear … and we sat down with the hurt. And can I tell you, until you do that, until you look despair right in the eye you cannot really grasp what is at stake at a personal level, much less at a bigger one – when things get so ugly.
As one devastated indigenous leader said to me late on referendum night. “They hate us. I never would believe it before, but now I know it’s true. Australians hate us.” Indigenous academic Professor Marcia Langton said afterwards that reconciliation in this country is dead.
I know most Australians don’t want that to be true – the polls show it – but in the short-term I think it is fair to say that black and white relations have been set back. Many First Nations people nurse the hurt and the grief of that vote and the knowledge that the people they live amongst voted overwhelmingly against their inclusion in the Constitution in the way that was meaningful to them. Many of those who voted No, only see a waste of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.
Last week’s anniversary was painful and raw for many … but indigenous leaders are now beginning to re-emerge to ask ,“What’s next?” In his recent book, Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo, himself a target of vile racist attacks during the referendum, urges Australians to flood the disinformation zone with truth and hope.
In the aftermath of the referendum The ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods dissected the vote …and the results were stark.
Twenty-three of 25 urban electorates backed a Voice. But as you moved away from the city centre the vote changed.
Only four of the 43 outer suburban electorates voted Yes.
And nearly every rural and regional electorate voted No….bar two…61 out of 63 voted No.
That’s an unequivocal geographical divide in this country that needs to be addressed.
And there were other clear demarcs too. Education, gender, age and income. Again, not new…. but amplified.
That ANU survey revealed something else too….that the overwhelming reason most Australians voted no was because they thought the Voice would divide the nation. Dig deeper into those numbers and you find a reluctance to enshrine rights for some but not for all…. and a belief that Aboriginal disadvantage lies in a lack of effort on their part.
That’s why spreading disinformation, including by perpetuating false racial profiling, was so potent. Most of it was online where today most of us get our news and connection; lies that went viral on popular platforms like Twitter and TikTok….that a yes vote would mean an Aboriginal tax or an apartheid system of government ….or that they’d come for our backyards and farms – a scare tactic that I first encountered way back during the Mabo debate of the early 90s — revived everywhere I seemed to turn in the lead-up to the referendum. It was simply not true…none of it was true… but fitted neatly into some deep seated stereotypes.
Most of this out and out disinformation came from conspiracy theorists, and far right white supremacist groups … and some of it, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, was sponsored by social media accounts linked to the Chinese Communist Party; ramping up the disinformation to fuel division within Australian society. But other misinformation – that thirty billion dollars is already spent on indigenous Australians every year, for instance – was repeated by No campaigners and was misleading. And once these claims are out there it allows others, including politicians and the media to repeat them …even if in a bid to counter them. No smoke without fire.
It was insidious and dangerous.
But what we learned was that the mainstream media, the tech giants and our institutions were ill-equipped or not prepared to recognise and deal with outright lies presented as truths in this important electoral process.
The Australian Electoral Commission, one of the most trusted institutions in the country, had a go. They knew it was coming because they’d seen the stirrings of it in the 2022 election… but the amount of disinformation out there on social media this time was a tsunami from the get-go.
Bring your own pen to the polling booth because the AEC uses pencils so votes can be changed. …#useapen.
It’s an oldie but a goldie turbocharged on social media in the referendum. In a sign of the times, the AEC now has a disinformation register.
It was against this simmering backdrop of mistrust that the electoral commissioner Tom Rogers put his head above the parapet to tell voters to write Yes or No on their ballot paper, to not use a tick or a cross. If they did, a tick would likely be counted as a yes and a cross would be dismissed as an informal vote and not counted.
No campaigners Fair Australia accused the AEC of stacking the deck and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said it was rigged, labelling the AEC position “completely outrageous … .giving the Yes campaign a clear advantage.”
But this was not a subversive anti-no tactic. It has been the standard practice in elections in this country for thirty years. The AEC quickly and robustly rejected the criticism but flickers of doubt were sown.
Constitutional lawyers warned our politicians at the time to be careful, that this was dangerous, not just for that referendum but for our electoral process more broadly. Trusting the integrity of the electoral process is key to trusting the election results which is in turn key to the peaceful transfer of power – a foundation stone of a functioning, stable democracy. January 6. Washington riots.
We can’t ever let it happen here.
If it has become a fight then we have to fight back against it …and quality journalism is key to that fight .
We have to do what we do so well. Question. Check. Verify.. And check again. Basic, basic stuff.
Accuracy, objectivity and fairness.
Which brings us to the debate about disinformation’s bedmate; moral equivalence. That’s the case that not all arguments and claims are equal and treating them as such in the name of balance distorts the truth.
Professor Megan Davies from the Yes campaign complained about the media coverage for this very reason. She said, “Thinly veiled racism was given respectability and wide ventilation through conventional media because of its slavish adherence to “both sides”. It was a false equivalence she said that gave licence for it to run even more rampant on social media.
The No campaign had its own gripes with the media…criticising some outlets for depicting a No vote as evidence that Australia is a racist country.
At the ABC we did all we could to prepare for increased scrutiny and claims of bias from our detractors. We went to great lengths to show public proof of balance and independence.
Moral equivalence is a conundrum public broadcasters all over the world are grappling with. Jay Rosen from New York University puts it like this: “That’s what the he said/she said reporting, and the balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon are all about” … protection against criticism.
But that criticism is not the whole story. If I look at the ABC’s coverage, or some of the great work done by other media outlets during the referendum – Narelda Jacobs on Ten, John Paul Janke on SBS, Lorena Allam at The Guardian, Paige Taylor in The Australian, Brooke Boney on Nine – the media worked hard to bring a range of views on the referendum. To get beyond the he said/she said and the campaign spokespeople.
Our ABC Indigenous reporting team did an incredible job, travelling all over the country bringing the voices of remote, rural and urban indigenous communities … and the complexity of views within them…to the rest of us so we could make up our minds for ourselves based on actual facts.
And it turns out it was true that Indigenous Australians voted overwhelmingly for the Voice to Parliament.
So this is the task for the mainstream media. We need to come out of any defensive crouch and get back to our crucial role of providing the national audience with the information it needs to make an informed view at times of contentious, divisive national debate. On the Voice, on climate science, on the Middle East, on Covid. Whatever it is.
Less commentary, more reporting. Less telling, more enquiry.
Within that, we need to hold our nerve and stop running scared of our detractors – our self-appointed enemies within the media and individual politicians or online haters. And in doing that we need to keep serving up the facts – not facts that come with ridiculous qualifiers such as true or false, real or fake – but facts.
Verifiable Facts. Facts verified by us.
Misinformation breeds mistrust and misunderstanding; disinformation breeds distrust, distress and division. The age of both is well and truly here and both by their very nature are never used in the name of the good.
I stress again this is not an argument that says misinformation and disinformation caused Australia to vote No overwhelmingly in the referendum. But this is an argument that says our democratic processes are being impacted and potentially undermined by the manipulation of information and we need to be alert to it so we can do our jobs better.
Misinformation expert Ed Coper says we have entered a new age which merits new approaches instead of “clinging to the losing belief that facts are an antidote of falsehoods”.
I can’t agree with Ed that facts aren’t the best weapon to defeat a lie but I do agree that on their own they are not enough ….
Unless we also convince Australians that as journalists we are reporting the facts, and not bending them to fit our agendas.
Unless we can convince people we are committed to holding the powerful to account rather than just being a mouthpiece for their claims.
And unless we can find a way to make our news gathering accessible, relatable and available where people gather online in communities they trust, it doesn’t matter how good we are with facts, those stoking fear and mistrust through emotional manipulation…weaponizing the fault lines …will win.
I recall how Fair Australia reportedly coached the No Campaign volunteers during the referendum “Emotion defeats facts and figures every time.”
Emotion is subjective. And persuasive. But as Carl Bernstein said back in his President-crushing day, “The truth is not a matter of opinion. It’s what the evidence shows.”
Attacks on the utility of truth is now the constant backdrop to what we do.
They come as the tectonic plates of the media landscape have shifted and our audience is balkansing, drifting off into niche markets that speak only to themselves… into corners where the light of truth is filtered, blacked out even…. or drifting off and disengaging completely.
We want them back. Democracy, I believe, needs them back.
To do that, as journalists, we need to get down from the pedestals we have perhaps unintentionally put ourselves on and look at things through the eyes of our consumers. Focus more on their perspective. Think creatively about how to gain their trust. We are trying really, really hard to do that, with myriad initiatives. Like the Reuters Trust project. Or ABC Verify. Or the New York Times in the run up to this Presidential Election urging readers to send in their questions about its coverage, of how and what it reports. It describes it as an effort to bring clarity and transparency to its journalism.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, a great masthead was enough. It needed no explaining.
Like our electoral commissioner Tom Rogers during the referendum, this is the New York Times trying to get ahead of the disinformation and the conspiracy theories about its coverage. Trying to help its audience trust what it publishes.
And yet trust in the media continues to flag…the latest Roy Morgan Risk Monitor has the mainstream media rated 21 on the Trusted Organisations Chart….behind political parties, gambling organisations, property developers and insurance agents. That really hurts.
But social media ranks even lower…down at 26…and therein lies an opportunity I guess. We’re still in the lead here.
When I think about all this I think about desire paths. Do you know what a desire path is?
It is an unofficial short cut when pedestrians bypass the paved and theoretically well-designed footpaths laid by city planners and cut across the grass to get where they want to go. Everyone instinctively does the same thing and soon a track is worn, creating a cobweb of human determination across city parks and public spaces which, seen from above, mirror a snapshot of our synapses. More and more, urban planners are responding to these lines by surrendering and paving them, or even waiting to see where natural paths form before even considering creating permanent ones. Listening not telling!
There’s a lesson here for us all. As journalists it is futile, anachronistic, presumptive and egotistical to continue to concrete the same old paths based on our own expectations of listener, viewer and reader behaviour … to expect … to demand … that people follow our imposed planning. They won’t and they’re not. In huge numbers.
They’re making their own new paths … and we are reeling from it. As we reorientate we have to be led by the desire lines and respect and follow them. And the real challenge is to anticipate them. Because it doesn’t matter how good our work, we are nothing without the reader, the viewer, the listener.
As I was thinking about this speech I caught up with a senior colleague from the Canberra Press Gallery who described the challenge and the opportunity of the real time feedback on what he writes these days. He can literally count the clicks on his stories as soon as they’re up and see how the readers are responding to it…and so can his editors. It’s the same for most of us these days.
Obviously this impacts how and what he reports. It’s like a director waving their arms about off camera. No clicks on this political analysis or incremental shift in the policy debate? Okay then, how do I tell this story differently or maybe dump it all together, rather than cobblestone our outlets with stories no one wants to read anymore.
I’m not saying we should sell out. Certain stories will always have to be told, people in power held to account…. it’s the mode of telling we’re being asked to adjust as we study the paths consumers are creating across the media grasslands.
We have to go where they want to go or have gone already and, I suggest, we have to abandon any notion that this is “dumbing down.” By whose measure? An ivory tower is a precarious edifice. If we’re honest with ourselves, the digital age has compromised our concentration spans, many of us anyway. Lists, digital explainers, graphics, fact boxes are handy shortcuts through an important story. Is that dumbing down, or just being helpful?
The culture of journalism was shaped by its privilege of being the gatekeepers of information. We are no longer that, but it is still a privileged business, and a passionate one. Passion is the flipside of hate. Just as passion drives division …so too can it drive social cohesion and healing.
Passion is the buzz that sustains us. It’s the thousand phone calls. The refusal to take no. It’s the thrill of the chase. The spirited debates at news conferences. The racing heart when you realize you’ve got something big, something good, something great. It’s watching the outcome of your work, the accountability it forces. It is the fun, the grunt-work, the frustrations, the camaraderie.
It is being taken into confidences, being handed hearts to hold, tears to witness, pain or joy to share.
It is the audience.
I did breakfast radio for seventeen years and there was not one morning I didn’t feel that passion and the privilege as I turned on my mic at 6am …. not one! And it pumped through me for every minute until I switched off at nine. That’s the truth.
And every journalist in this room gets that.
I know a retired editor of regional and capital city papers who wants the only music played at his funeral to be the sound of the presses rolling.
Maybe I’ll have the ABC’s Majestic Fanfare news theme at mine!
Which brings me to radio. Because radio is my passion.
And tonight I make a bold prediction.
To misquote Mark Twain “Reports of the death of radio are greatly exaggerated.”
That’s my thesis ….that radio is the medium of the future … and we should invest to make it so. I know what you’re thinking. She’s kidding right?
For decades now those of us working in radio have always known it was the poor cousin of television, but in the past decade or so we have felt something more than that: the sword of Damocles poised overhead. Radio is a dying media, they said; the audiences will fall off a cliff when car radios go digital, when the older audience disappears. Mutterings about turning off the transmitters… Imagine the money we’ll save.
It’s been a little dispiriting and not reflected in the audience response that those of us on air get every day.
But the budgets got tighter, the radio teams even smaller, rare carparks fewer. And the promotional effort …. Sometimes it felt like they were trying to kill us off…despite the reassurances.
But then, suddenly audio content was king. Listening was the new black and everyone was tuned in 24/7 … to podcasts, to audio books, to music streaming and…. to live radio. And with earpods, we are literally wired for sound.
The recent ABC audio survey found ninety-five percent of the population consume audio content every week and the most consumed audio type is radio…. time spent listening is split fifty-one percent radio and forty-nine percent the rest.
Okay, sure … right now, radio ratings are down across the board and that’s disappointing. Post covid there has been a shift in listening from news and talk to music stations. So the big winners for radio at the moment are the commercial FM music networks. After the grim covid years, juxtaposed against the current flood of global wars and catastrophes, people want to lighten up. We call it news avoidance or news fatigue and it’s causing havoc and panic within, as ratings and audiences shrink along with the budgets of all mainstream news media and the social license of the public broadcasters.
I wonder sometimes if our human brains have simply not evolved to cope with knowing and witnessing all the tragic events in every corner of the world at once. It’s too much. Back in the cave we only had to face one sabre-tooth tiger at a time, we didn’t know there were thousands more over the hills. Out of sight was blissfully out of mind.
Combine news fatigue with what all the surveys tell us – that people have less interest in, and tolerance for, views outside their own tribal truths, then music is an easy listening space.
Covid also showed something else important though, and was a real-time focus test for the ABC. During Covid our radio audience soared. Why was that? Because people needed a reliable trustworthy news source at one of the scariest times in their lives, but more than that they wanted a reliable trustworthy friend at a time when so many of us felt so isolated. Were isolated. They craved the web of human connectivity that radio provided.
On Radio National Breakfast our text-line showed listeners appreciated the real-time company we offered, the constancy and reassurance, the latest up to date info, the voice in the background. They saw us as their friend in a way pre-recorded audio can never be; because we are talking directly to them, greeting the same day, looking at the same sky at the same time. That is precious.
ABC local radio also peaked during the pandemic as it does during bushfires or floods as the nation’s emergency broadcaster. It too, is a friend and a literal lifeline for the country and always has been. It shares the same streets, knows the same landmarks, smells the same fires, sees the same river rising.
There’s nothing more local than local radio especially in this shrinking regional media landscape.
Think of all the people who couldn’t get through the night without the radio, who turn it on in the wee small hours when they can’t sleep, so to hear someone up and chatting in real time. It is your 3am friend when you need one.
Radio is immediate and it’s responsive …. and it’s personal.
I remember Prime Minister John Howard once telling me he used to shave listening to RN Breakfast at The Lodge in the mornings…and the number of people who’ve said to me over the years….shyly or slyly… I love waking up with you every morning Fran. What’s more intimate than that?
And the farmers listening on their tractors – one of my favorite images – and the builders on their worksites, the artists in their studios…they’re listening to live radio. I know because they tell me over and over.
They’re not all listening to the ABC… and that is the beauty of the medium; it reflects our national identity. There’s a network for everyone.
Now I don’t want to sound like a dinosaur here. But just because public radio has been around for one hundred years does not make it up for extinction…. but rather for continuing evolution. Radio is the parent that has spawned the other audio options – and we co-exist in that audio landscape as family. You might listen to a podcast on your walk for sure… but you won’t have it blaring out in the shearing shed. Radio can be consumed communally.
We are also uniquely placed to cross over between the huge appetite for podcasting and our ubiquitous and excellent radio content. The Triton podcast tracker Top 100 is chock full of ABC radio shows in podcast form as people time shift but still want to listen to some of our great broadcasters. Think Conversations, or Late Night Live or Dr Karl or Roy and HG or PK on Breakfast because you can’t miss the agenda setting interview of that morning.
A friend’s dad gardens listening to the ABC Listen app, not through earphones but through the speaker. He calls it the tranny… as in a transistor radio of old. Perfect!
This genuine human interaction of live radio will become even more imperative as bots and AI generated half truths and nonsense take hold elsewhere. We are real. And we are there, right now. And so is that expert we’re talking to.
NATO’s cyber boss, James Appathurai, told the ABC recently that the major AI companies had revealed to it within one year seventy percent of what’s produced for the internet will be produced by AI – so not by people – and within five years ninety per cent of what’s on the internet will be fake. Will be false.
So while the Dead Internet Theory might have started out a few years ago as a weird conspiracy theory, the arrival of Generative AI plus deliberate disinformation from bad actors funding bot factories to warp the algorithms is making a version of it come true.
And people know it. So when people don’t want to search for information or news or online connection in a fake AI flooded online ecosystem they will look for a new/old reliable source of information and conversation and a genuine online community.
And they will find it at the ABC across all our platforms… or online at The Guardian or the News.com website or the Nine media blog. We all need to get better at how we deliver our journalism and where we deliver it…but we need to keep delivering it because now more than ever people know that a lot of what’s on the internet and on social media is wrong, is rubbish, is manipulative. Many fall for it, happily so… but many also want out.
And radio… my love…, is a vital part of the antidote to the mistrust and disillusionment…. and unless we celebrate and preserve this we risk ruining a great national treasure.
We need to understand what we’ve got here and not be embarrassed by it…by this legacy medium. It’s a gem and it’s worth polishing.
So this is my pitch to any executives in the room: Fund it better. Spruik it – Sing our praises and sell our wares and get our best content across all the socials and build our brands. Build it and they will come …back. Maybe we build it differently, with new formats and some new voices, but keep building.
Because in this world of narrowcasting where we exist in our chosen silos, hardly coming across anything outside our curated sphere of interest, radio is a weapon for truth,breadth and surprise. Without it, the silence would be deafening.
When I said goodbye on-air to the RN Breakfast listeners after all those years, I was humbled beyond measure at the audience outpouring. The words I kept hearing were “friendship”; “company, “constant.”,”commitment”.
We had all been in it together; the early morning breast-feeders and the shift workers, the pollies prepping for battle; the lyer-inners; the school runners; the post early morning swimmers; the cattle wranglers and the commuters. We were all connected in the same moments of the same morning.
It is the magic of radio.
An ABC sound engineer told me recently she worked as an operator on Andrew’s Morning show all those years ago and when I asked her what was he like?… she said.. “gentle.” And then she added, “Thoughtful, intelligent… kind…..he really cared about everyone he talked to on the show. And he really listened.”
They’re the qualities that make for good journalism.
And they’re the qualities that can bridge division and counter the culture of hate in which we now work. A shout out here to all you young reporters who face it in spades .. who’ve never known anything different .. and yet aren’t giving up on journalism because of it. We need you.
Oh…and one more thing before I go. Buster died last year. But he got ten more years of bliss with us and us with him because that man reached out with kindness that day. And I will always be thankful to him for that.
The annual Andrew Olle lecture supports Brain Cancer research, donate here. Andrew Olle passed away from a brain cancer in 1995, while he was the morning presenter on 702 ABC Radio Sydney. The annual lecture was set up by ABC Sydney staff in tribute to their colleague.
Read more at: https://radioinfo.com.au/news/our-only-credential-is-the-truth-fran-kelly-at-andrew-olle-media-lecture/ © RadioInfo AustraliaNSoS Committee visit Willoughby Symphony Choir Practice
Wednesday 16 October, 2024 7pm
Janine Kitson and Corin Fairburn Bass met with Wendy Lindgren, President of the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra at their Wednesday practice at the Roseville Uniting Church.
Following the meeting we listened to the choir rehearsal. Absolutely MAGNIFICENT & BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
Tuesday 15 October, 2024 6pm
Watch HERE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in the NSW Parliament
Community Recognition Statement
ABC Friends Northern Suburbs of Sydney Branch - 5th Anniversary
Mr MATT CROSS (Davidson)—On Thursday 10 October, I look forward to celebrating the 5th anniversary of the ABC Friends Northern Suburbs of Sydney Branch at Roseville. Established locally in 2019 to advocate for the ABC, it represents over 700 northern Sydney residents that are passionate about the importance of Australia having national broadcaster. The branch also regularly hosts meetings with guests on topics surrounding Australia's media landscape and the role of the ABC. In celebrating the 5th anniversary they will be joined by Jonathon Holmes, who has worked on programs including Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, the 7.30 Report and Media Watch. Jonathon spoke at the inaugural meeting. I recognise the 2024 committee led by Convenor Janine Kitson, Corin Fairbun Bass, Jenny Forster, John Inshaw, Beverley Inshaw, Wendy Siriani and Peter Vail. Thank you all for your continued work that helps bring our community together.
Jonathan Holmes
10 October 2024
Followed by light lunch + RAFFLE TICKET* + BIRTHDAY CAKE

In October ABC Friends remembers:
Global Media and Information Literacy Week from 24-31 October
See ABC Education/ Media Literacy Resources
Andrew Olle Media Lecture commemorating one of Australia’s most admired broadcasters - Andrew Olle. He was respected by colleagues, opponents and the public for his fairness, quiet scepticism, calmness, gentle humour and lack of hubris. It was established in 1996 by the presenters and staff at 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL) to honour the memory of ABC Radio and television broadcaster Andrew Olle, who died in 1995 of a brain tumour. Watch Andrew Ollie: The Australian Media Hall of Fame HERE
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 10.10.24 - ABC's Heather Ewart to retire from the ABC
TV Tonight: Heather Ewart to retire from the ABC.
https://tvtonight.com.au/2024/09/heather-ewart-to-retire-from-abc.html
ABCs Racism Review is scathing. Can Aunty find the strength of character to properly address it? By Denis Muller.
ABC Patricia Karvelas moves to expanded role. https://www.abc.net.au/about/media-centre/press-releases/patricia-karvelas-moving-to-expanded-role-across-abc-news-platfo/104448450?utm_content=mail&utm_medium=content_shared
ABC RN Listen: The Power Play for control of the Murdoch Family Trust.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/rearvision/inside-the-murdoch-family-trust/104324650
ABC Laura Tingle: Dutton says PM is "at odds" with its allies on Israel. The truth is more complicated.
Sally Lawry (@SallyLawry) posted Oct 05, 2024:
Haven’t seen this before at the abc .They don’t even try to hide their bias to platform one of the dumbest politicians and biggest thug in the history of the Liberal party . Laura Tingle seems to be the last one standing to give any objective political views .
(https://x.com/SallyLawry/status/1842336466376241384?t=hZQnlIwtK7ogcGKufQ-67A&s=03)
Sally Lawry (@SallyLawry) posted Oct 04, 2024:
The journos @abcnews give Dutton a free run to spread disingenuous information on his nuclear ‘plans’ and allow him to incite fear and division over civilians fleeing war zones . Very disturbing to see a national broadcaster as a platform for reactionary politics .
(https://x.com/SallyLawry/status/1842086169485758881?t=IBOGUbQGqHkz67Fs87P9XQ&s=03)
Quentin Dempster (@QuentinDempster) posted at 2:03 pm Oct 10, 2024:
NACC finds no corruption in Paladin investigation - by Dan Holmes @TheMandarinAU https://t.co/pIptChkfVB via @TheMandarinAU
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1844212031307841996?t=7gNi6detOW98ijcAr
Quentin Dempster (@QuentinDempster) posted at 2:54 pm, Oct 10, 2024:
So far it’s a limited inquiry into the conduct of one individual. We await further Paladin investigations arising from any evidentiary leads provided by @ANAO_Australia and informants/whistleblowers.
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1844224896777453766?t=Yvy6otdvOBncLJCjMVxU8A&s=03)
Quentin Dempster (@QuentinDempster) posted at 3:26 pm Oct 10, 2024:
Share your cynicism about @NACCgovau. Hoping all meritorious independents standing for election/re-election will question NACC as an under-the-carpet receptacle for corruption complaints. We need public hearings and investigating commissioners with public interest courage.
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1844232952345158074?t=8un0xe7u5ZwMonh
David Marler (@Qldaah) posted Oct 05, 2024:
Lettuce Truss has arrived in Australia to tell us all what to do. Nothing is her fault. #auspol She urges conservatives to defund state media.
https://t.co/NJw2YPiNw1
(https://x.com/Qldaah/status/1842456359377236020?t=nPYDhbs-JJ8hnBNHlXq98w&s=03)
Former ABC foreign Correspondent Zoe Daniel, now Independent MP for Goldstein, has been referred to the NACC.
(apparently referred by Jason Falinski, former LNP MP for Mackellar who lost his seat to an Independent candidate, as did Tim Wilson, now the LNP candidate for Goldstein next election.)
ShiannonCorcoranx4 (@ShiannonC) posted Oct 04, 2024:
Who is the member for Goldstein?
Zoe Daniel.
Who was the former Liberal member for Goldstein?
Tim Wilson.
Who is the current Liberal candidate for Goldstein running against Zoe Daniel?
Tim Wilson.
I predicted it was going to get dirty in Goldstein as soon as the https://t.co/PsH5B1Rpb1
(https://x.com/ShiannonC/status/1842140122940424631?t=c2Rw50iNBdu3xK0jVXajkQ&s=03)
And from Independent Media:
Political manipulation and use of media - reclaiming critical thinking .
https://theaimn.com/political-manipulation-reclaiming-critical-thinking/
Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) posted at 8:13 pm on Fri, Oct 04, 2024:
️BREAKING:
Israel, after murdering 174 journalists in Gaza, is now targeting journalists in Lebanon.
While journalists were in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, documenting the aftermath of Israeli strikes, a drone targeted them, resulting in three injuries. https://t.co/MOYs9T9bSw
(https://x.com/SuppressedNws/status/1842145935058411792?t=-48svKal-v0etpcFFqkH8g&s=03)
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 4.10.24 - Australia's media concentration 2nd worst in world
It didn’t get a lot of attention - but Peter Dutton attacked a reporter just for being from the ABC. She asked a perfectly reasonable question - and this was the response. https://t.co/9qF3gunO4c
(https://x.com/AmyRemeikis/status/1841002591599411566?t=UquPd4PJdrD6pZLIKv
JACQUELINE DEACON'S READING LIST 2.10.24 - ABC Racism Review
ABC racism review: David Anderson apologises to staff after ‘disturbing’ findings
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-boss-apologises-to-staff-after-review-finds-systemic-racism-20241001-p5kexf.html
Psychological support enlisted for ABC staff ahead of racism review
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/psychological-support-enlisted-for-abc-staff-ahead-of-racism-review-20240927-p5ke2i.html
ABC appoints Alan Sunderland to conduct independent review into Line of Fire reports
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/sep/26/walkley-award-winning-journalist-to-investigate-abcs-incorrectly-edited-line-of-fire-video-clip?utm_term=66f5cbfa3ce4aa6cfb1ef2d7b2a8884e&utm_campaign=MorningMailAUS&utm_source=es
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/abc-journalists-face-criminal-probe-in-russia-over-illegal-border-crossing-20240927-p5ke5t.html
JACQUELINE DEACON READING LIST 25.9.24 - Damien Beaumont shares stories of ABC Classic
(from Gayle Davies)
Peter Murphy (@PeterWMurphy1) posted Sept 21, 2024:
HONOUR 2024 Media Award presented to @Dan_Bourchier, in recognition of his contributions to media, and to our national understanding of the perspectives & views of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as LGBTQIA+ communities. Congratulations. #JournalismMatters https://t.co/OFio5JZ4G6
(https://x.com/PeterWMurphy1/status/1837440013803704728?t=UPHteSMpiPAnynXKsB
ABC failed to act on 2022 legal notice about Heston Russell audio issues
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-failed-to-act-on-2022-legal-notice-about-heston-russell-audio-issues-20240920-p5kc96.html
(see document attached)
Yes, standards are slipping at the embattled ABC. By Eric Hunter. The first time I went into the BBC's Broadcasting House in London (it was 50 years ago), I was ..... https://johnmenadue.com/standards-are-slipping-at-the-embattled-abc-heres-how-it-can-fix-itself/
ABC Director News Justin Stevens addressed the Melbourne Club.
and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-17/justin-stevens-addresses-the-melbourne-press-club/104361650
Also SMH:
ABC news boss derides agenda-driven ‘bullying’ of broadcaster’s staff https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-news-boss-derides-agenda-driven-bullying-of-broadcaster-s-staff-20240917-p5kbag.html
Labor tackles diversity after Greens lash too white ABC board
https://www.smh.com.au/cbd/labor-tackles-diversity-after-greens-lash-too-white-abc-board-20240919-p5kbz0.html
(see document attached)
Rick Morton (@SquigglyRick) posted at 5:12 am on Fri, Sept 20, 2024:
Well have I got news for you! Out in less than a month. https://t.co/S3TMxe1p0p
(https://x.com/SquigglyRick/status/1836845858995982401?t=0iQQDkXRpBcIVzKfx5ot6A
Berringa I voted yes posted:
Great news about your bookCongratulations for your book,
articles (which are a must read) & your interview with David Marr on Radio National Late Night Live
https://x.com/robertkaye11/status/1836942467901575323
Quentin Dempster to Rupert Murdoch:
https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1836171309052760460
The Conversation on the 3 part series aired by the ABC:
: "Rupert Murdoch’s real-life succession drama is underway in a Nevada courtroom. What might happen next?" — https://theconversation.com/rupert-murdochs-real-life-succession-drama-is-underway-in-a-nevada-courtroom-what-might-happen-next-239091
READING LIST 16.9.24 - Move out west splits ABC Sydney staff
The move out west splits ABC Sydney staff.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-s-move-out-west-splits-sydney-staff-amid-building-woes-20240910-p5k9bl.html (from Gayle Davies)
(see attached)
ABC Compass - new host Indira Naidoo
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/compass/series/38/video/RN2311H020S00
Vale Tim Bowden.1937 - 2024
(see ABC Friends Facebook page attached)
Media Watchdog will have more power
RonniSalt (@RonniSalt) posted Thu, Sept 12, 2024:
That article by Leigh Sales, and almost all the commentary offered by ABC journos yesterday, was untethered from reality and an insult to the intelligence of Australians who saw what they saw.
You're being lied to by people captured in some centrist silo fantasyland. https://t.co/9r43imqk2r
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1834031458555756678?t=uCWkaX223EsqyGmoMCTCL
RonniSalt (@RonniSalt) postedThu, Sept 12, 2024:
If the new ABC chair, Kim Williams, wants to return trust in the ABC, indeed if traditional journos want to stop the erosion of trust in their profession, they have to abandon this antiquated concept of treating everything as if it was of equal measure.
He's insane - she's not. https://t.co/vCTgM8Wxc7
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1834028527601287647?t=_aYuBvWEa20AbUYcMeETyg
RonniSalt (@RonniSalt) posted Thu, Sept 12, 2024:
Another piece from ABC's endless stable of centrist dreck, Leigh Sales, who clearly watched something else.
This is such mediocre journalism; sane-washing a man who was a meandering, dribbling wreck.
We all saw it. Harris defeated Trump soundly.
It wasn't even close.
#pffft https://t.co/gKAxj9m2mQ
(https://x.com/RonniSalt/status/1834026440352010472?t=NQC5ObJYlCf6LFwuufBZkA&

Jan Preston
Thursday 12 September, 2024
Jan Preston was born in Greymouth on New Zealand's remote South Island. Despite growing up with few opportunities, she was privileged to grow up at a time when communities gathered around the piano to joyously sing together.
Jan was one of only four students, from the entire New Zealand, to win a prestigious scholarship to study a classical piano degree at Auckland University. This love of classical music led her to experiment with different styles of music and eventually led her to her love of Boogie.
In 1980 her rock band, Coup D’Etat's song “Doctor I Like Your Medicine” was a No. 1 hit. Following this success, Jan moved to Sydney, playing in bands and piano bars as well as composing music for films.
Jan is also a renowned composer who composed the theme music to ABC TV's Australian Story (2000 to 2006).
She has also appeared on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks.
Her composition Trout Blues is currently played as the theme music to BBC Radio London "Evenings" program with Jo Good, on 94.9 FM (London).
Jan has also written and performed live scores for silent movies and won the Best Music in A Documentary by the Australian Guild of Screen Composers and other awards.
Listen/watch Jan Preston perform at our ABC Friends meeting HERE
Read our Handout for Jan Preston HERE
Listen to Michael Lester, Northern Beaches Radio interview Jan Preston HERE
Michael Lester Northern Beaches Radio interviews Jan Preston 'Boogie Queen', September 2024
Listen to ABC program 'A Brief history of boogie-woogie with musician Jan Preston' HERE
Brian Nankervis (remember Rock Quiz?) invited Jan to play live on his ABC Friday Revue Radio Show in Melbourne on Friday Sep 6th at 3pm.
Listen/Watch another interview with Jan Preston HERE
NSoS E-News:
- NSoS E-News 10 Sept 2024: Reminder: Join ABC Friends this Thursday to listen to 'Boogie Queen' Jan Preston
- NSoS E-News 28 August 2024: Listen to Jan Preston performing at next ABC Friends meeting, Thurs 12 Sept, 11.30am
- NSoS E-News 16 August 2024: Next ABC Friends meeting with Jan Preston Thurs 12 Sept, 11.30am
In September ABC Friends remembers:
International Day of Democracy (15 September)
UN International Day for Universal Access to Information (29 September)
ABC Radio National Boyer Lectures: These four lectures are named after former ABC Chairman Sir Richard Boyer (1945-1961). A prominent Australian is invited to speak on a major social, cultural, scientific or political issue.
Loosely Woven Fundraising Concert for ABC Friends
Balls & Chains by Ted Egan
Sat 7 Sept 1pm (booked out) but seats still available for 5pm session
Book at Humph Hall or online or (0400 803 804) or email
Listen to the 'Balls & Chains' (Loosely Woven version) Songs HERE
Read the script HERE
READING LIST 6.9.24 - ABC MD pays tribute to Tim Bowden
READING LIST 6.9.24 - ABC Chair Kim Williams delivers John Monash Oration
ABC Listen app update slammed by Norman Swan
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/dr-norman-swan-skewers-breathtaking-incompetence-of-abc-app-woes-20240903-p5k7fr.html
ABC Media Watch:
Media Watch (@ABCmediawatch) posted Sept 02, 2024:
“... that News Corp ‘Bush Summit’ travelled right around the country, with a shindig in each state, for the city tabloids to swoon over.
And Dr Rinehart, as she is now known, was the star act.
No doubt because she paid for it — or most of it …”
#MediaWatch https://t.co/dr1bR2sjeJ
(https://x.com/ABCmediawatch/status/1830569103041421637?t=Dj814w2NLAMa9YIMbXQvAQ&s=
Quentin Dempster (@QuentinDempster) posted Sept 03, 2024:
Our local oligarch Gina Rinehart bankrolls the so called Institute of Public Affairs, is a big donor to Donald Trump, a big advertiser and “Bush Summit” sponsor for Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. She effectively now “owns” Australia’s Liberal-National Party. Her vested interests are
(https://x.com/QuentinDempster/status/1830712983498170486?t=k-sGawzK2x-hQoeEr7blGQ&s=03
Media Watch (@ABCmediawatch) posted Sept 02, 2024:
Watch the full story here: https://t.co/XGLSyA3rEB
(https://x.com/ABCmediawatch/status/1830569171769590049?t=GmNg7LdxvsTAiuGb06SzaA&s=03
We dipped back into the archives this week & pulled out our 2021 retrospective of ‘Four Corners’.
4C alumni, Jeff McMullen, Chris Masters & @MoragRamsay joined host, @TinaMQ to reflect on six decades of groundbreaking journalism.
Listen here

https://t.co/Z6cDX09Dy6
(https://x.com/fourthestateau/status/1830503398753661310?t=fXAhhoVif3-ImHoJLxPZ_g&s=03)
ABC USA: Rules set down for the Presidential debate.
https://abc7ny.com/post/abc-news-releases-rules-2024-presidential-debate-between-kamala-harris-donald-trump-philadelphia/15268377/
READING LIST 3.9.24 - Kim Williams on the ABCs great divide
VALE Tim Bowden. ABC Alumni published several stories by and about TIm's work during the ABCs 90th Anniversary year, which should still be on their website.
The government seems stuck in a game of piggy in the middle, with the Greens and Coalition throwing the ball - ABC News https://t.co/kZaHnGkYkl
(https://x.com/GreenJ/status/1829680133483217268?t=sCfN0uFAQVoTDhYCqsvJ4Q&s=03)
READING LIST 27.8.24 - ABC TV theme song returns, with tweaks
ABC News: Newsbulletin TV theme song returns, with tweaks.
Sandy Horne (@SandyHorne61) posted Aug 18, 2024:
ABC News is bringing back their old theme tune.
This is great. Ah ... memories
I also hope they bring back some good old fashioned unbiased journalism too. Remember the good old days when you couldn't tell how journos voted? @abcnews
https://t.co/HN0FYLrvEy
(https://x.com/SandyHorne61/status/1825114898981900557?t=dMNtEARjyp-RUarkz0I6RA&s=03)
ABC Media Watch: MD David Anderson resigns
https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/anderson/104271514
ABC factual series: The Assembly puts real people in unreal situations
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/real-people-in-unreal-situations-why-series-like-the-assembly-engage-20240815-p5k2t7.html
(see document attached)
Tweet re ABC 730 segment on nuclear plant/s in Ontario Canada
Who at @abcnews decided to run that glowing recommendation for nuclear power plants as in Ontario? On @abc730? No apparent reason for it - except to support Duttons fantasy. No counter commentary or information. Blatant. This is not on! #KimWilliams @BowenChris
Received 359 reposts and 1000 likes in 15 hours.
Margaret Ludowyk (@Gargy2) posted Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
Yes I thought the same. I'm about to send my feedback here: https://t.co/vi3dKUPxX2
(https://x.com/Gargy2/status/1828034866061140058?t=Z6b1-Mv88A9n0PTwG4TlFA&s=03)
Heather Meyer #VoteYes (@yackheather) posted Aug 26, 2024:
Unfortunately watching @abc730 on Ontario nuclear power. First image freshwater, lots and lots of freshwater that Aus doesn’t have. Second issue billion and billions of dollars. Waste problems. Community resistance.
No comment/analysis re Australia 1/2
(https://x.com/yackheather/status/1828008691465134503?t=QMmrYo15KpNIJwDa5FXlsA&s=03)
Kristin Dawson (@OpKrismarg) posted Aug 26, 2024:
There was no critique which makes this segment blatant propaganda
(https://x.com/OpKrismarg/status/1828025163914633461?t=Z6IWE6EwYYPMrx3m4FIQxw&s=03)
ABC Annabel Crabbe posts:
https://x.com/annabelcrabb/status/1826031227960439226
ANALYSIS: This loud, unpleasant, unproductive, predictable and unnecessary brawl obscures a deeper question: How is it that our immigration authorities are so consistently adept at generating an immigration crisis when there isn't one?
Dr Stephanie Dowrick posted Wed, Aug 21, 2024:
It is not the “immigration authorities” causing crises. It is the cunning, populist, unethical way the worst conservative politicians exploit the vulnerable & dispossessed to fake “strength”, whip up prejudice, attract attention, & “win” votes. None of this is possible without MSM.
(https://x.com/stephaniedowric/status/1826138017494610228?t=IDkspwJn4KMqlgFf_b6ACw&s=03)
Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) posted Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
Statement from the ABC about James Madden’s “false” story in @australian today.
“The ABC informed the journalist before publishing that the unsourced claim was baseless but The Australian went ahead and published it anyway.”
https://t.co/7EHN95nsU9
(https://x.com/Milliganreports/status/1827959417310265695?t=1Sl3QUFDcpsuF7ReDoZz6w&s=03)
University of the Third Age, Sydney Berowra
The ABC - Achievements & Challenges
Monday 26 August, 2024
The ABC - Achievements & Challenges: Learn about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape.
u3a Berowra Library & Community Centre
Gully Road (Parking onsite, behind Berowra Oval & near Berowra Railway Station)
Bookings: Jackie Wilson 0415 900 676 [email protected]
Venue Coordinator: Anne Rayment [email protected]
READING LIST 23.8.24 from Dr Mark Hayes
And do keep an eye on the Approved Commentary from The Australian (stories paywalled, but Attached). Hundreds of comments parroting the usual Attack Points in many and diverse, not to say tedious and boring, variations.
Many similar attack points being deployed on the SMH reportage too - (Paywalled) -
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-boss-david-anderson-to-depart-20240822-p5k4g9.html
Eagerly awaiting Gerard Henderson's analysis too. Will appear here around 4.30pm or a bit later on Friday, 23 August, 2024 -
https://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/category/media-watch-dog/
And then reposted on The Australian.
And from the MEAA ~ https://www.meaa.org/mediaroom/abc-needs-a-strong-leader-to-restore-stability-and-confidence
READING LIST 23.8.24 - MD Anderson Resignation
ABC managing director David Anderson resigns
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-boss-david-anderson-to-depart-20240822-p5k4g9.html(see document attached)
John Harrison (@thedoctorsaid) posted Aug 23, 2024:
Anyone wishing to be across Kim Williams critique of the ABC, listen to his IV with Kerry O'Brien at Byron Writers Fest: https://t.co/6T4GQfqNlz
(https://x.com/thedoctorsaid/status/1826718610745934131?t=VmaSQW9gbDiWEZBB6Rctaw&s=03)
Five questions for the new ABC Managing Director
Denis Muller - The Conversation ABC Boss quits - what now?
(See document attached)
Phillip Riley posted 22 August 2023
Perhaps Kim Williams is having an effect after all at ' our' ABC. David Anderson might have been the top of the pyramid but it is the next level down , the news direction where most problems lie. Interesting to see if there's some movement there .
Pope John XXXIV posted
#JustinStevens has done more to harm
than all the funding cuts combined. The soft news stories & clickbait are bad enough but the #Murdoch-like politicking is too much to bear. This has to stop & that means Stevens has to go. ASAP. Who's with me? #auspol #Auspol2024
This is Journalism: Barrie Cassidy interviews Peter Dutton
https://x.com/geofiasco/status/1825804313790394627
READING LIST 22.8.24 - MD David Anderson resigns
MD David Anderson announces he is retiring but will stay on in the role until a replacement is appointed, which may take some time.
(https://x.com/PhillipAdams_1/status/1826481538210693570?t=3CXPN6PvU5HkXeO4c-HTJg
(https://x.com/shaunmicallef/status/1826480497217994946?t=WqUhJ79PAc-qhqbT0XE_9w&s=03)
Maybe the resignation of David Anderson as MD from the ABC has the LNP rattled … they may longer be in a position to lean on him to have the bias in the Newsroom that Ita allowed them thanks to Morrison … look forward to better NEWS at the ABC . no more Peter Dutton says! #qt
(https://x.com/twoeoz/status/1826484042310844575?t=UBkjVKMLHDhBvR09xWGd2g&s=03)
Other “fundamentally good ppl” need to follow him out the door as well, starting with Justin Stevens. After JS the Murdoch hacks need to go. The public broadcaster is bigger than the egos of the “celebrity journalists” who push click bait over analysis.
(https://x.com/Buttaba01Bell/status/1826484177757446203?t=hhb8X9sx-8qXVXslCsNdeQ&s=03)
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/theatre/controversial-ex-abc-broadcasters-set-to-debate-identity-politics-20240820-p5k3t0.html
University of the Third Age, Sydney City
Everything about the ABC, Books & ABC Friends Northern Suburbs of Sydney (NSoS) Branch
13 August, 2024 1.30-3.30pm
u3a Office, Suite 502, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney
Train station, bus stop, light rail stop nearby
Bookings: Chloë Mason [email protected] (max 30)
Everything about ABC Books & Books & ABC Friends NSoS Powerpoint #1 HERE
Everything about ABC Books & Books & ABC Friends NSoS Powerpoint #2 HERE
HANDOUT HERE
Howe, Who and Why a passion paid off
8 August, 2024
Note the Dalek in the background
Dr Antony Howe talked about why he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. When Dr Who was being cancelled by the ABC in 1976, he and fellow devotees raised placards and objections to win a reversal.
It’s a great story of standing up to and forcing down ill-founded officialdom.
Poster HERE
Handout HERE
Video of Dr Antony Howe's talk HERE
Video of NSoS thanking Dr Antony Howe HERE
Listen to ABC Radio Sydney Interview with Craig Reucassel HERE
NSoS E-News
- NSoS E-News 1 August 2024 Reminder on the Dr Who Demo Thurs 8 August 2024 11.30pm
- NSoS E-News 25 July 2024 'Dr Who Demo outside ABC Broadcast House in 1976 with a Dalek on Thurs 8 Aug 24
WATCH VIDEO HERE
How did a group of science fiction enthusiasts persuade ABC management to reconsider their decision to stop purchasing episodes of the British science fiction television program Dr Who in 1976?
Antony Howe taking a pause during the filming of "Daleks Invasion Sydney" 1977
Tom Baker arrives at Sydney Airport for the start of a PR tour run by ABC Publicity, January 1979
Listen to Craig Reucassel interview Dr Antony Howe about the 1976 Dr Who ABC Demo with a Dalek on 702 ABC Radio Sydney Breakfast on 22 August 2024 HERE https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HxEG5iUFKu79jdNIoo_A9T1OsK4b-Whv/view
OR READ below:
DR WHO THEME MUSIC . . . .
CRAIG REUCASSEL: Are you a Doctor Who fan? Well it might surprise to learn that nearly 50 years ago the ABC announced it would cease purchasing the BBC science fiction programme. Seems crazy now . . .we even had shows called ‘Whovians’ on here but when Antony Howe heard this he wasn't happy. Antony was the president of the Sydney University Science Fiction Association, and he decided to organise a protest that happened about 48 years ago. Morning Antony.
ANTONY HOWE: Hi.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: So, you protested against the ABC? Where was this?
ANTONY HOWE: The ABC had a head office in Elizabeth Street opposite Hyde Park and we assembled there about 11:00 with a Dalek.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: With a Dalek! How many people turned up? How big was the Sydney University Science Fiction Association at the time?
ANTONY HOWE: Well, it was fairly short notice, we probably got about 20 people. Some of them were not members because there'd been a brief mention on a radio show. The Science Fiction Club at the uni was probably about 60 or 80 members but we didn't have emails in those days so letting everybody know was not possible.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: Now why was it that the ABC was considering getting rid of Doctor Who in 1976?
ANTONY HOWE: I'm not really sure? I never spoke to the Controller of Television, a guy called John Cameron who made the decision. He said that he didn't use the word “ratings” but he talked about “audience figures”. No one has ever revealed what these audience figures were despite numerous requests.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: And what was the response of the ABC when you turned up to not only protest but protest with a Dalek?
ANTONY HOWE: Well, if it had been a real Dalek they just would have all been exterminated but the response was fairly low key. Some people rushed to the doors to block us from coming into the foyer cause we made an effort with the Dalek to get in and the main impact was, we could be seen from inside the building. In those days the building can’t have been air-conditioned cause lots of windows opened and heads were popping out looking down at the pavement and they must been able to see the Dalek moving around.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: There you go. I love it. And in the end the ABC did decide obviously to continue with Doctor Who and it's gone on to become a staple of the station.
ANTONY HOWE: Yes the there was a new Controller of Television probably mid 77 and again I don't have details cause you just get letters from these people pretending that nothing had ever happened and what he James Fitzmaurice decided to reverse the decision although he didn’t put it that way, I think the programme was rating so well in England that it was a bit of a no brainer to resume purchasing it.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: Absolutely and do you remain a Doctor Who fan to this day?
ANTONY HOWE: No, I’m one of the grumpy old classics types. Give me the 60s and 70s.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: So, you’re just re watching the old episodes, are you?
ANTONY HOWE: Oh occasionally not terribly often and now I'm actually writing a fantasy novel of my own at the moment.
CRAIG REUCASSEL: Well, I'm glad to see you're still passionate about the science fiction world and congratulations for 48 years ago organising a protest outside the ABC with a Dalek.
ANTONY HOWE: We can CEL-E-BRATE!
CRAIG REUCASSEL: CEL-E-BRATE, CEL-E-BRATE. Good on you Antony. Thanks for chatting with us this morning.
ANTONY HOWE: You're welcome.
Watch the archival film about the 1976 Dr Who ABC Demo with a Dalek HERE
See photos HERE
Listen to Dr Antony Howe's talk HERE
The Canberra Times, Thursday, December 9, 1976, page 10
References:
Wikipedia Dr Who in Australia
ABC statement on Doctor Who | About the ABC
Paul Verhoeven, 'Dr Who has left the ABC after nearly 60 years - and Russell T Davies knows some fans aren't happy', The Guardian , 26 November, 2023
Sir Henry Armand (Harry) Bland (1909-1997), Obituaries Australia
Luke Wallace, Relieving Arts Coordination Officer, The Arts Unit, NSW Department of Education - The power of Arts Education and its connections to the ABC,
including about the The School Spectacular
11 July, 2024
Read the HANDOUT HERE
Listen to Luke Wallace HERE
Poster HERE
Isolde Martyn - author
Thursday 13 June, 2024
See POSTER of Isolde's talk HERE
Isolde Martyn is an English-Australian author of historical novels and a non-fiction history picture book for children. She is best known for her novels set during the Wars of the Roses which focus on some of the leading historical people of the era.
Isolde Martyn's recent children's book, 'Country Town', co-authored with Robyn Ridgeway and illustrated by Louise Hogan (who will be joining Isolde at our ABC Friends meeting), is shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Eve Pownall Award!
'Country Town' is a fun Australian history picture book for children based on both fiction and non-fiction. It tells the story of an imaginary town and its 'truth telling' past.
The ABC - Achievements & Challenges
University of the Third Age, Sydney North Curl Curl
Thursday 16 May, 2024
10.30am- 12.30pm
The ABC - its Achievements and Challenges: Learn about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape.
u3a North Curl Curl Community Centre
North Curl Curl Community Centre, 2 Griffin Rd, North Curl Curl, NSW 2099 Google map and directions
Wheelchair access, parking onsite
CONTACT Runa Schmidt-Muller, Course Coordinator, Northern Beaches u3a, [email protected] Previous Course co-ordinator Ruth Buchanan
Listen to Michael Lester Northern Beaches Radio presenter interviewing Janine Kitson on 'The ABC - Achievements and Challenges' HERE
Listen to an interview with Michael Lester about the talk.
World Press Freedom Talk with ABC's Max Chalmers
Thursday 9 May, 2024 11.30am-1pm
Celebrating United Nations World Press Freedom Day (3 May)
On World Press Freedom Day all Australian media workers need to make a stand for a free press and quality and ethical journalism.

https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/august-2022/press-freedom-and-national-security
https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/why-freedom-of-the-press-matters/
https://jeraa.org.au/attacks-on-journalism-education-are-an-attack-on-press-freedom/
https://jeraa.org.au/world-press-freedom-day-2022/
https://ipi.media/strengthening-press-freedom-at-home-and-abroad-10-recommendations-for-the-worlds-democracies/
International Press Institute’s 10 recommendations for the world’s democracies
Excellence in Broadcasting Award 2024
Saturday 4 May, 2024 3pm
The Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt St, Sydney
The award honours the work of an exemplary ABC employee and ABC program or series. The award will be presented by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Tony Burke MP.
The recipients of the 2024 Excellence in Broadcasting awards are Laura Tingle (individual) and The Newsreader (program or series).
One of Australia’s most respected journalists, Laura Tingle has been the chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program since 2018, following a long career in print. She has written four Quarterly Essays and a book about the recession of the early 1990s. She has won two Walkley Awards and the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism.
Laura is President of the National Press Club of Australia and the staff-elected director of the ABC board.
She's a must-read and a must-watch ... She's brilliant.
Niki Savva
The Newsreader is ABC drama at its best - a brilliant behind-the-scenes look at commercial TV news in Australia during the heady 1980s.
The Newsreader has won many awards including the 2022 Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Drama Series and Winner of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Drama Series in 2024.
A well-told and engrossing drama, offsetting the franticness of a tumultuous industry with a dignified sensibility.
Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian
Past winners have included Caroline Jones, Kerry O'Brien, Four Corners, Geraldine Doogue, Margaret Throsby and Dr Norman Swan. Watch this space for our announcement of this year's winners!
University of the Third Age, Sydney Chatswood
The ABC - Achievements & Challenges
Tuesday 30 April, 2024 10.30am- 12.30pm
Learn about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape. Read Handout HERE
u3a Dougherty Community Centre, 9 Victor Street, Chatswood. Wheelchair access, parking nearby, train station nearby. Bookings: Rosemary Sparkes E: [email protected] (preferred) 0400 181 091; Original u3a invitation from Ursula Schappi [email protected]
Walking and Visualising the Old ABC Studios at Gore Hill
Sunday 21 April, 2024 9.45 am for 10am start
This walk follows the documentary screening of "End of an Era" - ABN Channel 2 Sydney leaves Gore Hill circa 2002
screened at the St Leonards Library on End of an Era' on Thursday 18 April, 2024.
This guided walking tour visited the 'vanished site' but 'vibrant memories' of the old ABC television studios at Gore Hill where the ABC television studios existed from 1956-2002. Following its sale the
ABC television studio relocated to a purpose built studio in Harris Street, Ultimo in 2003.
Gore Hill's high elevation made it ideal for the ABC’s main transmission tower. Opened by then Prime Minister Robert Menzies, it hosted the country’s first television studio when Michael Charlton and James Dibble read the news bulletin. Gore Hill was also where the ABC first broadcast in colour in 1975.
In the 1990s the ABC total workforce was 6,500. In 2002 the ABC’s total workforce shrunk to around 4,000.
The Now a vanished site - with its public assets sold off, then demolished and replaced. Yet the site’s stories, memories and legacies linger. A place that was once filled with creativity and a determination to inform, educate, entertain and make a difference.
The Conservation Management Plan, ABC Gore Hill Site, Gore Hill, NSW, Prepared by Paul Rappoport Architecture Pty Ltd 2002 recommended (page 73-74):
- A sculpture signifying the ABC use of the site in the central open space area;
- Plaques or site markers made of a permanent material and design that is low-maintenance, and of robust and sturdy construction, placed adjacent to trees planted on the central open space area or the main internal access road or along the southern boundary of the site;
- an information board which elaborates on the plaques/ site markers and is made of a permanent material and design that is low-maintenance, robust and sturdy construction placed in the central open space area;
- A pedestrian link from the southeast corner of the site (the old brickworks site) to the Bulbrooks Building;
- Street names signifying the ABC's use of the site;
- Site interpretation measures in any buildings being retained on the site;
- Based on the understanding that the DCP supports tow internal roadways, suitable street names should be selected from the list of programs, events and people associated with the ABC Gore Hill site in Section 6.14 of this report. The ultimate decision regarding street names should be the responsibility of the ABC Board and Willoughby Council
Identified three structures to be conserved in any redevelopment:
- The Bulbrooks building;
- The Channel 7 Entry Pylons; and
- The foundations for the Former Channel 7 Transmission Tower.
The Conservation Management Plan, ABC Gore Hill Site, Gore Hill, NSW, Prepared by Paul Rappoport Architecture Pty Ltd 2002 recommended (page 78):
Establish permanent ABC radio and television exhibition
Ensure that adequate planning for a facility within the new Ultimo facility provides for a permanent and ongoing exhibition of moveable heritage including footage, news clippings, costumes, props, archival material, sets etc. Establish the facility under the guidance of a qualified musicologist to communicate an understanding of the Gore Hill site in the context of the history and the future of television as a medium.
Read Conservation Management Plan, ABC Gore Hill Site, Gore Hill, NSW, Prepared by Paul Rappoport Architecture Pty Ltd 2002 Here
Arcon Shed
View near Pacific Highway
The Bulbrooks Building Facade - recommendation that it be conserved in any redevelopment
The Bullrooks Building was a pre-war art deco former hardware and building supply company which was purchased for the ABC in 1956. The Bulbrooks building was initially used to accommodate the film cruise and the staff canteen. It later became well known as the 729 Club where staff from the then three TV stations 7, 2 and 9 could meet and socialise, as it was the only venue where food and coffee could be purchased after hours. In the final years on the site the building was used to house comedy and the Foreign Correspondent production departments.
The Former Channel 7 Transmission Tower foundations- - recommendation that they be conserved in any redevelopment
Channel 7 Entry Pylons - recommendation for they be conserved in any redevelopment
ABC studio laneway
ABC Television Sign
The building was posthumously named in Frank Dixons honour in 1995.
Frank Dixon (1890-1991) was appointed the first federal editor of the ABC in 1947 after he successfully lobbied the federal government for a decade to change the Broadcasting Act to allow the ABC to become an independent new service and to be funded through parliamentary appropriation. Until then the ABC was funded through the unpredictable nature of radio licence revenue. With the newspaper moguls at the time lobbying against the change Dixon finally won by convincing the Curtin Labor Government and the ABC was granted federal funding then.
The ABC’s independent radio news service was established in 1947 with its own resources at home and overseas.
Plaque commemorating Sir Charles Moses, General Manager of the ABC 1935-1965
The red brick 6-story buildings facing the Pacific Highway was named after the Sir Charles Moses the ABC managing director from the 1930s. He played a pivotal role in taking the ABC from radio into the new age of television. He was highly regarded as a pioneer in the fledgling Australian TV industry and remembered as a dynamic and charismatic leader.
He also engineered the ABC’s post box number 9994 all around the country as a permanent salute to Don Bradman 99.94 being the Don’s batting average.
John Mellion (1934 – 1989) was a highly regarded and much loved Australian actor whose successful career in the film and television industry started the age of eleven. He had worked on dozens of ABC drama and comedy productions with the studio and film departments until he died in 1989. A building was named after him.
The Tony Joyce Building was named after a seminal ABC current affairs journalist who died in 1979 from a gunshot wound while reporting in Zambia. Tony Joyce was a ‘This Day Tonight’ journalist in Sydney before his overseas posting to London as a foreign correspondent.
Rear view of the site from Lanceley Place
Drama Theatre, Lanceley Place, Gore Hill/Artarmon
In 2002 with the sale of the 4.5 hectares ABC Studio at Gore Hill was the portion of the side on the lower eastern side of the former brick pit wall. The multi-story car park was modified to accommodate the ABC’s helicopter with a landing pad, office and a hanger. In the office area in the ground at first levels costume hire, enterprises, production, engineering maintenance, field camera and outside broadcast crews will be accommodated. The former Outside Broadcasts (OBs) base in the the Rally Speed building will now house set making and the Engineers workshop. The recently constructed Studio 26 Drama Studio and the GIO building were to become storage facilities for props and wardrobe that would be transported to the Ultimo Studio when required. A permanent staff of around 40 would occupy the site along with parking for OB, drama and field camera trucks and production vehicles.
The ABC sold its last remaining 1.4ha parcel at 14 Campbell Street and 2-8 Lanceley Place that was part of its historic Gore Hill precinct from which the ABC began televised broadcasts in 1956. This ABC property was put up for sale in October 2021 and sold to industrial giant Goodman Group for $95 million. The ABC’s 2022 Annual Report site noted the site had a carrying value of $88.8 million, including the benefit of a $55.2 million “revaluation increment” after it was revalued ahead of it being offered to the market.
Since 2003 when the ABC relocated its studio to inner-city Ultimo, usage of the Gore Hill site began to shrink, culminating in the decision to sell its remaining landholding in 2021.
The broadcasters 2022 Annual Report noted that it had entered into a contract of sale in February 2021 for its property at Gore Hill, and that it was due to be settled in January 2022. The ABC continued to make use of the Gore Hill site until the end of 2022.
In 2017, the ABC sold its Selwyn Street studio in Bayside Melbourne’s Elsternwick to Woolworths for about $45 million. This site was relisted for sale by Woolworths this month, after it secured a permit that allows a supermarket on the ground floor and apartments above.
According to its 2022 Annual Report, the ABC owned $223 million of land assets as of June 30, 2022.
Larry Schlesinger, 'ABC cashes in as former Sydney studios sold for $95m' Financial Review, March 8, 2023
The End of an Era, Sydney Morning Herald, June 2, 2023
Remembering ABC's Studios at Gore Hill
Thursday 18 April, 2024, 6-8pm
St Leonards Library, 88 Christie Street, St Leonards (opposite St Leonards Station)
Learn about the old ABC studios at Gore Hill by watching the documentary film - End of an Era that tells the story of the ABC's TV studios at Gore Hill from 1956-2002.
Listen to former ABC staff who will share their stories of what it was like to work on this site that produced some of the finest television programs in the nation.
Read HANDOUT here.
Watch End of an Era here.
Lynne Malcolm


Thursday 11 April, 2024
Download POSTER HERE
Download HANDOUT HERE
Lynne Malcolm has a deep passion for people and how their minds work.
As a former ABC science presenter she has won a media award for her contribution to mental health.
Her book shares inspiring and transformational stories about how the brain can heal itself. When musician Andrew Schulman was put into a medically induced coma his recovery was enhanced when his wife played him his favourite classical music.
Lynne Malcolm, a former host of the ABC radio program All in the Mind, has based her book on interviews with neuroscientists, psychiatrists, psychologists and their research on sleep, dreams, memory, creativity and mind-body connections. Something that Lynne Malcolm describes as “endlessly fascinating”.
Lynne Malcolm is passionate about people and their personal experience. When she least expected it she discovered the power of radio to tell their stories.Lynne is a graduate from the University of Sydney, majoring in psychology, education and anthropology, and has a graduate diploma in communications from the University of Technology in Sydney. She has been producing and presenting radio across a range of programs over many years and has received a number of media awards, including bronze and gold Medals in the New York Radio Festivals International Awards, the Michael Daley Award for Journalism in Science and finalist status in the Eureka Awards.
Lynne has also won two Mental Health Services media achievement awards for All in the Mind, one in 2007 for her series on schizophrenia, and one in 2013 for two programs on youth mental health. In 2014 she was awarded The Mental Health Matters media award for her contribution to mental health awareness on All in the Mind.
The book explores inspiring and transformational life stories as when musician Andrew Schulman was put into a medically induced coma because of severe complications after a cardiac arrest. No one expected him to live until his wife played him his favourite piece of music Bach St Matthew's passion. Within hours he made a miraculous recovery. This powerful experience of what is known as 'embodied cognition' inspired him to use music as a tool for the healing of critically-ill patients.
All In The Mind probes the latest research on brain neuro plasticity and its capacity to heal itself?
All In the Mind will change the way you think about the brain.
University of the Third Age, Sydney Hunters Hill
The ABC - its Achievements & Challenges
Learn about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Monday 25 March, 2024, 10.30am- 12.30pm
U3A Hunters Hill at C. A. Fairland Hall, 14 Church Street, Hunters Hill. Parking nearby Venue Coordinator Judy Harris [email protected] (preferred) 0447 194 510 10:30 to 12:30 Bookings: https://sydneyu3a.org
HANDOUT. Read HERE.
Northern Suburbs of Sydney Poets Celebrate World Poetry Day
Thursday 14 March, 2024 (World Poetry Day is officially celebrated on 21 March, 2024)
Roseville UNITING CHURCH, 7A Lord Avenue, Roseville
A Panel of Northern Sydney Poets Celebrating World Poetry Day
with poets Charles Murray, Alan Clarke, John Clair . . . and a touch of New Zealand poetry by A.R.D. Fairburn (known as Rex)
WATCH VIDEO OF WORLD POETRY DAY by Wing Tung Kwan, Macquarie University intern for ABC Friends HERE
WATCH FULL MEETING VIDEO by ABC Friends Northern Suburbs Committee Member Peter Vail HERE
Read NSoS' World Poetry Day HANDOUT HERE
Read World Poetry Day LETTER sent to the Seven NSoS MPs HERE
John Clair lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. He worked as a School Psychologist with the Department of Education up until his retirement in 2004. He is passionate about the ABC and wouldn’t miss the 7pm news followed by the 7.30 Report. His poems about the ABC virtually “write themselves” born out of the frustration and disappointment at hearing about the latest round of cuts to the ABC budget and witnessing the danger of misinformation in the United States. John hopes that his poems will encourage people who care about an independent accountable press to mobilise for upcoming elections. His poem Our ABC was published in Update, August 2021, Vol 29, No 2, page 9

Alan Clarke is a poet who performs with the Northern Beaches’ ensemble of musicians called Loosely Woven, whose fundraising concerts at Humph Hall, Allambie Heights has raised nearly $3000 for ABC Friends NSW & ACT. Alan’s fence in his Northern Beaches home is covered with poetry. Alan has written lyrics for songs about the ABC including one by Wellerman Audio - Full Score.
Read Alan Clarke's poems HERE
Charles Murray, born in Dublin, Ireland 1940 and migrated to Australia in 1963, with the intention of working in the teaching profession. However, fate and circumstance led him to a career in the heavy engineering and construction industries that involved the design and commissioning of specialist lifting technology. Charles has been dedicated to creative writing since his student days. He is a proactive peace-loving social justice activist. Charles’ poetry and memoir pieces have been published in Australia as well as overseas. Charles’ poetry has been published in the North Shore Poetry Project’s book The Intimacy of Strangers edited by Philip Porter and Andy Kissane. This book covers the period of 2015 to 2018 and brings poems of 33 poets who read their poetry at regular dinners at The Incinerator restaurant in Willoughby. Wendy Fleming’s review of this poetry book can be read here. Read Charles Murray's poems cab be read HERE
















Poetry has always been part of the ABC.
Some even say that the ABC Radio is the broadcasting ‘home’ of poetry. It is where listeners find poets and poets find audiences. Sometimes it is even where poets begin their career.
There have been many groundbreaking poetry programs since the ABC was established in 1932 including Quality Street (1946-1973), The Poet's Tongue (1957-1986), Inner Space (1990-1994).
Significantly the ABC solicited unpublished works from Australian poets and gave many poets their first chance on air. Even ABC's Triple JJJ had its own poets in residence.
Recent ABC poetry programs include Between the Lines, Slammed, A Spoken Poetry Showcase, Pádraig Ó Tuama on poetry, rage, and remaking religion
However many poets lament the loss and decline of the ABC’s poetry programs. They long for stronger commitment from ABC management to promoting
poetry and the Arts.
Read more:
In the 1930s the poetry of Shakespeare, Shelley and other renowned English poets were performed on radio by actors, speaking with very British accents.
In the 1940s the verse poetry of Douglas Stewart's The Fire on the Snow (1941), Ned Kelly (1942) and The Golden Lover (1943) were performed, followed by the verse dramas of Colin Thiele and Rosemary Dobson and others.
From 1941, The Argonauts children’s program broadcast the poems written by children and selected by 'Anthony Inkwell' (the nom de radio of AD Hope).
In 1946 poet, radio announcer and producer John Thompson (1907-1968) created the ABC’s flagship poetry program Quality Street that was broadcast each week from 1946-1973.
John Thompson had joined the ABC in Perth in 1939. He enlisted in the AIF and then was discharged to work with the ABC as a war correspondent, reporting on the Japanese surrender at Rabaul. He edited with Kenneth Slessor The Penguin Book of Australian Verse in 1958, and published four volumes of his own poetry, including a collected works I Hate and I Love. He was the founding president of the Paddington Society that he and others established to protect its Victorian era heritage. His son was the well-known actor Jack Thompson and ABC presenter Peter Thompson.
The actor Peter Finch was hired to present poems on Quality Street in its first years. It was rare for poets to read their own poems at that time. One of Quality Street's readers was British theatre director Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971). Quality Street ran for 27 years. It was then replaced by Sunday Night Radio 2 in 1973 by Richard Connelly, Julie Anne Ford, and Rodney Wetherell and regularly featured poetry. In 1981 it morphed into Radio Helicon and continued to present full-length features on poetry. John Tranterr was at one time the executive producer of Radio Helicon.
The Poet's Tongue (1957-1986) was another long-lasting ABC poetry radio program. It sourced and performed poetry from around the world. Significantly it solicited unpublished works from Australian poets and gave many poets their first chance on air. It was produced by Gwen McGregor from the Radio Drama department in Sydney.
Judy Davis, as a young actress, performed poetry on this program. However increasingly Poet's Tongue began to feature more poets reading and talking about their own work. Jennifer Rankin appeared in the same program: 'For me there's a relationship – against the page.'
With the invention of portable recording equipment The Poet's Tongue was able record at poets reading their poems at festivals and literary events including poets Roger McGough, Judith Wright and Gary Snyder.
The Poet's Tongue finished in 1986 and was replaced by The Poetry Feature, a 30-minute segment which became part of the 'Sunday Fictions' slot on Radio National overseen by Richard Buckham from 1986 and 1994. In 1992 the great Czech poet Miroslav Holub was recorded for this program at the Adelaide Festival's Writers' Week.
Until well into the 1980s, it was seen as sacrilegious to put music or sound effects underneath a poem.
Poetry has also had a home on other ABC radio programs. Bush Verse appeared for many years on John Reid's Poets Corner on 3L0 on Saturday mornings. It continues to appear on Macca's Australia All Over. Bush Verse also had a home in David Mulhallan's Sunday Folk on ABC Classic FM and later in his Songs and Stories of Australia on Radio National.
The first, Komninos Zervos in 1989, was followed by Tug Dumbly who appeared live in the breakfast show.
The Listening Room, a program of acoustic art, ran from 1988 to 2003 on ABC Classic FM. It grew out of the experimental show Surface Tension on Radio National. Both programs featured many poets: including Samuel Beckett, Australian sound poets Jas Duke, Amanda Stewart and Chris Mann and radiophonic settings of poetry, such as Deserta Rerum by Kate Jennings. American poets John Giorno, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Baby of the Beats, Michael McClure, also made an appearance.
The lions of the San Francisco Zoo joined Michael McClure there in his famous reading from his Ghost Tantras – the beast language poems, from a feature produced for The Listening Room by Andrew McLennan.
Inner Space (1990-1994) began on ABC Classic FM and involved airing almost 200 programs on poetry. It was a companion program to Jaroslav Kovaricek's Dreamtime and was heard on Saturday nights at 10.30 pm. Inner Space was a feature program based around poetry and spirituality. Jaroslav Kovaricek came to Australia from his native Czechoslovakia in 1968 after the Soviet invasion suppressed the Prague Spring uprising. Like many ABC people who went on to bigger things, he started in the Sydney mail room, working for the dispatch department. In 1975 he moved to Adelaide to be part of ABC FM, the new stereo network. Jaroslav Kovaricek brought his musicological training to Inner Space and used ambient meditative music mixed with natural sounds to be broadcast with poetry readings.
When Fictions was axed in 1994, there was a brief interregnum for poetry on Radio National until The Box Seat came along. Its foundation producers were Jaroslav Kovaricek, Krystyna Kubiak and Mike Ladd. The Box Seat ran on Thursday nights at 9.30 in 1995 and 1996, as part of a drama, comedy, and biography strip, and it drew on Inner Space and The Listening Room for some of its production style.
In 1998, The ABC devoted itself to National Poetry Day, running an on-line search for Australia's favourite poem. Kenneth Slessor's 'Five Bells' was the winner, beating Dorothea McKellar's 'My Country' into second place. In 1999 the ABC ran the competition again, this time for our favourite love poem, and the winner was Auden's 'Funeral Blues'.
In 1997 the Thursday night Box Seat poetry program morphed into the Saturday afternoon Poetica show.
References
University of the Third Age, Sydney Mosman
The ABC - its Achievements & Challenges
Learn about the ABC, Australia’s national independent public broadcaster and the challenges it faces - both historically and currently in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Monday 11 March, 2024, 10.30am- 12.30pm
U3AMosman at Mosman Art Gallery, Cnr Myahgah Rd and Art Gallery Way
Bookings: https://sydneyu3a.org Wheelchair access, parking nearby, bus stop nearby
Bookings: Annika Tults [email protected] 0404 254 009
Mosman's connections to the ABC
ABC notables living in Mosman include: William Cleary (1885-1973) the second Chair of the ABC Board (1934-1945) and who followed Charles Lloyd Jones as Chair; and award winning journalists Bill Peach (1935-2013), former television presenter for the current affairs program 'This Day Tonight' (1967-1975); Kerry O'Brien, award-winning journalist and former editor and host of 'The 7.30 Report' and 'Four Corners'.
Not far from Mosman were the ABC Studios that were located at Gore Hill from 1956-2002.
At nearby Castlecrag, this was the site of the Australia's first licensed radio station, Radio National established in 1923.
Mosman Daily's 100 year anniversary: A century of events and people that shaped a city and a nation
Margaret Reynolds honours Corin and Walter Bass
18th February, 2024
Margaret Reynolds, former President of ABC Friends National, visited Northern Suburbs of Sydney Branch to thank them for their great service to the ABC Friends. The photo shows Corin receiving an award on behalf of herself and Walter Bass (portrait in background) who started the ABC Friends in their loungeroom in 1976.
Dr Phil Kafcaloudes
Celebrating World Radio Day


Thursday 8 February, 2024

Dr Phil Kafcaloudes, long-time ABC journalist, will talk about the amazing achievements of ABC's Radio Australia (RA) - Australia's version of the 'BBC World Service' and how this worldwide broadcasting service is something every Australian should celebrate on World Radio Day.
Dr. Phil Kafcaloudes is the author of the ABC's official history of Radio Australia, Australia Calling: The ABC Radio Australia Story.
Australia Calling tells the story of the radio service’s changes through the decades as geopolitics and the media landscape shift across the region and the world. It charts the pressures on the ABC budget over the years and how the political support for an international broadcasting service has ebbed and flowed.
Dr. Phil Kafcaloudes, a long-time ABC Radio Australia journalist and presenter says about the book:
“Even though I worked at ABC Radio Australia for many years, researching for this book made me realise how much the network has affected so many people. Not to mention having a role in world events like the first landing on the moon, post-war migration, and even the cold war. No wonder it’s always rated so highly with international audiences.”
ABC Managing Director David Anderson said “. . . Australia Calling is a timely reminder of the historic importance of the ABC’s International Services in the Indo-Pacific. In an increasingly challenging international context, it is an opportunity to reflect on the ABC’s role in supporting a free media, regional democracy, and collaboration with our international neighbours.”
ABC Head International Services Claire M. Gorman said “I commissioned Phil to write this book as this is a story worth telling. In documenting ABC Radio Australia’s evolution, the book highlights the ABC’s longstanding commitment to regional storytelling, peace, and democracy. It helps us understand why the ABC remains a valued and trusted source of news, information, and entertainment for international audiences. The book tells an important part of the ABC’s 90-year history and Australia’s engagement with its neighbours.” -
The ABC launched its international broadcasting services in 1939 and today its linear and digital channels reach nearly 15 million unique monthly overseas audiences, including through;
ABC Australia: television service available in 38 markets across the Asia-Pacific with a monthly viewership of 3.6 million
ABC Radio Australia: operates 13 FM transmitters across the Pacific and Timor Leste and offers a mix of news, sport, music and lifestyle programming to 287,000 listeners. Programs include Pacific Beat, Can You Be More Pacific, Sistas, Let’s Talk, Island Music
ABC Pacific: the Pacific’s leading online destination for regional news, sport and music
The Federal Government recently committed to $32 million in extra funding over four years for ABC International Services to enhance regional transmission, increase content production and deliver media capacity building and journalism for regional partners.
Showreel available here.
References:
https://media.adelaide.edu.au/radio/intro/history_OZ-radio.pdf
Phil Kafcaloudes, ABC Radio Australia's 83 years of broadcasting to the world
World Radio Day (13 February)
Pre-Budget Submissions for the 2024–25 Budget
25 January 2024
Copies sent to:
[email protected],
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Geraldine Doogue AO
& ABC Friends Northern Suburbs of Sydney Annual Meeting
14 December 2023
Geraldine Doogue is a renowned Australian journalist and broadcaster with experience in print, television and radio. While originally planning a career as a schoolteacher after completing her Arts degree, in 1972 Geraldine applied on an impulse for a journalism cadetship with The West Australian instead.
Renowned ABC journalist Geraldine Doogue hosts the Radio National program ‘Saturday Extra’ that is broadcast each Saturday morning from 7.30am. With a focus on international politics and business, Geraldine Doogue talks to expert commentators about the things that matter to Australians.
During her career with both the ABC and commercial media she has won two Penguin Awards for excellence in broadcasting from the Television Society of Australia and a United Nations Media Peace Prize. In 2000 Geraldine was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for social and cultural reporting. In 2003, she was recognised with an Officer in the Order of Australia for services to the community and media. Geraldine tackles a wide range of subjects with rigour, optimism, humour and warmth.
ABC Friends NSW & ACT AGM 2023
18 November 2023
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Friends of the ABC (NSW & ACT) Inc.
Saturday 18 November 2023 2-3.30pm
Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts
280 Pitt Street, Sydney and by Zoom
Guest speaker will be Emeritus Professor Ed Davis AM
Former President ABC Friends NSW & ACT, Former Vice President, ABC Friends National
Formal business
Attendance and Apologies
Minutes of 2022 AGM
President's Report - Ress Howes
Treasurer's Reort - Sharon Ooi
Secretary's Report - Peter Lindenmayer
Election of Office Bearers (if required)
Election of Committee Members (if required)
General Business
Close
Gavin Fang & Tracey Kirkland
Pandemedia - How covid changed journalism
9 November 2023


Gavin Fang is one of Australia’s most experienced news executives, with 25 years in print and broadcast journalism. He led the ABC’s news teams during the pandemic. A former foreign correspondent, he is deputy director of ABC News.
Contributors to the book include Stan Grant, Michelle Grattan, David Speers, Alan Kohler, Lisa Millar and Dr Norman Swan. Pandemedia edited by Gavin Fang and Tracey Kirkland takes readers behind the scenes of Australia’s media organisations to give a firsthand perspective on the new reign of the fourth estate.
Author royalties proudly support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Handout still to be uploaded
Reference
Gavin Fang the new ABC Editorial Director - RadioInfo Australia
24-31 October 2023
Friday 27 October, 2023
2023 Andrew Olle Lecture by Leigh Sales
The Andrew Olle Media Lecture was established by 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL) workers to honour Andrew Olle ABC Radio and television broadcaster who died in 1995 of a brain tumour. The Annual Lecture focuses on the role and future of the media.
Paddy Manning
Lachlan Murdoch 'The Successor'
October 12, 2023
Celebrating Global Media and Information Literacy Week (24 Oct)

Paddy Manning explores Lachlan Murdoch’s upbringing, political beliefs and role as head of Fox Corporation – the man ultimately responsible for Fox News. It is an epic saga of ruthless power plays and family battles.
As heir apparent to his father’s global media empire, Lachlan Murdoch is one of the world’s most powerful people. Yet despite a life in the spotlight, Lachlan’s personality, politics and business acumen remain enigmatic. Is he a risk-loving adventurer or dutiful son? Ultra-conservative ideologue or thoughtful libertarian? Scarred by a series of spectacular business failures, or an underrated leader who has shrewdly repositioned his family’s assets? And will the third generation of Murdoch moguls prove the last?
This is a book about the good, the bad and the ugly of the global media, and about America in the age of Trump and Biden. It is a book about power, apprenticeship, politics and succession.
‘It’s a brave man to take on an autobiography of one of the richest and most powerful men in global media.’ —Crikey
‘It is hard to think of a better time to write an account of the life and times of Lachlan Murdoch, heir-apparent to the News Corp throne – or of a better writer to do it. Who Lachlan Murdoch is, how he thinks and what he does with his power is vital to Australian democracy. Paddy Manning has it all covered. If the writers of Succession read this book, they’ll be in work for years to come.’ —Monica Attard, author of Russia: Which Way Paradise?

Mal Hewitt OAM
Why the ABC Friends' Update Newsletter is the ABC's Best Friend
September 14, 2023
Angela Williamson
Why the ABC Friends Matter
August 10, 2023
Angela Williamson shared her insights into why ABC Friends is so important based on her over 25 years of service to the ABC Friends NSW & ACT Committee as its Honorary Secretary, Membership Secretary and Update National Newsletter Assistant Editor. Since retiring from these roles she still remains active - this time as committee member of ABC Friends Southern Highlands Branch.
Angela Williamson has a background in IT (before anyone called it IT) working for various private companies and public service in NZ, UK and Oz. She particularly enjoyed working to install and implement on-line real-time systems for the then publicly owned Medibank’s NSW offices. Angela's voluntary roles include active participation in Zonta International, National Trust of Qld and the Australian Independent School in Jakarta.
Angela continues her commitment and passion for a strong, independent and well funded national broadcaster - this time with the ABC Friends Southern Highlands Branch.
Angela's message can be heard on 'Where would we be without the ABC'.
Ross McGowan: Building Community Support for the ABC
13 July, 2023
Ross McGowen’s commitment to the ABC Friends was professionally and expertly displayed in his presentation about how to build community support for the ABC at our July meeting.
Ross McGowan is a well known advocate for the ABC as the Convenor of the ABC Friends Central Coast Branch and Committee member of ABC Friends NSW & ACT.
Ross shared his story about how he discovered the ABC. He was driving along when he turned the dial to ABC Classical Radio. There he listened to one of the most beautiful pieces of music he had ever heard - The Lark Ascending by composer Vaughan Williams. This led him on a journey to discover more about the ABC and classical music. As Ross says, "In that one moment the ABC fulfilled its Charter for me - it informed, entertained, educated and inspired me!"
Ross showcased his presentation to Sydney u3a on why we need to protect our ABC. Something that NSoS can replicate and share with community groups across Northern Sydney!
Read NSoS Handout on 13.7.23
Download Poster
Thank you to those who downloaded the poster of Ross McGowen's talk and displayed it in their neighbourhood.
Jan Latta: Wildlife Photographer celebrating World Environment Day
8 June 2023
Jane Latta Turramurra children’s author celebrated World Environment Day with a talk about her life as a wildlife photographer.
Jan Latta is a powerful ‘voice’ for wildlife. For decades she has ‘captured’ wildlife on camera showing them living in their natural habitats in countries around the world. Jan’s experiences as a wildlife photographer continues to shape her evocative storytelling about why endangered wildlife must be protected.
Jan has an extensive media profile including being interviewed by ABC Radio.
More about Jan Latta's life story, her wildlife photography and her children's books about endangered animals can be found at:
www.truetolifebooks.com.au
https://www.truetolifebooks.com.au/order-a-signed-copy-from-jan-latta/
Jan Latta's Life Story https://www.truetolifebooks.com.au/
'Diary of a Wildlife Photographer' published by ABC Books and video
NSoS Media Release, 8 June 2023
Handout:
More about Jan Latta:
Jan Latta has been interviewed by ABC Radio. Her book Diary of a Wildlife Photographer was published by ABC Books in 2007.
About our meeting with Jan Latta
Gordon Markets, 14 May 2023
Loosely Woven ABC Friends Fundraising Concert at Humph Hall, Allambie Heights, Saturday 13 May 2023
Thank you Loosely Woven for donating $800 to ABC Friends NSW & ACT
Loosely Woven Bright Blue Rose Concerts, April - May 2023
South Turramurra, Avalon, Dee Why, Narrabeen, Forestville and Allambie Heights
Loosely Woven Song: It's Our ABC Too
Audio Full Score
Lyrics by Northern Beaches Poet, Allen Clarke; Music 'Wellerman'; Arrangement by Wayne Richmond; Performed by Loosely Woven, 2023
Please visit Poets Corner at 29 Tristram Rd, Beacon Hill
Dr David Smith: Why the ABC is so necessary for climate action
11 May 2023
Dr David Smith, Chair of 'Electrifying Bradfield', highlighted the ABC’s Australia Story program - The Transformer Saul Griffith (2023) that inspired him to electrify his local community with renewable energy. He outlined the work he and others have been doing with Electrifying Bradfield.
Professor Emerita Robyn Ewing OAM: Why creativity and the arts are so important
13 April 2023
Professor Emerita Robyn Ewing OAM, talked about her research exploring the relationship between learning, creativity and the role of the arts in education, health and wellbeing.
As Co-Director of the Creativity in Research, Engaging the Arts, Transforming Education (CREATE) Centre, University of Sydney, Professor Ewing talked about CREATE’s vision to place creativity and the arts at the centre of learning, and that every Australian is entitled to high-quality creative pedagogy with opportunities to engage in creativity and the arts.
Glen Street Theatre: Looking for Albanese, 1 April 2023
NSoS invited members to attend the Wharf Review Looking for Albanese at Glen Street Theatre in support of writer Jonathan Biggins who donated his time to write 'It's Our ABC' song lyrics to the score Flash Jack from Gundagai.
Helen Grasswill
ABC Staff and their passion for an independent national broadcaster
9 March 2023
Helen Grasswill has been a journalist, author, editor and television program-maker for more than 50 years, starting as a freelancer while still at school and later working for both Australian and international broadcasters. In almost 30 years at the ABC, she worked for news programs including The 7:30 Report, The Bottom Line and The Investigators, with stints at Lateline and Foreign Correspondent. She is best known as a foundation member and 22-year veteran of Australian Story, where she was responsible for many landmark stories. Her work has been acknowledged with numerous awards including the Walkley, peer-voted Logies and the Human Rights Award for Television. Helen is also author of the ground-breaking book, Australia: A Timeless Grandeur, a 130,000-word exploration of the Australian environment (Lansdowne, 1981). She is a co-founder of ABC Alumni.
Ensemble Theatre: A Broadcast Coup, 14 February 2023
This brilliant, insightful and inspiring play examines how the ego driven and cut-throat culture of journalism can dangerously derail the careers of younger, talented women journalists.
Written by Melanie Tait and directed by Janine Watson, the Ensemble Theatre held a Q&A session following a performance. This allowed NSoS to ask a question about the important work t
Margaret Simpson: Celebrating World Radio Day
9 February 2023
Margaret has recently retired from Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum where she was a curator for most of her working life. She mainly looked after the Museum’s Transport collection but also oversaw the Antarctica collection, toys and some domestic appliances.
Margaret has written extensively on the Museum’s collection and has had books published on Australian transport, historic Sydney buildings and old farm machinery.
Margaret is passionate about social history and was one of the consultants on the ABC TV show Further Back in Time for Dinner. She is currently a regular columnist for both The Post: News from North Shore of Sydney and the Sydney Observer and is working on a book about growing up in the 50s and 60s.
Margaret will share her extensive knowledge about the history of radio, its technological development and social implications.
ABC friends brought their radios along to the NSoS meeting with Margaret Simpson to celebrate World Radio Day.
Celebrating World Radio Day, 13 February, 2023
ABC Friends Beverley Inshaw and Jim Hobbs remembered their dad by celebrating World Radio Day with a visit to the Esk Wireless Memorial at Wahroonga.
“World Radio Day” holds a special place in our hearts as our father worked as a radio operator and technician for many years at the ABC studio in the city," said James Hobbs.
The Fisk Wireless Memorial commemorates the first wireless message from Britain to Australia sent by Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1918 commending the heroism of the troops fighting in France.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission (the ABC) was officially launched in 1932 by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
Seasons Greeting Card to NSoS Members, December 2022
Loosely Woven Christmastide concerts at South Turramurra, Avalon, Dee Why, Narrabeen and Allambie Heights (Humph Hall) December 2022
Thank you Loosely Woven for donating $700 to ABC Friends NSW & ACT
The Christmas Song (Loosely Woven)
Changes (Loosely Woven)
NSoS AGM, November 2022
Talk: Why the ABC is so important by Cassandra Parkinson, ABC Friends National President
Rachel Collis & Band Concert, Humph Hall, 5 November 2022
NSoS members attended the Rachel Collis & Band Concert at Humph Hall, Allambie Heights. Rachel sang Wired and Awake which is emblematic of ABC Friend's commitment, loyalty and passion for the ABC that leaves one feeling 'wired and awake'. Rachel Collis singing a Good Woman.
Rachel Collis, musician and Janine Kitson, NSoS Convenor
Restoring the ABC Budget, October 2022
NSoS call on the Albanese Government to honour its promises and restore the ABC's budget in the October 22 Federal Budget.
Celebrating International Day of Democracy, Sept 2022
NSoS celebrate United Nations’ International Day of Democracy held on 15 September, 2022 by holding one of their favourite ABC Friends car stickers that reads: ‘DEMOCRACY depends on a STRONG ABC”.
Left to Right: Diana Tyne, Janine Kitson, Jenny Forster, Gordon Elkington, Tina Cooper
Appreciating ABC Friends Newsletter, September 2022
NSoS enjoying reading their latest ABC Friends newsletter, 8 September, 2022
Left to Right: Diana Tyne, Jenny Forster, Gordon Elkington, Tina Cooper, Janine Kitson
Loosely Woven 'Wired & Awake' Concerts, July - August 2022
NSoS enjoying interval at Humph Hall for a Loosely Woven performance of ‘It’s Our ABC’ song, 27 August, 2022
Left to Right: Beverley Johnson, Corin Fairburn Bass, Jenny Forster, Bridget McVicar
NSoS Committee enjoying Loosely Woven performance of ‘It’s Our ABC’ at St Andrews Uniting Church, South Turramurra, 12 August, 2022
From L to R: NSoS Committee member Corin Fairburn Bass; NSoS Secretary Diana Tyne; John Inshaw and Lindsay Somerville
Loosely Woven rehearsal recording the song 'It's Our ABC' at Humph Hall, July, 2021
Thanking Margaret Reynolds, National President, ABC Friends on her retirement, 11 August 2022
NSoS Committee holding Banner ‘Thank you Margaret Reynolds on your retirement as National ABC Friends President'
Left to Right: Lindsay Somerville, Bev Inshaw, Corin Fairburn Bass, Jenny Forster, Diana Tyne, Cheenu Srinivasan, John Inshaw, Janine Kitson
Celebrating ABC's 90th Anniversary, 21 July 2022
Left to Right (sitting): Diana Tyne, Beverley Inshaw, Corin Fairburn Bass; (standing): John Inshaw, Kerry Foster, Jenny Forster, Cheenu Srinivasan, Janine Kitson
Gordon Markets, February, 2021
Gordon Market, January 2021
Christmas Gathering at Bella Blue Cafe, Lindfield, December 2020
NSoS Committee meeting at Bella Blue Café, Lindfield, 2020
Left to Right: Kate Reid, Chris Haviland, Jenny Forster and Janine Kitson
Gordon Markets, December 2020
Rally: Stop Bullying the ABC, 7 December 2020
Hornsby Markets, 14 November 2020
Over 100 people signed a petition calling for a Senate Inquiry into funding of the ABC.
Budget Delegation to Canberra, 6-7 October 2020
Read ABC Friends 2021 Budget Submission HERE
In late 2020 a delegation from Northern Suburbs of Sydney travelled to Parliament House Canberra for the 2021 Budget calling for no further cuts to the ABC and that past funding cuts be reinstated. Federal Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher was unavailable to meet with the NSoS delegation. However the following MPs and Senators walked down from the Parliament House and stood next to NSoS and its banners and posters: Michelle Rowland, Zali Steggall, Susan Templeman, Andrew Wilkie, Jacqui Lambie, and Kristina Keneally
Left to right: John Inshaw, Janine Kitson, Angela Williamson and Beverly Inshaw outside Parliament House, Canberra.
NSoS and Southern Highlands Branch stand up for ABC outside Parliament House, Canberra
Zali Steggall, MP for Warringah and Janine Kitson NSoS Convenor call to FULLY FUND THE ABC outside Parliament House, Canberra
Senator Jacqui Lambi stands with NSoS outside Parliament House, Canberra
Janine Kitson NSoS, Angela Williamson Southern Highlands Branch and Senator Kristina Keneally stand up for ABC outside Parliament House, Canberra
Left to right: Angela Williamson, Anne Matheson, Susan Templeman MP for Macquarie and Beverly Inshaw outside Parliament House, Canberra
NSoS held a silent vigil outside the Canberra ABC Offices as an act of respect to the many ABC staff who had lost their jobs from years of funding cuts.
NSoS singing 'Where would we be without the ABC' outside Parliament House, May 2020
https://www.facebook.com/ABC-Friends-Northern-Sydney-114948746962921/videos/679086539692766
FIRST Birthday Party, 9 October 2020
The Northern Suburbs of Sydney’s first birthday party was celebrated via Zoom with many members and supporters in attendance. Margaret Reynolds, ABC Friends’ National President, was the guest speaker and shared her insights into the 2020 ABC Budget cuts and why NSoS is so important in making a difference.
Letterwriting (Covid Safe) Morning Tea, 24 September 2020
A small group of dedicated residents gathered (Covid safe) to write to Paul Fletcher calling on him to reinstate the cuts to the ABC which has resulted in losing 250 key ABC staff and cuts to valued ABC programs.
Delegation to Mr Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communication & Bradfield MP, 3 September 2020
After months of requesting a meeting with Paul Fletcher NSoS's Bradfield residents finally secured a meeting with two staffers. Left to Right: Lindsay Somerville, Janine Kitson and Kate Reid
Phone Blitzing Mr Paul Fletchers’ Lindfield Office, June 2020
NSoS's community campaign inundated Paul Fletcher Minister for Communication with phone messages calling on him to stop the planned $84m funding cuts to the ABC.
Left to Right: Jenny Forster, Beverly Inshaw, John Inshaw, Chris Haviland, Janine Kitson, Kate Reid and Lindsay Somerville
Protest: $84 million cuts outside Mr Paul Fletchers’ Lindfield Office, 30 June 2020
NSoS protested outside Communications Minister Paul Fletcher's office on 30 June 2020 in the hope that this would send a strong message that Liberal voters in Bradfield feel passionate about the ABC. Around the same time the Australia Institute conducted polling in key Liberal Seats asking, “Is Paul Fletcher representing Liberal voters, who do not agree there have been no cuts to the ABC “? In Kooyong 52.8%, Wentworth 54.2%, and Warringah 51.6% of respondents indicated that the minister was not representing their views. Honk if you love the ABC video of the demonstration.
Zoom Talk: Matt Peacock, retired ABC journalist, 12 May 2020
Ex senior ABC journalist and author Matt Peacock explained how the ongoing federal funding cuts are causing an existential threat to the ABC.
Article: Defend the ABC - for wilderness' sake, February 2020
Published in the Colong Bulletin #276, February 2020
Thank You ABC Dinner, 13 February 2020
NSoS held a dinner to thank the ABC for its extraordinary emergency broadcasts during the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-20. Guest speaker Gavin Morris, ABC Director of News received a framed ‘Thank you ABC’ Certificate. Funds raised from the dinner were donated to WIRES for their work in saving wildlife during the worst bushfires in Australia’s history
ABC News Director Gavin Morris accepts ‘Thank you ABC’ Certificate from NSoS
Rally: Reverse the Cuts, 13 February 2020
Close to 200 people rallied outside Mr Paul Fletcher's, the Minister for Communications, Lindfield office calling on him to stop the funding cuts to the ABC.
Emeritus Professor Ed Davis, the NSW President of ABC Friends, spoke eloquently about why the ABC is so important to our democracy.
INAUGURAL NSoS MEETING, Chatswood, October 2019
100 friends unanimously support the formation of a NSoS Branch of ABC Friends
NSoS forms its Interim Committee
NSoS Inaugural Convenor Janine Kitson
Rally: Press Freedom, 11 June 2019
The northern Sydney community protested outside Mr Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications Lindfield electorate office outraged by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids of the ABC’s Sydney Office and News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst’s home.
This rally led to the formation of the Northern Suburbs of Sydney Branch in October 2019 when over 100 members attended a meeting at Chatswood’s Dougherty Community Centre and unanimously voted to form a new ABC Friends branch.
References
Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh article, The 2019 AFP Raids on Australian Journalists, Press Freedom Policy Papers, 2020
Four Corners Rules of Engagement
Has Four Corners done the Government’s dirty work in the David McBride prosecution? by | Mar 30, 2024 | Comment & Analysis, Latest Posts