ABC Commercial and Vision Australia, Australia’s leading blindness and low vision organisation, has announced a partnership to ensure the continued supply of audio books to the Australian market.

The agreement provides Vision Australia with access to ABC’s extensive back catalogue of audio titles and will enable Vision Australia to produce up to 60 audio book titles per year.

ABC Commercial closed ABC Audio in May 2007, following an internal review of the business.

At that time, the ABC announced it would be exploring options to provide audio products to Australian consumers in other ways. Director of ABC Commercial, Lynley Marshall has told radioinfo that she is extremely pleased with the new partnership as it made available to the whole community ABC’s rich audio book library.

“We couldn’t have found a better partner than Vision Australia, who very early on saw the opportunity to work with us on this project. What it means to the Australian public is the ongoing provision of high quality Australian audio books through ABC Shop Online and in ABC Shops and Centres”.

The Chief Executive Officer of Vision Australia, Gerard Menses explained the importance of the announcement.

“Around 17% of Australians have a print disability and rely on alternate formats such as audio as their main source of information and recreation each day. Vision Australia knows the vital significance of this provision and is pleased with the positive response by the ABC to finding a solution. We are committed to delivering efficient services that open exciting possibilities. This will enable continued access to high quality Australian audio books.”