What will the proposed funding cuts mean for community radio?
As reported by TMN earlier this week, a review by the Federal Government’s Auditing Commission advocated cuts of $17.5 million to community radio.
In the run-up to next Tuesday’s budget, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia is urging supporters to email Treasurer Joe Hockey and voice their disapproval of these cuts.
But what will these cuts mean for the future of the Australian community radio sector, and what knock on effects could they have? We spoke to CBAA’s President Adrian Basso, to find out just how dire things may become.
In short, how would the proposed 17.5m cuts affect Australian community radio?
Community radio stations across the country could be forced off air if the recommendation to scrap funding is accepted by the Government.
What further knock-on effects do you foresee?
If the Government were to adopt this recommendation it would cripple the community broadcasting sector’s operations and development, and leave millions of Australians without access to the media content they rely on. For local communities, community broadcasting is vital. It plays a crucial role in providing a voice for communities that aren’t adequately serviced by other broadcasting sectors including Indigenous Australians, ethnic communities, the print and vision impaired, young people, seniors and Australian musicians across all genres.
The proposed cuts would damage all community radio sector projects including training, digital radio and the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap). CBAA’s Amrap has addressed key market failures by building critical national community radio infrastructure to promote Australian music on air and online, and helped over 4,000 Australian musicians reach the airwaves in the last four years alone. Cutting community radio funding will have major knock on effects for Australian musicians and the Australian music sector.
What’s the action plan in fighting these cuts? What are you urging people to do?
We’re asking all supporters of community radio to go to our campaign website, to show their support. Via the site, supporters are able to email key politicians, access campaign resources and show their support via various social media.
How realistic are the risks that these cuts will go through on Tuesday?
We are hopeful that the Federal Government will recognise the vital importance of keeping our community radio stations on the air. The community broadcasting sector is a smart investment: for every dollar the government puts in, the social outcome is huge.
For the past 40 years, successive governments have been supportive of the sector. We expect the Government to make the right decision and reject the Commission of Audit’s recommendation. The recommendation makes it clear that it doesn’t understand or value what the community broadcasting sector does, but politicians from all sides do, and we’re hopeful that will come through on budget night.
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