Late last month, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott fronted the Senate Estimates committee for the first time under the new government. Answering questions on many topics about the national broadcaster, Scott gave an insight into a variety of subjects of interest to radio. Future funding for the Heywire project was confirmed; ABC Local Radio was complimented; Senator Conroy confirmed the Labor government’s commitment to independently appointed ABC board members and good news for Northern Tasmanian listeners – they will get improved reception soon.

Here is what he said in detail:

HEYWIRE

Senator IAN MACDONALD—My colleagues have lots of bouquets to offer to the ABC, and I will leave most of it to them. I just wanted to start off with a couple of bouquets, very briefly, about the Heywire program, which was completed last Thursday night. Mr Scott, is it the intention of the ABC to continue that program indefinitely?

Mr Scott—Yes, it is. We were delighted to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Heywire last week. There is a terrific selection of young men and women from around Australia who won a competition to come here by telling their stories in various forms, and we are delighted to be able to broadcast those stories on ABC Radio and make them available online. We are 10 years into it. It has gone very well. It is a success by any measure, and we certainly do intend to continue.

Senator IAN MACDONALD—Minister, I am not sure if you are aware of the program, but it does receive some government assistance. Mr Scott, do you have a general idea of what sort of assistance comes from the government?

Mr Scott—I would have to check on the precise detail of the funding. It comes out of our radio and regional budget. Really it is a permanent staff member who is involved in coordinating this activity, and then the transportation costs—

Senator IAN MACDONALD—It has cash donations from several government departments.

Mr Scott—There are several government departments that roll in. I believe there are about five government departments that are responsible.

Senator IAN MACDONALD—I just wanted to seek from the minister an assurance that his government will continue the generosity of the previous government in supporting what I think is clearly one of the best youth programs that our government had and which your government generously continued to fund this year.

Senator Conroy—The Heywire program is an excellent program, as you said. The ABC have no plans that they have advised me of to cut it back, and I could not foresee a reason why there would be a need to. I guess ultimately it is a matter for the ABC.

ABC LOCAL RADIO

Senator IAN MACDONALD— In a very general way, Minister or Mr Scott, with the new government and different approaches, has there been any suggestion of a change to the way the ABC is set up? In particular, I am interested in rural, regional and local radio in particular. Have there been any suggestions or directions or otherwise given to the ABC by the new government or by the minister—I do not care whether the minister or Mr Scott answers this—in relation to the actual way the ABC operates its radio and television services?

Mr Scott—On behalf of the ABC, can I say there is no change at all. My understanding is that the government is fully committed to the ABC’s services in regional and rural Australia. We have made an extensive investment in that local radio network—60 local radio stations broadcasting local voices into local communities—in recent years. That has come just at the time commercial radio networks have been withdrawing from the provision of services to those regions.

So we believe it is vital, and it is certainly core to our charter. We are continuing to invest in those areas and, in coming months, we will outline new initiatives in those areas. My understanding is that that is the sentiment of the government, also understanding that the ABC plays a vital role in those communities, and there is no change envisaged.

Senator IAN MACDONALD—I am delighted to hear that. As you know from previous contacts, I have the highest regard for ABC rural and regional radio whilst having a very poor regard for a lot of the capital city television news outputs. But, certainly, regional radio is very balanced, very fair and a great credit to the ABC and to Australia…

BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Senator KEMP— Let me now deal with the issue of the government’s policy on future board appointments. For the sake of this committee, and to make sure that we do not go off on tangents, could you indicate, Senator Conroy, what your policy is, summarise it, indicate when it will come into effect, and whether there are any vacancies on the board? Perhaps Mr Scott can provide us with a schedule of when there will be future vacancies.

Senator Conroy—I do get a sense of disappointment in your tone there. Senator Kemp, I am sorry, the Prime Minister has made it clear that no current, or future, or ex-politician will be able to serve on that board. Now I know that is going to disappoint you.

Senator KEMP—So no Bracks or no Beattie or no Bannon?

Senator Conroy—No Kemp.

Senator KEMP—No Bannon? Oh dear, oh dear!

Senator Conroy—Neither Kemp brother is going to get to serve on the ABC board under our policy—

Senator KEMP—Or, indeed, no Conroy either.

Senator Conroy—and I can sense your disappointment, Senator Kemp. You do not have to hide it. But our policy in relation to board appointments was clear. It was well publicised before the last election. We intend to introduce—to borrow from the UK phrase—the Nolan principles, whereby independent recommendations will be made by the Nolan committee equivalent. Those recommendations will be made to the minister and, if the minister chooses to reject them, then the minister has to explain to parliament. The process of appointing the Nolan committee membership is commencing. We are commencing that process. There are no vacancies at the moment, though there are some pending.

Senator KEMP—What are the principles involved in that?

Senator Conroy—The intention is to complete the process of appointing the Nolan committee—if I can keep using that phrase—to ensure that even though there may be some vacancies in the near term, we would await the proper process before we made any appointments. So the ABC board may run a little light in the short term but we are committed to getting some integrity into the processes. We are committed to ensuring that there is very much a merit-based selection process, and we will be announcing all of the criteria very shortly.

Senator KEMP—You rather pre-empted my question a little bit.

Senator Conroy—Are you suggesting that your questions are a little transparent?

Senator KEMP—When do you expect that you will have appointed this committee to appoint other committees?

Senator Conroy—We intend to advertise for people to be on this committee. In keeping with the principles of advertising for the actual board appointments, I felt it was important to go through an open and transparent process. We are just commencing that at the moment.

Senator KEMP—When do you hope to have this committee in place?

Senator Conroy—I would hope to have it in place in four to eight weeks, perhaps a little longer depending on how many people apply. We could be overwhelmed with interest.

Senator KEMP—It could be anything from two to three months before the committee is in place. Is that right?

Senator Conroy—That would be my ambition.

Senator KEMP—It is your ambition, but you are not prepared to give a guarantee to the committee that it will be in place. Let us assume that the wheels grind awfully slowly. Surely three months—

Senator Conroy—To ensure that we get appropriately qualified individuals to make judgements about the ABC and SBS, we are not going to be rushed.

Senator KEMP—I’ll say you’re not! It is a very slow process. Who chooses the members of this—what do we call it—‘Conroy committee’ or ‘Nolan committee’?

Senator Conroy—All will be revealed shortly…

NEW TASMANIAN RADIO TRANSMITTERS

Senator COLBECK—Can I just ask a question in respect of broadcast coverage areas. I have had cause to have discussion with the ABC over the last couple of years in respect of the switching off of the 711 broadcast frequency in northern Tasmania, which has been replaced with 91.7, Northern Tasmania FM.

This has had a very positive impact on the reception in Launceston and down through the central midlands of Tasmania; however, on the north-west coast of Tasmania it has been much more problematic. It is my understanding that the network of local frequencies that are available along the north-west coast—100.5 in Devonport and a range of others through the north-west coast—were set up as in-fills for the 711 frequency but are now being used as the primary source of transmission, given that the 711 frequency has been switched off. Can you give me any indication of your plans for upgrades?

I have had conversations with the organisation in the past, and the coalition made a $400,000 commitment at the last election to increase the frequency strength in Devonport, but there are remaining concerns along the north-west coast with respect to the adequacy of the coverage. In fact, my experience over the last couple of months is that it remains very variable, based on the weather. Can you give an update on that?

Mr Scott—I would like to come back to you in more detail if I can. You are quite right: there has been a problem with the switch-over from AM to FM, and there is a requirement on people to have the right kind of equipment. The FM signal is more affected by terrain and the weather. We are moving the local radio service to new antennae to coincide with the introduction of NewsRadio in the Devonport area. That will increase the power of the transmission, which we are hopeful will improve reception.

Senator COLBECK—So you are actually moving from about 100 watts to a megawatt or a kilowatt?

Mr Scott—The plan we have to roll out local radio in the area will allow us to change the antennae we are moving to, and that will be a power increase. As to the precise detail of that power increase, I will need to come back to you.

Senator COLBECK—What about regions further along the coast? That is one localised area. I have seen some coverage maps which you have been very good in providing to us, and I appreciate that. I know there has been some work done in Burnie, particularly in respect of interference from other stations, but there continue to be some issues further along the coast. I would certainly be interested in encouraging you to do what you can to improve that service.

Mr Scott—We will take further advice from Broadcast Australia, which deals with this transmission for us. It is also a question of frequency availability. We will pull together a comprehensive brief for you that will give you the latest information on the issue and we will send it to your office.