Mission Statement - about.abc.net.au€¦ · Front cover: Top: The winning photo in The Backyard...

Front cover:Top: The winning photo in The Backyard website competition, from Dorrigo, NSW;Geraldine Doogue, Radio NationalMiddle: Radio control room tie lines; Chris Moon cameraman for Strings on the Strzelecki, LakeHart, SABottom: ABC Online front page

Mission StatementAs Australia’s national broadcaster and major cultural organisation, the ABC’s mission is toprovide its audiences with the best programs, performances, products and services it canacquire and produce.

To achieve this the ABC will:´ transmit independent, comprehensive and innovative national broadcasting services

for all Australians;´ inform, entertain and contribute to a sense of national identity;´ reflect Australia’s regional and cultural diversity;´ broadcast programs of an educational nature;´ contribute towards the diversity of broadcasting services in Australia;´ broadcast programs that provide a balance between wide appeal and specialised

programs, making use of and being receptive to Australian creative resources;´ provide an independent service for the broadcasting of news and information

regarding local, Australian and overseas events;´ contribute to public debate concerning issues and matters of importance to

Australians;´ encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia;´ transmit broadcasting programs outside Australia; and´ utilise new production and delivery technologies to respond to audience needs.

The ABC may also:´ provide subscription broadcasting services and subscription and open narrowcasting

services.

1

ABC Annual Report 1999–2000

Contents

Programs & Services .......................................... 2

Selected Highlights ............................................. 6

Corporate Plan Summary ................................... 8

Organisational Chart ......................................... 13

Financial Summary .......................................... 14

The ABC Board ................................................ 16

ABC Board of Directors Statement .................... 19

Members of the Executive ................................. 23

Portfolios

Local & Regional Services .............................. 25Marking the Millennium ............................ 30ABC Radio Audiences .............................. 31

National Networks ......................................... 32Network Television ................................... 38Television Content Analysis ...................... 41ABC Television Audiences ........................ 43

News & Current Affairs .................................. 44Annual Production .................................... 45

Program Production ....................................... 48East Timor ............................................... 51

Technology, Strategy & Development ............. 52ABC Enterprises ............................................ 55Human Resources .......................................... 58Finance & Business Services.......................... 62Corporate Planning & Communications .......... 66

Freedom of Information ............................ 69Complaints handling andaudience feedback .................................... 70International Relations .............................. 71Performance against ServiceCommitment .......................................... 71aNational Advisory Council (NAC) ............. 72

Symphony Australia ...................................... 73Financial Statements ..................................... 79Appendices .................................................. 113List of graph tables and maps ...................... 150Index ............................................................ 151

2


Programs & ServicesNational Networks

´ Australia’s national television service.´ Four national specialist radio

networks.´ An international radio service.´ A dynamic internet service.

VisionTo provide all Australians with the mostcomprehensive information, entertainmentand cultural programming and anAustralian voice to Asia and the Pacific.

Programs and ServicesABC TelevisionA national television service with Statenews, current affairs and sport, withproduction and transmission centres in allStates and Territories. ABC Televisionprovides all Australians withcomprehensive information, entertainmentand cultural programming.

Radio NationalRadio National provides a unique nationalforum for ideas and culture through high-quality journalism, presenting in-depthinformation and analysis of internationaland national issues and specialist fields, aswell as performance and music.

Its diverse programming explores thecapabilities of the radio medium in a widerange of forms, including features,documentaries, panel discussions,performance and music.

ABC Classic FMABC Classic FM is a national stereo FMnetwork devoted to classical music, jazz,drama and acoustic art and is a majorcultural force in Australia.

Triple JTriple J is the ABC’s national youth radionetwork, broadcast on stereo FM in allcapital cities and 44 regional areas. Itsprogramming highlights new, innovativeand adventurous music, with a strongcommitment to Australian music, as wellas news, information and entertainment foryoung Australians.

NewsRadio on the Parliamentary andNews NetworkNewsRadio is Australia’s only continuousnews and current affairs radio service. Itscomprehensive and innovativeprogramming is based on immediacy,accuracy, impartiality and reliability. It isbroadcast in all capital cities andNewcastle on the Parliamentary and NewsNetwork when Federal Parliament is notsitting.

Radio AustraliaRadio Australia, the ABC’s internationalservice, broadcasts by shortwave, online,satellite and local rebroadcasts to the Asia-Pacific regions and world-wide, in English,Indonesian, Tok Pisin, Chinese, Vietnameseand Khmer. It is a leading provider ofAustralian, regional and international newsand information, as well as knowledge andcultural programming.

ABC OnlineABC Online, the ABC’s internet network,extends and enhances ABC radio andtelevision programming as well as being amajor creator of online content in its ownright. It provides a distinctively Australianperspective on local, national andinternational activities to internet usersdomestically and overseas.

Audiences´ The average weekly reach of ABC

Television in the 6am to 12 midnighttimeslot was 8.9 million people in thefive metropolitan cities, and 4 millionpeople in regional areas.

´ ABC Television’s overall (6am tomidnight) five city audience shareincreased to 15.3 per cent for the1999–2000 financial year, with theevening (6pm to midnight) shareaveraging 15.3 per cent.

´ Radio National’s overall eight cityweekly reach was down slightly (1.2per cent) to 646,000 while the sharewas also down fractionally from 1.9per cent to 1.8 per cent.

3


´ ABC Classic FM’s eight city weeklyreach was up by 3 per cent to773,000 while its share droppedfractionally from 2.8 per cent to 2.7per cent.

´ Triple J’s eight city weekly reachincreased by 0.5 per cent to1,556,000 and its share went from6.9 per cent to 7 per cent.

´ NewsRadio increased its eight cityweekly reach by 4.5 per cent to550,000 while its share stayed steadyat 1.1 per cent.

´ A total of 438 hours of RadioAustralia programs are relayed orrebroadcast every week in Asia, thePacific, Europe and North Americaon 219 radio stations or cable outlets.

´ In Asia and the Pacific alone, 116stations in 22 countries relay orrebroadcast weekly 354 hours ofRadio Australia programs in English,Pidgin, Indonesian, Chinese,Vietnamese and Khmer.

´ ABC Online accesses have increasedfrom an average of 2 million to over 3million per week.

✦

✦

Karratha

Geraldton

Bunbury

Albany

Kalgoorlie

Alice Springs

Broken Hill

Wollongong

Tamworth

Lismore

Gold CoastToowoomba

GladstoneRockhampton

Mackay

Townsville

Cairns

Longreach

Mt Isa

Muswellbrook●

◗

◗

◗

●

Coffs Harbour◗

●

●

●

●Esperance●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●●

●

●

●●●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●●

▲●

● ▲

● ▲

● ▲

●

Pt Pirie

RenmarkPt Lincoln

Pt Augusta

Horsham

Mt GambierWarrnambool

Shepparton

Bendigo

Mildura

SaleMorwell

Burnie Launceston

Dubbo

Orange

◗◗

◗

●Wagga Wagga

Adelaide

Perth

Darwin●

●

●●

●●

●

●

●

Kununurra

Broome

Kempsey

Bundaberg

Nowra

BegaWodonga

MaroochydoreMaryborough

Metropolitan Services▲ ABC Television production centres▼ Metropolitan Radio◆ Radio National ✚ Triple J youth network ✹ ABC Classic FM★ NewsRadio on the Parliamentary

and News Network❖ State Symphony Orchestra✪ ABC Shop

Darwin▲ ABC–TV▼ 105.7 ABC Darwin◆ Radio National 657✚ Triple J103.3 ✹ Classic FM107.3 ★ NewsRadio (PNN) 102.5✪ ABC Shop

Brisbane▲ ABC–TV▼ 612 ABC Brisbane◆ Radio National 792 ✚ Triple J 107.7✹ Classic FM 106.1 ★ NewsRadio (PNN) 936❖ QSO✪ ABC Shop

Sydney▲ ABC–TV▼ 702 ABC Sydney ◆ Radio National 576✚ Triple J 105.7✹ Classic FM 92.9 ★ NewsRadio (PNN) 630❖ SSO✪ ABC Shop

Newcastle▼ 1233 ABC Newscastle◆ Radio National 1512✚ Triple J 102.1✹ Classic FM 106.1★ NewsRadio (PNN) 1458✪ ABC Shop

Canberra▲ ABC–TV▼ 666 ABC Canberra◆ Radio National 846 ✚ Triple J 101.5 ✹ Classic FM 102.3 ★ NewsRadio (PNN) 1440✪ ABC Shop

Hobart▲ ABC–TV▼ 936 ABC Hobart◆ Radio National 585 ✚ Triple J 92.9✹ Classic FM 93.9★ NewsRadio (PNN) 729❖ TSO✪ ABC Shop

Melbourne▲ ABC–TV▼ 774 ABC Melbourne◆ Radio National 621 ✚ Triple J 107.5✹ Classic FM 105.9★ NewsRadio (PNN) 1026❖ MSO✪ ABC Shop

Adelaide▲ ABC–TV ▼ 891 ABC Adelaide◆ Radio National 729 ✚ Triple J 105.5✹ Classic FM 103.9 ★ NewsRadio (PNN) 972❖ ASO✪ ABC Shop

Perth▲ ABC–TV▼ 720 ABC Perth◆ Radio National 810✚ Triple J 99.3✹ Classic FM 97.7★ NewsRadio (PNN) 585❖ WASO✪ ABC Shop

Key

Regional Services ● Regional Radio Studios ◗ Regional Studio outposts▲ Television Production Centres✦ Radio Australia Transmitters

✦

4


Local and RegionalServices

´ Local Radio services to metropolitanand regional audiences.

´ Television production in each Stateand Territory for local and at times,national broadcast.

´ Local Online services including TheBackyard and Rural Online.

VisionTo be the preferred voice of communitiesthroughout Australia.

Programs and Services´ Local Radio:

— Metropolitan stations in nine citiesincluding Newcastle

— Regional stations in 48 locations(including eight smaller studios)

providing information, entertainment,specialist rural and sports coverage inlocal, State and national formats.

´ Local Television in each State andTerritory primarily for local audiencesand at times broadcast nationally.

´ Rural Radio: specialist ruralinformation for both regional andmetropolitan audiences.

´ Radio Sport: coverage of majornational and international sports andsporting events.

´ Indigenous Broadcasting: Indigenousprogramming for general audiencesand liaison between ABC andIndigenous communities.

´ Local Online: regional andmetropolitan station websitesproviding local entry points to allABC Online services.

Audiences´ Metropolitan Radio’s weekly audience

reach across eight cities is 1.979million, which is 1.2 per cent up onthe 1998–2000 figure.

News and Current Affairs´ Authoritative and independent

television, radio and online news.´ It broadcasts news and current affairs

programming on ABC Television,ABC Radio (National, Metropolitanand Regional), ABC Online and onRadio Australia.

´ Australia’s most extensive network ofoverseas correspondents.

VisionTo be Australia’s most authoritative,comprehensive and accessible provider ofnews and current affairs.

Programs and Services´ Coverage of regional, State and

Territory, national and internationalnews on television, radio and online.

´ ABC News and Current Affairsemploys over 600 journalists in 50capital city and regional centresaround Australia, and more than 20staff correspondents in 14 ABCoverseas news bureaus.

´ Leading current affairs programs onradio, television and online includingAM, PM, 7.30 Report, Lateline andFour Corners.

´ News Online service with regularupdated headlines featuring audioand video streaming and specialistsites for key issues and majorbreaking stories. News Onlineincludes State and Territory andregional news sites, and sport,business, science and technology,rural and weather pages.

Audiences´ In 1999–2000, ABC Television News

gained a 22.7 per cent share ofaudience on average at 7pm on weeknights.

´ News Online average weeklyaccesses for the 1999–2000 financialyear increased to 814, 297 and itcontinued to be the ABC’s mostpopular online service.

5


ABC Enterprises´ Production of books and magazines,

classical and contemporaryrecordings, music publishing, spokenword cassettes, videos, multimedia,licensed content and products andevents management.

´ Television content sales to othertelevision broadcasters and programmakers.

´ 27 ABC Shops, 85 ABC Centres anda mail, telephone and online orderservice.

VisionWorking within the ABC Charter to achievemaximum financial returns to theCorporation by profitably managing theABC’s intellectual property rights and ABCshops.

Services´ ABC Shops situated in all Australian

States and Territories´ ABC Centres predominantly in

regional areas´ ABC Audio

(spoken word)

´ ABC Books and Magazines´ ABC Classics´ ABC Contemporary Music´ ABC Films and Events´ ABC Footage Sales´ ABC Licensing´ ABC Program Sales´ ABC Music Publishing´ ABC Video

Sales´ ABC enterprises recorded an 18 per

cent increase in cash contribution tothe ABC during the last financial year,providing a $14.3 million return tothe ABC.

´ Highest Selling Products* Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 6 —

276 752 units* Wiggles-Wiggly Big Show —

139 705 units* Walking With Dinosaurs —

102 793 units* The Swoon Collection —

67 676 units* The Planets —

41 965 units

● Tokyo

● Moscow

● JerusalemBeijing ●

● Johannesburg

Washington ● New York ●

London● ● Brussels

● Port Moresby

● Bangkok

New Delhi ●

● ABC Bureaus and Correspondents

● Amman

Jakarta ●

6


Selected HighlightsJuly 1999

´ Cinemedia Accord signed with ABC Online to create content for media on-line´ Mr Squiggle’s 40th birthday´ Media Watch broke the ABC Cash for Comment story´ House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communication, Transport and the

Arts concluded their inquiry into the ABC’s decision to discontinue its radio racingservice.

´ Launch of second year of Heywire – radio competition for rural youth´ Launch of Message Stick the ABC Online Indigenous gateway

Aug 1999´ Nowra radio newsroom opened´ New Board members Judith Sloan, John Gallagher QC and Ross McLean are

appointed to replace John Bannon, Wendy Silver and Hon Ian Macphee QC.´ ABC joined the Digital 2000 Consortium, which has established a Single Frequency

Network. A trial is being conducted to investigate technical programming issuesassociated with the introduction of DRB into Australia.

´ Launch of the ABC Website and ABC Interactive TV Showcase

September 1999´ National Poetry Day´ ABC’s digital vision and Going Digital website launched in Canberra´ East Timor crisis and Radio Australia provides broadcasting services to Defence

personnel´ SeaChange breaks viewing records with 2.279 million viewers nationally´ Launch of ABC Local’s Online site The Backyard´ ABC launched digital plans´ Launch of Bilingual site to provide information on Indonesia.´ ABC wins two Emmies.

October 1999´ Andrew Olle memorial lecture — Steve Vizard discussed Australian content´ 774 ABC Melbourne celebrates 75th birthday´ Last production at French’s Forest Television Facility begins.´ 40 Episodes of Gardening Australia were sold to Discovery UK´ ABC News and Current Affairs provided extensive coverage of the Victorian election´ ABC Classic FM broadcast 16 concerts from the Melbourne Festival.

November 1999´ 1999 Boyer Lecture presented by historian and author Inga Clendinnen examined the

social and moral usefulness of history.´ Announcement of the appointment of new ABC Managing Director Jonathan Shier´ The ABC hosted the Asian Pacific Broadcasting Union Annual (ABU) conference´ Triple J celebrated Australian Music Month

7


December 1999´ Radio Australia celebrates 60th Anniversary´ The ABC collected seven Awards at the 44th Walkley Awards and six Australian Film

Industry (AFI) awards´ The ABC was awarded the United Nations Peace Prize for Background Briefing on

environment management in Queensland.´ Five new appointments to the ABC’s National Advisory Council (NAC)´ Today 2000 global TV broadcast

January 2000´ Newspoll Survey of ABC audience shows 90 per cent of respondents thought ABC TV

good or very good´ Major change to TV’s early evening lineup with local quiz and Something in the Air

broadcast four nights a week

February 2000´ The ABC broadcast the Hopman Cup 2000´ Production of the ABC’s Equity and Diversity video on employability facilitated by

Geoffrey Robertson QC

March 2000´ ABC to televise 2000 Paralympic Games´ ABC Managing Director Brian Johns AO completes his term´ ABC broadcast to local communities whilst Cyclone Steve passed through

Queensland the Northern Territory and Western Australia´ ABC Classic FM launched a major competition to give a piano to a school in Australia

in a competition called Grab a Goanna´ Senate inquiry into the ABC’s commercial arrangements in online´ Building works at Ultimo approved by Federal Parliament

May 2000´ No increase for digital content in triennial funding outcome from government´ In annual Eye on Australia report (Grey Advertising) the ABC was number two in a

survey rating the trustworthiness of different companies´ Building begins at Ultimo´ Extensive ABC Radio Australia coverage of the Fijian coup commences´ Andrew Olle scholarship awarded to rural reporter Nicole Johnston

June 2000´ New ABC Employment Agreement 2000-2002´ Digital legislation passed providing multichannelling and datacasting possibilities for

ABC.´ Start of Sydney International Piano Competition with ABC Classic FM broadcasting

live (June 29)´ 720 ABC Perth marks its 75th birthday and launches a year of celebrations´ Local Radio begins its coverage of the Olympic Torch relay around Australia´ Managing Director announces new organisational structure´ Cox Peninsula transmission site leased by the Federal government to Christian

Voice International.

8


The contributions for each area of the1999-2000 ABC Annual Report have beenprepared in response to the five key areasoutlined in the ABC’s Corporate Plan 1999-2000.

Below is a summary of the ABC’sperformance against the priorities set outin the Corporate Plan 1999-2000.

Fulfilling the Charter and OtherResponsibilities under theABC Act 1983Local Radio produced more than 109,000hours of radio programming, an increase of10,000 hours and local television increasedfrom 581 hours in 1998-1999 to 634hours. This included 52 hours of newprogramming.

In 1999-2000 News and Current Affairsproduced more than 10,000 hours of newsand 600 hours of current affairs materialon radio. On television more than 1400hours of news and 500 hours of currentaffairs was produced.

ABC coverage of the events in East Timorand the domestic unrest in the SolomonIslands, the republic referendum, theVictorian state election, the GST and taxreforms and the lead up to the Sydney2000 Olympics characterised the ABC’sNews and Current Affair as a leadingprovider of news.

Innovative programming continued. RadioNational produced A Thousand Years in aDay, to celebrate the millennium, andintroduced The Business Report. ClassicFM broadcast 16 concerts from theMelbourne Festival and Triple J’s Hottest100 most popular music poll was a hugesuccess attracting 650,000 voters.NewsRadio expanded its financial, Internetand technology coverage and introducedNetNews a weekly half hour program andTechNews, which is broadcast severaltimes daily. Radio Australia maintained itsrole as the ABC’s Asia Pacific Network andprovided coverage of events in East Timorand the Solomon Islands. Internet coveragewas also provided on especially dedicatedwebsites.

The ABC maintained its commitment to

CorporatePlanSummary

9


education and ABC Education Serviceswas established as a cross media programdevelopment unit providing a Corporationwide focus to opportunities for lifelonglearning in the emerging digital mediaenvironment.

Closer ties between the ABC and thecommunity were fostered throughcommunity events like The ABC for KidsChristmas concert and On the House-ABC’s Free Day of Entertainment.

Digital conversion of studios andequipment and increasing the life of ABCservices was ensured by providing theinformation on radio, teleview and online.

ABC Enterprises generated $14.3 millionfor the Corporation.

Transforming ABC services in thedigital ageAs part of the ABC’s digital contentstrategy a number of regional centres inWA participated in producing On Location,a half hour national pilot program aboutregional Australia.

Plans to transform 48 regional radiostations into multimedia centres wereoutlined in the 1999 Triennial FundingSubmission to government.

Radio National’s main studios in Sydneyhave been completely refitted and all RadioNational programs in Sydney are movingto a digital audio editing system.

The Corporation researched and developedadditional program and content for digitalterrestrial television.

The ABC also developed wide-rangingcontent that would add new dimensions totelevision, including a seven-day electronicprogram guide and text and graphicsenhancements to programs.

The ABC produced a demonstration of afully interactive television program andcontent possibilities that will be available inthe next few years.

News and Current Affairs installed non-linear editing and automated point-to-pointsyndication systems, which will integratewith the Avstar newsroom computer

system. About 1,000 staff will be trainedon the new system, which will allowefficient multimedia content sharing.

A computer generated animation systemwhich will improve weather presentation isdue on air early in 2001.

ABC Online expanded its 24-hourcoverage of breaking news with a range ofspecialist sites.

Digital conversion of the MelbourneRipponlea studios began towards the endof 1999.

Delivery of digital field cameras heraldedthe start of digital widescreen productionoperations with the production of theprograms Federation and Architecture inSydney and Something in the Air inMelbourne.

Installation of digital television equipmentcommenced in March 2000, with eachState and Territory being supplied with afully equipped standard definition (SD)widescreen capable digital studio. By theend of 2000 digital studios will becompleted in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth,Hobart, Darwin and Canberra.

TS&D Research and Development (RD)worked closely with ABC Multimedia intrialling media streaming. This technologyallows audio and or video programs to beaccessed on the Internet via computer.Triple J, Radio Australia, NewRadio andRadio Australia foreign language servicesare now streamed continuously. RDdeveloped a streaming monitor applicationthat periodically checks each live streamand alerts support staff if problems arefound.

The ABC Board approved a Design andBuild Contract with NTL Australia in March2000, later approved and funded byGovernment, to provide the ABC withstand by digital transmission facilities ineach of the five metropolitan markets. Theagreement will allow the ABC to meet itslegislative requirements to commencedigital transmission on 1 January 2001while continuing to negotiate contractualterms for the remaining 430 analogtransmission services required to convertto digital.

10


TS&D in conjunction with ABC Learningand Development are developing andmanaging an implementation plan for thetraining of technical and operational staffon new digital production equipment.

Developing Australian contentA total of 52 hours of new local televisionprogramming was produced in the Statesand Territories in 1999-2000. One third ofthis was broadcast nationally.

A series of 10 half hour Sunday Spectrumprograms were produced for ABC TV.

The Northern Territory launched TerritorySport a new weekly television program.

Local Radio’s playlist scheduled 38.6 percent of Australian music in 1999-2000covering the period from 6am to midnight.

Our Island’s Future was broadcast acrossTasmania on ABCTV exploring the spreadof communities across the island anddemonstrating that Tasmanians see a verypositive future for themselves,

1999 Heywire which foster the potentialradio skills of young Australians waslaunched in Albury-Wodonga in July.

Message Stick, the ABC’s Indigenousgateway was launched in July 1999.

SeaChange attracted 1.8 millionmetropolitan viewers and a regionalaverage of 779,000 viewers.

The new ABC studio centre at LanceleyPlace, Artarmon, Sydney replaced theFrench’s Forest facilities, which had beenused for drama production for many years,and will expand the opportunities for localproduction.

Expanding programs and servicesto local and regional communitiesIn 1999–2000 Local and Regional Servicesproduced more than 109,000 hours ofradio programming, an increase ofapproximately 10,000 hours comparedwith 1998-99.

Local television production houseincreased from 581 hours in 1998-99 to634 hours in 1999-2000. This included 52

hours of new programming. New televisionprogram production hours increased by 40per cent between 1998-99 and 1999-2000.Of the 80 new television programsproduced and broadcast during the year,77 achieved an audience share equal to orbetter than the timeslot usually produced.

The Backyard website was launched inSeptember delivered an online presence foreach ABC regional and metropolitanlocation and providing Australians with alocal gateway to ABC Online.

Clearer guidelines in the ABC’scommissioning process and increasedflexibility in television scheduling resultedin one-third regional television productionbeing broadcast nationally.

A series of programs with a regional focuswere produced. These programs included;The extension of the WA Radio Picturesconcept where regional radio staff tellsstories from their region on television;Bridging the Great Divide which examinedthe challenges facing WA; Outlook 2000 inCanberra represented the largest outsidebroadcast undertaken by Rural Radio;Rural Radio’s broadcast of the FederalGovernment’s Regional Summit and ABCQueensland’s Outback Revival addressedthe declining population in the outback.

Local and Regional Services obtained longterm contracts for radio coverage of cricketand football. A seven-year contract wassigned with the Australian Cricket Boardwhile the National Rugby League grantedthe ABC rights to cover Rugby League forthe next three years. In a poll conducted byRugby League Week magazine in March,the ABC was voted the best in RugbyLeague coverage (47 per cent) ahead of2UE (39 per cent) and 2GB (14 per cent.)

The ABC finalised an agreement with Radio2UE Sydney and its affiliated stations toaccess and rebroadcast Local Radio’s livesports coverage of the 2000 SydneyOlympic Games.

Online New completed the first stage of itsregional news project which will eventuallysee selected regional sites delivering arange of locally produced audiovisualcontent.

11


ABC Marketing offered regionalcommunities opportunities to access theABC through community events like theABC Kids for Christmas Concert inMelbourne.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessTo assist with cross media production theABC installed PC based digital audioworkstations (DAWs) in regional radiostations around Australia.

An exchange program was initiatedbetween ABC Rural Radio and BBC Ruralso reporters in both organisations couldshare ideas and approaches to ruralbroadcasting.

An accord between the ABC andCinemedia in Victoria was signed in July1999. The Accord establishes a $3.2million cash and in-kind resources over twoyears to fund collaborative multimediaprojects.

There was a continued development ofcross media and team based productionprocedures and operations, whichfrequently required collaboration betweenradio, television and online productionteams to create additional or value addedcontent to programs.

The television gateway on ABC Online hasbeen enhanced by the introduction of videopreviews, plot synopses and archivedtranscripts being made available on ABCOnline; Interactive forums following currentaffair programs and the development of theElectronic Program Guide which will guideaudiences through the range of programs.

An external review of News and CurrentAffairs conducted by Sibson & Companyconcluded that the ABC’s outputs,resources and programs costs comparedfavourably with the BBC and CBC.

An all media Business Desk, whichcombined radio and television expertise,was established to service growing interestin financial issues. As well as generatingstories for all ABC outlets the desk beganproducing a specific weekly businessprogram for Radio National.

Temporary studios were built for all mediacoverage of the Olympics at the Homebushsite – this will go post Olympics.

Program production improved theutilisation of ABC resources and offsetcosts for ABC made programs by providingresources and facilities in Sydney andMelbourne for external hire.

The ABC in association with theInternational Project BenchmarkingNetwork, a forum measuring theeffectiveness of project management, willimplement a project methodology whichwill provide a consistent approach toproject initiation and alignment to theCorporation’s strategic intent. Theevaluation and decision making process formajor capital projects has beenstrengthened with the preparation ofbusiness cases and whole-of-life costing forall major capital projects.

ABC Online sites are repackaging ABCcontent to extend and increase the value ofthe original production investment.

Research and development successfullycompleted the Y2K certification of theD-CART, D-Localisation, D-RADIO and theTime Zone delay systems. No problemswere identified during the Year 2000rollover.

The establishment of a multimediaeducational series and special bilingualwebsite to cover events such as the EastTimor and Solomon Islands crises fosteredgreater cooperation between radio andonline production units.

The new graphics election systemenhancements were used for the first timein September 1999 in the Victorian Stateelection telecast.

In May 2000, the ABC entered into amanufacturing agreements with HannetDigital Corporation of South KoreaCompany limited of South Korea for themanufacture of D-CART equipment and toestablish a licensing agreement for Hannetto market, promote, distribute, sell andsupport the D-CART and D-Radio productsworldwide.

12


The ABC’s Employment Agreement 2000-2001 with the Community and PublicSector Union (CPSU) and the MediaEntertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA)covering the majority of ABC staff wasimplemented. The Australian IndustrialRelations Commission has certified theagreement and the terms and conditionscame into operation in July.

A performance study released in Januaryshowed that those who used the ABC as asource of news and current affairs mostdays across all mediums rose from 98 percent to 99 per cent and 86 per cent ofrespondents agreed that ABC coverage ofregional news and issues was good.

13


Organisational Chart

TechnologyStrategy andDevelopment

Head: Colin Knowles*

Finance &BusinessServices

Head: Russell Balding*

ABCEnterprises

GeneralManager Terry Moloney

SymphonyAustralia

ManagingDirectorDerek Watt

Local andRegional Services

Head: Sue Howard*

NationalNetworks

Head: Andy LloydJames*

News andCurrent Affairs

Head: Paul Williams*

Program Production

A/Head: Harry Hall

CorporatePlanning and

Communications

Head: Janet Clayton

National AdvisoryCouncil

Minister forCommunications

Information Technology and the Arts

ABC Board

FederalParliament

ManagingDirector

Brian Johns*

ABC Development

Ian McGarrity

* ABC executive members

Human Resources

Head: JacquieHutchinson*

June 1999 – 16 March 2000

Current structure located in Appendix 5 on page 118

14


Financial SummaryFinancial Outcome1999–2000For the 1999–2000 financial year, the ABCwas able to operate within the limits of it’stotal source of funds and Governmentsappropriations.

The introduction of accrual based fundingthis year resulted in two significant changesto the way the ABC is funded namely:

• an additional $58.4 million revenuefrom the Government which wasrepaid on 27 June 2000; and

• an amount of $29.1 million of theABC’s on-going funding base appliedto meet debt financing arrangementshas been included as an equityinjection of capital rather thanrevenue.

Financial OutlookThe Government announced in theCommonwealth Budget the ABC’s fundingbase has been effectively maintained inreal terms for the new trienniumcommencing 2000–01.

In addition, the Government committed tofind 50 percent of the second phase of theABC’s Digital Broadcasting Conversioncosts.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

20001999199819971996

Revenue from Government$ millions

Interest 2%

Depreciation/amortisation 7%

Supplier expenses 45%

Employee related 46%

Operating expenses Operating revenue

Transmission funding 10%

Capital use funding 8%

Government appropriation 66%

Independent sources 16%

Other 5%

Interest 8%

Sale of goods and services 87%

Revenue from independent sources

15


Five year analysisABC ABC ABC ABC ABC2000 1999 1998 1997 1996$’000 $’000 $’000 $’000 $’000

Operating

Cost of Services 678,631 664,697 631,218 707,106 719,807

Operating Revenue 112,345 117,554 123,854 131,777 126,504

Net Cost of Services (a) 566,286 547,143 507,364 575,329 593,303

Revenue from Government 599,158 542,383 522,666 588,112 597,736

Financial Position

Current Assets 166,072 130,989 145,478 142,743 149,602

Non-Current Assets 646,705 624,604 678,313 505,071 504,163

Total Assets 812,777 755,593 823,791 647,814 653,765

Current Liabilities 180,467 91,350 185,847 206,381 123,187

Non-Current Liabilities 134,892 184,365 137,764 142,962 236,965

Total Liabilities 315,359 275,715 323,611 349,343 360,152

Total Equity 497,418 479,878 500,180 298,471 293,613

RATIOS

Current Ratio (b) 0.92 1.43 0.78 0.69 1.21

Equity (c) 61% 64% 61% 46% 45%

(a) Net cost of services is total operating expenses, including transmission services, less operatingrevenue.

(b) Current assets divided by current liabilities.

(c) Equity as a percentage of total assets.

16


The ABC Boardat 30 June 2000

Mr Donald McDonald, AO, BComAppointed Chairman on 9 July 1996 for a five year term.

Mr McDonald is Chairman of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation, a member of theboard of the Sydney Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG), Chairman ofSOCOG’s Cultural Commission, and Chairman of The Really Useful Company (Aust) PtyLtd. He is a member of the Boards of the University of New South Wales Foundation andFocus Publishing Pty Ltd, and recently resigned from the Boards of the Welsh NationalOpera, Opera Australia Capital Fund and the Perth International Festival.

Mr McDonald has been involved in the administration of arts enterprises for over 30 yearsincluding the Sydney Theatre Company, Musica Viva and Vogue Publications. He wasGeneral Manager of the Australian Opera for 10 years until his retirement in 1996. MrMcDonald was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1991.

Mr Jonathan ShierAppointed Managing Director for a five year term from 17 March 2000.

Mr Shier has extensive experience of broadcasting, digital TV, multi-channelling,datacasting and new technologies with more than 20 years experience in British andEuropean broadcast and pay television.

Mr Russell BateAppointed a Director for a five year term from 20 December 1995.

Mr Bate is Managing Director of Sun Microsystems Australia Pty Ltd and draws on over 20years of IT experience.

Mr Ian HenschkeAppointed staff-elected Director 15 June 2000.

Ian Henschke has worked in radio and television for 20 years. With the ABC since 1983, hehas worked as a producer, presenter and reporter in rural and current affairs programsincluding Countrywide, The 7.30 Report and Landline. He was Telstra Rural Journalist ofthe Year in 1998, and last year the inaugural Reuter Foundation Scholar at OxfordUniversity, a joint initiative of the ABC and the British Government.

Donald McDonald Jonathan Shier Russell Bate Ian Henschke

17


Mr Michael KrogerAppointed a Director for a five year term from 5 February 1998.

Mr Kroger is the Chief Executive of JT Campbell & Co Pty Limited. He has extensiveexperience in management, banking and finance, media communications, and law.

Professor Judith Sloan, BA (Hons), MA (Melb), MSc (Econ) (Lond)Appointed a Director for a five year term from 9 August 1999.

Professor Judith Sloan is currently on leave from Flinders University of South Australia. She isa part-time Commissioner of the Productivity Commission, a Director of Santos Ltd, MayneNickless Ltd, SGIO Insurance Ltd, and Chair of SGIC Holdings Ltd.

Mr Ross McLeanAppointed a Director for a five year term from 9 August 1999.

Mr McLean is the Deputy Chief Executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry ofWestern Australia, Chairman of the WA Government’s Trade Advisory Council, President of theAssociation for the Blind of WA, Chairman of the National Childcare Accreditation Council, andChairman of the Board of Directors of the Fremantle Dockers Football Club.

In addition to his extensive corporate and community experience, Mr McLean has served as aMember for four years of the WA State Advisory Council of the ABC. He was in the House ofRepresentatives as the Member for Perth from 1975 to 1983.

Mr John Gallagher, QCAppointed a Director for a five year term from 9 December 1999.

Mr Gallagher’s practice involves civil and criminal law. His experience encompassesenvironmental, town planning, heritage, licensing, broadcasting tribunal, valuation and generalcommercial cases.

He is the author of the 1990 Australian Supplement of Licensing Laws in Halsbury’s Laws ofEngland, and several articles on Town Planning practice, compensation and licensing matters.Mr Gallagher has delivered papers at International Bar Association conferences in America,Europe and Asia.

Michael Kroger Judith Sloan Ross McLean John Gallagher

18


Retiring DirectorsHon. J. C. Bannon BA, LLBMr Bannon’s five year term expired 23 July 1999.

Diana Gribble AMMs Gribble’s five year term as Deputy Chair expired 26 June 2000.

Brian Johns AOMr Johns’ five year term expired 16 March 2000.

Kirsten GarrettMs Garrett’s second two year term as staff elected director expired 14 June 2000.

Hon. Ian Macphee AO, LLB, MAMr Macphee’s five year term expired 8 December 1999.

John Bannon Dianne Gribble Kirsten Garrett Ian MacpheeBrian Johns

19


ABCBoardDirectors’Statement

1999–2000 has been a year of transitionfor the ABC. It has passed from onecentury to another, completed one fundingtriennium and prepared for another, cometo the end of the term of office of ManagingDirector Brian Johns and moved into a newleadership era with the appointment ofJonathan Shier as Managing Director, andentered the digital broadcasting age withconfidence in the Corporation’s ability tomeet the challenge of new programmingand service delivery concepts.

It has also been a year of consolidation asthe Corporation achieved importantobjectives it had set; the implementation ofcollocation policies, establishment ofintegrated newsrooms in several locations,the roll-out of digital equipment; thecommencement of a new building inUltimo and the completion of plans for newfacilities in Perth, Brisbane and Canberra.

Meeting Corporate ObjectivesThis year the Annual Report addresses thefive key objectives of the ABC’s CorporatePlan. These objectives are to:1. fulfil the Charter and other

responsibilities under the ABC Act,

2. transform ABC services in the digitalage,

3. develop Australian content,

4. expand services to local and regionalcommunities, and

5. develop efficiency and effectiveness.

Objectives such as meeting responsibilitiesunder the Act and continuing the pursuit ofimproved efficiency and effectiveness arepart of the ABC’s ongoing commitment. Inaddition, the ABC has given priority thisyear to preparing for the advent of digitalbroadcasting. The organisation orderedand installed equipment, planned content,began staff retraining and otherwiseprepared for digital terrestrial televisioncommission.

20


Transforming ABC services in thedigital ageEvery part of the Corporation has beeninvolved in the preparations for conversionto digital broadcasting: equipmentpurchasing and installation, reviewingrights management, preparing fundingsubmissions, developing content ideas,demonstrating digital possibilities tostakeholders and participating in thevarious legislative reviews. The ABC will beready to start digital broadcasting on themandated commencement date of 1January 2001.

The Broadcasting Services Amendment(Digital Television and Datacasting) Act2000, passed by the Parliament on 29June 2000, enables the ABC to multi-channel in specified program genres and todatacast a defined range of material. Theoutcome provides the ABC with theflexibility to prepare new program stylesand concepts that it can build on in thefuture. This will be of particular significancein the areas of childrens’ educational andlocal programming, subject to availableresources.

Triennial fundingThe triennial funding submission arguedunsuccessfully for additional funding of$194 million over three years to support arange of new initiatives. Key ABCCorporate Plan objectives aimed atexpanding Australian content, expandingservices to local communities, providingadditional online material and establishingdigital services will now need to bereviewed in the light of funding which hasbeen maintained at existing levels in realterms.

Developing Australian contentDuring the year the ABC successfullydeveloped new Australian programming.This is perhaps best exemplified bySeaChange which became the mostpopular program nationally on Australiantelevision and achieved the largest everaudience for an ABC program, attractingon one occasion 2.279 million viewersnationally.

Another achievement in Australian contentwas the ABC’s participation in the

international Today 2000 global televisionevent of New Year-Millennium celebrations,which showcased Australia before anestimated three billion viewers. The ABCjoined 55 national broadcasters around theglobe to televise Australia’s millenniumcelebrations live during the 26-hour event.Australia’s contribution to the programfeatured a fireworks display on SydneyHarbour; a festival gathering at Uluru, anda last sunset concert by the WesternAustralian Symphony Orchestra performedon Cottesloe Beach in Perth.

To commemorate the end of the century,Radio National also broadcast the highlyacclaimed New Year’s Day program, AThousand Years in a Day. The programdivided the century’s achievements intosignificant philosophical, historical, culturaland scientific signposts and examined atleast one key event, one piece of musicand one significant life from eachdesignated period. It has subsequentlybeen published as a 10-CD compendium.

Expanding services to local andregional communitiesDuring the year the ABC began to upgradetechnology in its 57 local and regionaloffices throughout Australia and itscapacity for the provision of multi-mediacontent. Small digital cameras to collectlocal stories on video were distributed, aninitiative to both enhance the regional inputto ABC Online and prepare for local input

Legs on the Wall performers at the Sydney OperaHouse during the millennium celebrations

21


in new digital programming.

There has been a welcome and significantincrease in television production fromregional offices for local and nationalscheduling. The total hours of localtelevision production rose from 581 hoursin 1998-1999 to 634 hours in 1999-2000.This included an additional 15 hours of newinitiative programming. The increase inlocal programming was achieved withoutan increase in budget.

Participation of regional and rural Australiain ABC Online has also expanded duringthe last 12 months. At the FederalGovernment’s Regional Summit inCanberra in August, ABC Online and ABCRural Radio provided audio streaming,online forums and facilitated participationfor rural Australia. In September ABCOnline launched The Backyard, a networkof local web sites linking ABC radiostations and their audiences aroundAustralia.

Fulfilling responsibilities anddeveloping efficiency andeffectivenessABC management last year commissionedan independent review of the Corporation’soral and electronic complaints handlingprocesses which found that there was aneed for an integrated system to ensure amore effective means of dealing withaudience feedback. Several of the reportrecommendations are being implementedin the coming year to streamline ABCpractices and procedures in this area.

In preparing the ABC’s triennial fundingsubmission, the Corporation benchmarkedits own performance against that of theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)and the Canadian BroadcastingCorporation (CBC). This benchmarkingindicated that the ABC received a lowerproportion of total government budget, at alower cost per head to the taxpayer thanthe BBC and CBC. Comparing televisionspending with other Australian networks,the ABC also spent significantly less perbroadcast hour than channels 7 and 9 andslightly less than channel 10.

Following discussions between the ABC,BBC and CBC, a project has beendeveloped with support from theCommonwealth Broadcasting Association,to research and develop worldwide industrybenchmarks for public servicebroadcasters.

The Corporation continues to pursue moreefficient use of resources by increasingproduction in State capitals, and throughthe transition to integrated newsrooms. Anew employment bargaining agreementwas successfully negotiated.

International BroadcastingIn our region of the globe, Radio Australiacontinues to play a significantcommunications role. In its 60thanniversary year it increased itsrebroadcast partnerships throughout Asiaand the Pacific from 20 local radiorebroadcasters in 12 countries to 83 localrebroadcasters in 23 countries. The re-broadcast arrangements are a significantattempt to offset the effects on the reach ofRadio Australia caused by the mothballingof the Cox Peninsula (Darwin) short wavetransmitters mid 1998.

Radio Australia’s coverage of difficultissues during the social and politicalupheavals in the region was regarded asoutstanding, particularly during the crisis inEast Timor when a special program ‘Atouch of home’ was broadcast for theAustralian forces. The ABC continues topress the case with government on theissue of short wave transmission, as itremains an important form of delivery inkey parts of the region, which do not havealternative means of access via satellite,local radio stations or the Internet.

The ABC was principal Australian host forthe 36th General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, which was heldin Sydney November 1999. Over 400delegates from major broadcasters aroundthe world attended the meetings, the thirdtime the General Assembly has been heldin Sydney. The ABC is also a member ofthe Commonwealth BroadcastingAssociation, Public BroadcastingInternational and the EuropeanBroadcasting Union, all to the benefit of theCorporation.

22


Vacating & New Board MembersDuring the year the Government appointedProfessor Judith Sloan, John Gallagher QCand Ross McLean as Board Directors,replacing the Hon. John Bannon, WendySilver and the Hon. Ian Macphee QC whoseterms of appointment had expired. DianaGribble’s five-year term as Deputy Chair ofthe Board also ended in June 2000. A newstaff elected director, Ian Henschke,replaced Kirsten Garrett. The Boardexpresses its very great regard to theretiring directors for the substantialcontributions to the affairs of the ABC.

The Board would also like to take thisopportunity to thank former ManagingDirector Brian Johns for his importantcontribution to the ABC. Brian departed theCorporation in March this year at thecompletion of his five-year contract. Hewas a leading figure in raising theCorporation’s awareness of convergence,the implications for the ABC of the digitalage and in exploiting the opportunities ofthe Internet to enhance ABC programs andservices.

The FutureThe ABC is confronting real and immediatechallenges in the next year, not least ofwhich is funding. The organisation nowneeds to make the most of the multi-channelling and datacasting opportunitiesoffered by digital legislation and providingreal services without additional funding forthis purpose. Inherent in the potential toexpand ABC services through digitaltechnology is also the issue of regionalprogramming and service mix. Funding willalso influence Australia’s ability to projectits view to the global region through RadioAustralia.

Underpinning all these issues is the role ofthe ABC as a public broadcaster. Thepositioning of the ABC and promoting itsadvantages in a rapidly changingenvironment with rapidly changingtechnologies will be critical to thecorporation’s future. To confront some ofthese issues the new Managing Director,Jonathan Shier announced a restructure of

the Corporation’s divisional operations inlate June 2000. This involves theestablishment of separate output divisionsof Radio, Television and New MediaServices to replace National Networks andLocal and Regional Services. A newdivision of Program and ContentDevelopment will be responsible for allcontent development and programresearch across all three-output divisions.A new Content Rights Management divisionis to be established.

News and Current Affairs will remain as adivision providing content to the outputdivisions. All production resources will bebrought together in a Production Resourcesdivision and all technology, technical andcontent distribution functions, including IT,will come together in the Technology andDistribution division.

Funding, Finance and Support Services,Human Resources, ABC Enterprises andCorporate Affairs will make up the otherdivisions of the Corporation. There will alsobe a representative of State and TerritoryDirectors on the Executive managementgroup.

In summary the Corporation has met theobjectives outlined in the ABC CorporatePlan to the extent possible within itsavailable levels of funding. Whilst fulfillingits Charter responsibilities, and maintainingits commitment to Australian programmingand the expansion of services to local andregional communities, the ABC has takenfirst steps towards transforming its servicesfor the digital age. Performance andaccountability will be critical issues overthe next 12 months as the Corporationmoves to the next stages of its evolution asa public broadcaster in the digitalbroadcasting environment.

Donald McDonaldJonathan ShierRussell BateIan HenschkeMichael KrogerJudith SloanRoss McLeanJohn Gallagher

23


Members of the Executiveas at 16 March 2000

Sue Howard Brian Johns Jacquie Hutchinson Terry Maloney

Brian Johns AO, Managing DirectorBrian Johns was appointed Managing Director in March 1995.

Prior to this he was Chairperson of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, ManagingDirector of the Special Broadcasting Service from 1987–92 and Publishing Director ofPenguin Books from 1979–87.

Paul Williams, Head News and Current AffairsPaul Williams joined the ABC in 1968 as a rural radio reporter in Queensland. He went onto produce a number of documentaries including A Big Country and Heartlands andworked as a field producer, Supervising Producer, and Executive Producer for the FourCorners and Lateline programs. He was Executive Producer for the Gold Walkley-winningLabour in Power series. In 1995 he was appointed Head of Television News andCurrent Affairs.

Russell Balding Paul Williams Andy Lloyd James Colin Knowles

24


Sue Howard, Head Local and Regional ServicesSue Howard was born and educated in Melbourne. Before embarking upon a career inradio, she worked in the publishing industry and as a teacher.

Since 1986, Sue has worked in the ABC as a presenter for Radio National, ABC FM andLocal Radio, and in management since 1995.

Sue was appointed Head Local and Regional Services in December 1996.

Andy Lloyd James, Head National NetworksAndy Lloyd James joined the ABC in 1967 and became a producer and executive producer,in Documentaries and Features. In the early eighties, he became Head of TelevisionFeatures. In 1988 he was appointed Head of Television at SBS and in 1994 he initiated andbecame General Manager of SBS Independent, the independent commissioning wing ofSBS Television. In 1996 he rejoined the ABC as the Head of Television Drama.

Jacquie Hutchinson, Head Human ResourcesJacquie Hutchinson joined the ABC in 1995. Her employment history has focussed onemployee relations and leadership and management in higher education and the publicsector. She has been a member of industrial relations tribunals and a senior official in alarge public sector union. Jacquie has also undertaken major research and consultancy inboth the public and private sectors. She conducted research for the Industry Task Force onManagement and Leadership Skills and co-authored a book Gender: A StrategicManagement Issue.

Russell Balding, Head Finance and Business ServicesRussell Balding joined the ABC as General Manager, Finance in early 1996 and wasappointed Head, Finance and Business Services in December 1996. Prior to this he wasFinance Director with the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. He has extensive seniormanagement experience in the NSW public sector having also held senior financialmanagement positions in the NSW Department of Housing and Department of Health.

Colin Knowles, Head Technology Strategy and DevelopmentColin Knowles joined the ABC as Head, Technology Strategy and Development in August1997. Prior to this he was General Manager - Planning and Corporate with the AustralianBroadcasting Authority (ABA). He has over 30 years experience in broadcasting,telecommunications and engineering and has been actively involved in the development ofdigital broadcasting technology since 1983.

25


Local &RegionalServices

Meeting our commitmentsLocal and Regional Services respond to theneeds of local, regional and ruralaudiences, through nine metropolitanstations and 48 regional radio stations,local television production centres andonline sites.

In the corporate structure introduced inJune by the Managing Director, the radiocomponents of Local and RegionalServices, and National Networks, includingRadio Australia, are rejoined under ABCRadio.

Programs and services to regional andmetropolitan audiences were strengthenedduring the 1999–2000 financial year. Localcontent increased on radio, television andonline and opportunities were taken todevelop new regional content for useacross all ABC services.

The Backyard website was launched inSeptember, delivering an online presencefor each ABC regional and metropolitanlocation and providing Australians,wherever they live, with a local gateway toABC Online.

Clearer guidelines in the ABC’scommissioning process and increasedflexibility in television scheduling resultedin one third of regional televisionproduction being broadcast nationally.

The 1999 Heywire, which gives a

Launch of the 1999Heywire. LtoR: ABC

Chairman DonaldMcDonald, 1998 winner of

the Heywire competition LizTrevaskis, Hon Tim Fischer

Member for Farrer.

26


voice to young regional Australians,was launched in Albury–Wodonga inJuly. More than 250 entries werereceived from young people aroundAustralia. The 37 winners includedtwo Indigenous Australians and ahigher proportion of males comparedwith last year.

The Australian Institute of Sport inCanberra hosted Heywire in 1999 and aspecial feature of the winners’ visit toCanberra was meeting their FederalMember of Parliament and the DeputyPrime Minister, The Hon John AndersonMP. The Rural Industry ResearchDevelopment Corporation (RIRDC) and theCommonwealth Department of Transportand Regional Services continue their strongsupport of Heywire.

ABC Marketing offered regionalcommunities opportunities to access theABC through community events. On theHouse — ABC’s Free Day of Entertainmentextended ABC radio, television and onlineto Mackay, Lismore, Alice Springs andMount Gambier. The ABC for KidsChristmas Concert in Melbourne includedan ABC Village featuring online sites, ThePlayground and The Backyard, JuniorNewsreader and Magic Carpet activities.The ABC was well represented at othercommunity events around the countryincluding regional and rural shows,agricultural field days and festivals.

Going digitalIn its Triennial Funding Submission to theGovernment in 1999, the ABC outlined itsplan to transform, over time, its 48 regionalradio stations into multimedia centres. Bytaking advantage of lower cost televisionequipment and the flexibility of a digitalenvironment, this initiative aims to provideadditional content for television and online.

As part of the ABC’s digital contentstrategy, Local and Regional Services inWestern Australia produced On Location, ahalf hour national pilot program aboutregional Australia. The program drew on arange of ABC resources across regionalAustralia.

Australian contentA total of 52 hours of new local televisionprogramming was produced in the Statesand Territories in 1999–2000. One third ofthis was broadcast nationally. In addition,a series of 10 half-hour Sunday Spectrumprograms was produced for broadcast onABC television.

The Northern Territory launched TerritorySport, a new weekly television programwhich focuses on a range of sportsincluding Australian football, rugbyleague, netball, basketball, volleyball andhockey. A segment called Image Makersinvites the community to provide amateurvideo of sporting events from around theTerritory.

Local Radio’s playlist scheduled 38.6 percent of Australian music in 1999–2000covering the period from 6am to midnight.While some variation occurs betweenmusic scheduled and broadcast,historically the period from midnight todawn includes a large proportion ofAustralian music. In addition, specialistmusic programs such as Saturday Night

Angels in the Architecture, produced by a travellingvideo booth equipped with a digital video camera

(the WA Angel project)

27


Country include a large amount ofAustralian music content and all LocalRadio stations regularly feature liveperformances by local artists.

Expanding servicesIn 1999–2000, Local and Regional Servicesproduced more than 109,000 hours ofradio programming, an increase ofapproximately 10,000 hours comparedwith 1998–99. This increase was achievedthrough the maintenance of regularprogramming on Local Radio stationsduring summer and the introduction ofState-based evening programs in 2000.Both initiatives replaced nationalprograms.

Local television production hours increasedfrom 581 hours in 1998–99 to 634 hours in1999–2000. This included 52 hours of newprogramming in addition to maintainingongoing local production such as ANZACDay and State and Territory footballcoverage. New television programproduction hours increased by 40 per centbetween 1998–99 and 1999–2000. Of the80 new local television programs producedand broadcast during the year, 77 achievedan audience share equal to or better thanthe program it replaced.

Regional radio studios are now producingcontent for the ABC’s local online gateway,The Backyard, an important platform forthe ABC to develop new regional content.Eight regions now contribute video content,with more to follow. Digital stills camerashave also been deployed in regional areasto increase visual content.

The Backyard provides opportunities forinteraction with radio audiences in waysnot possible over the airwaves. Tocelebrate the launch of The Backyard, theaudience was invited to display theirbackyards through the site’s online gallery.The winning backyard in Dorrigo, NewSouth Wales, was the location of a liveLocal Radio broadcast attended by 100local people. The owner commented thatthe broadcast did much to lift morale in thelocal community.

The Radio Pictures concept in WesternAustralia, where regional radio staff tellstories from their regions on television, wasextended. Programs on Geraldton, Bunburyand Perth were commissioned forbroadcast in 2000–01.

Community interactionA one hour documentary produced inWestern Australia called The Angel Projectutilised the production team’s invention ofView Finder, a travelling video boothequipped with a digital video camera torecord community contributions. Its travelto various locations increased the ABC’sprofile in the community.

Fostering the development of Australiantalent, the ABC in Western Australiasponsored the Young Filmmaker of theYear Award at the West Australian ScreenAwards. An emerging local screen artistselected by a panel of screen industryprofessionals was presented with $5000towards their next production.

Western Australia’s six regional stationsand 720 ABC Perth joined for a full daybroadcast, Bridging the Great Divide.Combining metropolitan and regionaltalent and resources, the program analysedchallenges and opportunities facing peoplethroughout the State and covered politics,transport, communications, education andemployment. An interactive website wasused for the first time in Western Australia,enabling listeners to further discuss issuesraised.

Rural Radio’s broadcast of the FederalGovernment’s Regional Summit inCanberra involved reporters from Orange,Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaidefeeding material to all ABC outlets. ABCRural Online streamed Summitproceedings, with a live forum for those notattending where questions and commentscould be put directly to the Deputy PrimeMinister and other participants. Access toABC Rural Online increased from anaverage of 35,000 to 50,655 for the week.

28


Comprehensive coverage of Outlook 2000in Canberra represented the largest outsidebroadcast undertaken by Rural Radio.Online coverage was trebled comparedwith last year, with 76,894 accesses toABC Rural Online over three days,doubling the weekly average access.

Our Island’s Future was broadcast acrossTasmania on ABC TV exploring the spreadof communities across the island anddemonstrating that Tasmanians see a verypositive future for themselves, theircommunity and their State in the newmillennium.

ABC Queensland’s Outback Revival inLongreach addressed the decliningpopulation in the outback. This majorforum was a precursor to ABC BushDebates held during the Royal QueenslandShow in August on the theme — where citymeets country — providing city andcountry perspectives on issues such ascommodity prices and wool marketingschemes.

Marking the 10th anniversary of theNewcastle Earthquake and the end of steelmaking by BHP in the region, 1233 ABCNewcastle facilitated the Newcastle Debateon the future of the Newcastle region.

Responsiveness to local communities wasdemonstrated through the broadcast oflocal information during emergencies andcoverage of events of significance to localcommunities including the State Funeralsfor Dame Roma Mitchell in South Australiaand Eric Reece in Tasmania.

Weekly average accesses to local onlinesites in 1999–00 were: 83,707 to TheBackyard (Oct–June); 10,033 toGrandstand; and 41,613 to ABC RuralOnline. These statistics provide thebenchmarks for ongoing performance.

Sports coverageLive coverage of the National BasketballLeague 2000 finals was not possible dueto schedule commitments. However, asthe Perth Wildcats played in the GrandFinal, the match was broadcast live inWestern Australia on ABC TV and LocalRadio. Responding to audience interest,the National Soccer League (NSL)

elimination final between Perth Glory andWollongong Wolves was broadcastthroughout Western Australia on ABCtelevision. The Perth team won the match,earning the right to host the NSL GrandFinal which was televised live acrossAustralia.

The ABC’s decision to provide full livecoverage of the World Cup Netball finalAustralia vs New Zealand in Grandstandwas affirmed after the television rights weresold to another network.

A major achievement for Local andRegional Services was the acquisition oflong-term contracts for radio coverage ofcricket and football. A seven year contractwas signed with the Australian CricketBoard, while the National Rugby League(NRL) granted the ABC rights to coverRugby League for the next three years. TheABC is in its second year of a three yearagreement to cover the Australian FootballLeague (AFL). In a poll conducted byRugby League Week magazine in March,the ABC was voted as the best in thecoverage of Rugby League (47 per cent),ahead of 2UE (39 per cent) and 2GB (14per cent).

As part of the ABC’s Sports onlinegateway, a Grandstand site was establishedfeaturing a Cricket site with audio-streaming of ABC Radio’s cricketcoverage. The Cricket site recorded 50,000accesses in its first three days with105,000 accesses for the first Test Match.Complementing its football coverage,Grandstand introduced online NRL andAFL tipping competitions as well as weeklyforums where commentators discuss issuesand answer questions from the audience.South Australia introduced its own onlinetipping competition to support local ABCTV coverage of the SA National Footballleague.

Regional Racing InquiryIn June, the House of RepresentativesStanding Committee on Communications,Transport and the Arts delivered its reporton the Inquiry into the impact of thedecision by ABC radio to discontinue itsradio racing service.

29


Of the Committee’s ninerecommendations, one recommends thatthe Minister prepare amendments to theABC Act 1983 to require the Corporation‘under its Charter to consult more openlyand comprehensively with its audience’.

Olympic Games coverageABC Local Radio’s coverage of the Sydney2000 Olympic Games commenced with amajor broadcast from the Uluru Kata TjutaNational Park for the arrival of the OlympicFlame in Australia. Radio Sportsbroadcaster, Tim Lane and NorthernTerritory broadcaster, Gaye Pattison, co-presented three hours of live coverageinvolving the Governor General, Sir WilliamDeane and athlete Nova Peris Kneebone.This was the only live continuous coverageof this major event on Australian radio andwas audio-streamed on The Backyard.

The ABC finalised an agreement with Radio2UE Sydney and its affiliated stations toaccess and re-broadcast Local Radio’s livesports coverage of the Games, continuingan arrangement which has been in placesince the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Local Radio followed the Torch as itpassed through individual townsacross Australia. With the potential toreach 98 per cent of Australians, theABC’s coverage connected eachregion of the country with the Sydney2000 Games. A special Torch Relaywebsite was developed as an integralpart of both The Backyard and theABC’s Olympic website.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessThe ABC is installing PC-based digitalaudio workstations (DAWs) in regionalradio stations around Australia. DAWs usea critical linchpin in the move to digitalproduction allowing much greater flexibilityand use of audio material. The technologyis a cornerstone for cross-mediaproduction, enabling material to be re-usedacross a variety of outlets in different formsand may change the way radio archivesare collected, managed, stored andaccessed in the digital domain. DAWs willrelieve staff of repetitive and time-consuming manual tasks and allow greaterdevotion to improving the quality of theprogramming. The logistics of the systemalso facilitate increased sharing of materialbetween programs.

In 1999, a trial in Albany on the SouthCoast of Western Australia tested thevolume and cross-media usage oflocally acquired material. A specialposition was established to gathervision and develop online content to

complement radio output. Thisposition was retained to focuson generating video for TheBackyard. Video shot on digitalcameras by radio staff in anumber of regions is sent toAlbany for processing anduploading to the site.

Regional staff are producinginnovative low-cost video

The 1999 ABC Giving Tree choir singingtheir hearts out in front of the Tree.

Strings on the Strzelecki, cameraperson Andrew Burch and firstviolin Australian String Quartet Peter Tanfield cross Lake Hart, SA.

30


Marking the MillenniumThe ABC joined 55 national broadcasters around the world to deliver the world’scelebrations to mark the millennium, 2000 Today. An estimated, global audience of overthree billion people watched the program.

ABC production crews and facilities across Australia were involved in the global program,a co-production of the BBC and WGBH. For the production of this program the ABCestablished and technically directed the Asia Pacific satellite hub, one of three, for theinternational broadcast of 2000 Today.

The program included the West Australian Symphony Orchestra performing for NewYear’s Eve at Cottesloe Beach while the sun set on the last day of 1999.

A 90 minute video tape of 2000 Today showing spectacular footage of the Australianhighlights was produced from the 26 hour broadcast and 29,000 copies were sold by theend of June.

Radio National celebrated the millennium with A Thousand Years In A Day, a marathonhistory of the second millennium, century by century, in a single day. The broadcastbrought together specialist program-makers from across the network, as well as leadingthinkers from around the world. Historian Ken Inglis described it as ‘a daring andglorious feat of broadcasting’.

A 10-CD set of the program was released by ABC Enterprises.

Local and Regional stations produced the Millennium Tapes, a celebration of Australia’sregional diversity. The West Australian Symphony Orchestra concert at Cottesloe Beachwas broadcast, as was Click, the New Year’s Eveconcert in Adelaide.

Local Radio’s coverage on New Year’s Eve 1999featured live hourly reports on Year 2000celebrations around the globe. Presented from theMillennium Dome in London, the radio snapshotscovered Antarctica, New Zealand’s early passageinto 2000 and Y2K issues, along with celebrationsin Moscow’s Red Square, New York’s TimesSquare and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

A special feature was the live coverage of NewYear’s Eve festivities in Dili by 105.7 ABC Darwin. Cherie Beach in Dili.

essays for the site to develop skills invideo story telling. The essays includevisual guides to local ABC stationsand local regional centres, as well asshort pieces on local arts festivals,interviews with interesting charactersand other feature pieces.

Using new portable equipment, LocalRadio in the Northern Territory undertookits first ever Outside Broadcast (OB), fromPine Creek south of Darwin and from theOenpelli Aboriginal community in Kakadu,

including live music from the Narbalekband. In addition, two OBs were conductedfrom Nhulunbuy in Arnhem land, the firsttime Local Radio has been able tobroadcast live from this town.

An exchange program between ABC RuralRadio and BBC Rural was finalised withspecialist rural reporters in eachorganisation to share ideas andapproaches to rural broadcasting throughexchanging roles.

31


ABC RadioAudiencesOverall weekly reach for ABC radio in theeight major cities increased by 0.9 per centto an annual average of 3,959,000 (whichis 35 per cent of the eight city populationaged 10+).

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

NewsRadioClassic FMTriple JRadioNational

ABCLocal Radio

Average Weekly Radio Reach — Eight CityAudience (millions)

Average Weekly Radio ReachRegional RadioAudience (millions)

0.0

0.3

0.6

0.9

1.2

1.5

CFM

Trip

le J

RN

Loc

al R

adio

ABC

0

10

20

30

40

50

Radio Audience Shareper cent

PerthAdelaide

BrisbaneMelbourne

Sydney HobartDarwin

CanberraNewcastle

1999

1998

1997

1996

2000

Regional Australia surveys of late 1999and early 2000 found ABC radio wasreaching:

No. of people % of populationNSW 840,000 40.2%Qld 633,000 40.1%SA 145,000 49.3%Vic 502,000 42.9%WA 228,000 53.7%Tas 186,000 49.8%Total 2,534,000 42.1%The ABC’s aggregate share of radiolistening remained unchanged in Sydney at19.2 per cent, Adelaide 21.3 per cent,Brisbane 22.4 per cent and Hobart 38.2per cent. It increased in Melbourne to 20.9per cent, Newcastle 21.1 per cent andPerth 26.4 per cent and fell in Canberra to41.6 per cent.

Metro radio’s weekly reach across the eightcities of 1,979,000 is 1.2 per cent up onthe 1998–99 figure.

Source:1999–2000 ACNielsenRegionalRadio surveys.This series isnotcomparableto previousyears, due tomethodologicalchanges.

In Sydney 702’s weekly reach and share fell to 511,000and 6.8 per cent. In Melbourne 774 went up to 656,000and 10.7 per cent. Brisbane’s 612 went up fractionally to237,000 and 8.5 per cent. Adelaide’s 891 had a reducedreach of 140,000 but a stable share at 6.8 per cent.Perth’s 720 rose to 232,000 and 10 per cent. Canberra’s666 had a fractionally reduced reach of 81,000 but asubstantially reduced share of 14.3 per cent. Hobart’s 936reach rose to 65,000 but the share was down to 19.9 percent.

Newcastle’s 1233 reach was down to 57,000 but theshare rose to 8.1 per cent.

Radio National’s overall eight city reach was down slightly(1.2 per cent) to 646,000 while the share was also downfractionally from 1.9 per cent to 1.8 per cent.

ABC Classic FM’s eight city reach was up (by 3 per cent)to 773,000 while its share dropped fractionally from 2.8per cent to 2.7 per cent.

Triple J’s eight cityreach increased (by 0.5per cent) to 1,556,000and its share went from6.9 per cent to 7 percent.

NewsRadio’s reachincreased (by 4.5 percent) to 550,000 whileits share stayed steadyat 1.1 per cent.

32


NationalNetworks

Meeting our commitmentsNational Networks portfolio managed thenational and international electronic outletsof the ABC: Network Television, RadioNational, ABC Classic FM, NewsRadio,Triple J, ABC Online and Radio Australia.The portfolio was responsible forcommissioning, purchasing, schedulingand promoting programs for all networks.

In the ABC’s new structure, whilemaintaining a cross-media creative focus,the networks will revert to a function-basedmanagement structure: national radionetworks and Radio Australia will join localand regional services in ABC Radio, onlineservices will become part of New Media,and ABC Television will be in charge of theCorporation’s digital television network.

Radio NationalRadio National program highlights for theyear included A Thousand Years in a Dayto celebrate the Millennium (see box page30): Robert Dessaix’s 10 part series ongreat travellers in history; The Descent OfMan, a four-part series on neo-Darwinism;Dynasties, a five-part series examiningAustralian family dynasties; and Limelight,a six-part series where guests talked intheir own terms about their interests,passions and obsessions and played themusic of their choice.

To coincide with the beginning of the newtaxation system in Australia, RadioNational introduced a new weeklyprogram, The Business Report, producedand presented by the new business andfinance desk in News and Current Affairs.Public forums on Radio National included aseries of events called The FutureExchange, exploring issues surrounding theinformation economy, and the annualseries of public forums on journalismissues, The Munster Lectures.

ABC Classic FMABC Classic FM maintained itscommitment to promote the musical,dramatic and other performing arts inAustralia through an extensive schedule ofrecording and broadcasting of live musicand comprehensive coverage of artsfestivals across the country. Highlights

33


included the live broadcast of all threestages — some 60 hours — of theMelbourne International Chamber MusicCompetition in July; direct broadcasts ofthe semi-finals and final of theImprovisatory Music Festival Award inAugust; and the National Final of the YoungPerformers Award, simulcast on ABCTelevision and ABC Classic FM inSeptember.

Network Festival coverage included the10th Sydney Spring International Festivalof New Music, the broadcast of 16 concertsfrom the Melbourne Festival and therecording and broadcast of 30 concertsduring the 15 days of the Adelaide Festival.The Margaret Throsby program travelled toAdelaide for a series of interviews. On NewYear’s Day, ABC Classic FM celebrated theMillennium with a day of specialprogramming of outstanding performancesby all the major orchestras, recordedduring 1999. During the day, four newworks for piano, especially commissionedby ABC Classic FM, were performed byMichael Kieran Harvey on the AustralianStuart piano.

Triple JThe network’s New Year’s Eve broadcastcomprised content from Y2J, thesuccessful interactive radio/onlinecampaign broadcast on the network andthe Internet. Programming includedPostcards from the Future, Party Safe tips,global vox pops and live music, presentedin revolving one hour shifts.

Triple J’s Hottest 100 most popular musicpoll for 1999 was once again a hugesuccess, attracting a record number ofvotes, via the Internet and mail, from morethan 650,000 listeners. The countdown forlast year’s most popular songs wasbroadcast on Australia Day. Triple J’s artsprogram, Creatures of the Spotlightfeatured the Perth and Adelaide FringeFestivals with a live broadcast from theAdelaide Festival.

Triple J’s Real Appeal for the MirabelFoundation, held over the weekend of 17–19 September, raised just over $300,000 toassist children whose lives have beenaffected by parental illicit drug use.Fundraising activities, which werebroadcast live, as well as via audio andvideo streaming on the Internet, followed aweek-long on-air exploration of the issue ofsubstance abuse.

NewsRadioDuring the 1999–2000 financial year,NewsRadio placed greater emphasis onexpanding its financial, Internet andtechnology coverage, including introducingNetNews a weekly half hour program, andTechNews broadcast several times daily.

The network’s extensive coverage of eventsin East Timor included live broadcasts ofnews conferences by key figures, includingthe Australian Prime Minister, theIndonesian President, and the leader of theInternational Peace-keeping forces, MajorGeneral Peter Cosgrove.

NewsRadio also provided comprehensivecoverage of issues in the leadup to the Republic referendum.Among the highlights of thenetwork’s live coverage was thebroadcast of the AustraliaDeliberates conference inCanberra. On Anzac Day,NewsRadio mounted specialprogramming including asimulcast with NetworkTelevision of the Gallipoli DawnService, and the dedication ofthe new memorial, attended bythe Australian and New ZealandPrime Ministers.

A scene from Something in the Air

34


The network maintained its close links withoverseas public broadcasters and duringthe year broadcast daily newsprogramming from the BBC, RadioNetherlands, Deutsche Welle and RadioCanada, as well as the flagship program,All Things Considered, from NationalPublic Radio in the United States. Featureprogramming on Christmas Day included atwo hour package, produced for theoccasion for NewsRadio, by RadioNetherlands.

Radio AustraliaDuring the 1999–2000 financial year,Radio Australia maintained its role as theABC’s ‘Asia Pacific Network’. It providedunprecedented coverage of major events inAustralia’s neighbourhood: the East Timorreferendum and Australia’s commitment oftroops there, the continuing fallout from theAsian economic downturn, politicalupheaval in Papua New Guinea, historicalelections in Taiwan, communal violence inSolomon Islands and the political coup inFiji. For the first time, Internet coveragewas provided in several languages onspecially dedicated websites.

Major shortwave transmission issuescontinue to limit Radio Australia’s reachinto Asia. Multilingual relays andrebroadcasts of Radio Australia viashortwave, satellite audio CDs and theInternet continued to grow with over 200stations and outlets around the world,including 105 in Asia and the Pacific alone.In recent developments, Radio Australiaprogramming is delivered using MP3Internet technology to Taiwan forrebroadcast over Asia, and in Indonesia,Radio Australia material is now syndicatedby some partner stations to their own localnetwork.

Educational activities expanded with thepackaging of educational radio and onlinematerial and the completion of two newseries on Converging Communications andDevelopment Issues in the Pacific. Newseries, on Globalisation and Media andDemocracy, are in progress. Fifty-two localradio stations, libraries and universitiesacross Asia and the Pacific have taken upa previous series on economics providedon CD or CD-ROM.

Radio Australia celebrated its 60thanniversary in early December 1999.

EducationABC Education Services, established as across-media program development unit inearly 1999, provided a Corporation-widefocus to opportunities for lifelong learningin the emerging digital media environment.The ABC and Open Learning Australiahave been jointly developing and testing aninnovative online learning resource,Business Village, to support students ofintroductory accounting. This projectexemplifies the value of combiningacademic and media expertise to createnew educational solutions which exploit thepotential of multimedia to engage andmotivate learners.

Schools and Lifelong Learning servicescontinued to be broadcast by ABCTelevision and Radio National. Long-running news and current affairs programBehind the News continued to attract aviewing audience of over 1 millionstudents. Major new television productionsincluded: Our Animals, 24 shortdocumentaries on Australian animals forlower-to-middle primary students; Artzone,a series for secondary students onAustralian artists produced by FilmAustralia; Visions of Democracy, aninternational co-production looking at thedemocratic systems of six countries; andnew episodes of the popular series, For theJuniors.

Talkback Classroom, an ABC radio forumfor secondary students, expanded from itsplace of origin in Victoria to also be aregular feature in South Australia and theACT. Produced in association with State/Territory Education Departments and theParliamentary Education Office(Canberra), Talkback Classroom gives‘voice’ and vocational experience tostudents within a teacher-mediated andprofessional broadcasting environment.Students provide regular segments forTriple J and Local Radio stations in theform of discussion panels and interviewswith politicians and public figures.

Among the new cross-media productionventures is Writers on Writing, a five-and-a-half hour television series complemented

35


by a three-and-a-half-hour Radio Nationalproduction and supporting web site.

Online servicesIn August 1999, ABC Online won theaward for ‘Best Media Site’ at theprestigious Australian Internet Awards.ABC Online has won this award three outof the last four years.

An Accord between the ABC andCinemedia in Victoria, was signed in July1999. The Accord establishes a $3.2million cash and in-kind resource over twoyears to fund collaborative multimediaprojects between the Victorian-basedindependent production sector and theABC.

While launching NAIDOC Week in July1999 at the ABC Ultimo Centre, SenatorAden Ridgeway officially launched MessageStick, the ABC Online Indigenous gateway.The site is designed to be a resource foraccessing information about the ABC’sIndigenous production across radio,television and online and an informationsource on Indigenous issues such as

protocol as well as intellectual copyrightand culture.

ABC Online launched Footprints on theMoon, a major web presentation tocelebrate the 30th anniversary of the firstmoon landing. The site included threeoriginal Apollo-related stories, anillustrated transcript of the 1994 Quantumdocumentary of the same name and anonline forum. The pictures and text werealso accompanied with a synchronisedReal Audio soundtrack.

In order to maximise exposure of ABCspecialist programming related to Asia andthe Pacific, Radio Australia developed anAsia Pacific Online Gateway from its ownspecialist base. Radio Australia hasdeveloped engaging and culturallyappropriate online and radio productionformats such as the successful CarvingOut and In the Pipeline series. Bilingualonline coverage was provided of theIndonesian elections and the East Timorreferendum. The Indonesian electionwebsite was a finalist in the Walkley mediaawards.

NewsRadio continued to develop itswebsite, and to provide online audio-streaming to audiences outside theservice’s transmitters, within Australia andoverseas. A significant development wasthe addition of audio on demand includingitems from NewsRadio’s program oncommunications and technology, NetNews,and the daily stock market report.

Radio National’s website has beenredesigned and is developing new ways ofengaging with its many audiences throughinteractive forums, online audio, andonline, special-interest mail lists. Thenetwork now hosts an average of one on-line forum a month, usually immediatelyafter a program is broadcast, giving itsaudience the opportunity to engage withthe ideas in the programs, to take theprograms further, to challenge program-makers, and make them think about howthey make programs and what they makethem about. By the end of 2000, RadioNational will have most of its programsavailable as online audio.NAIDOC week at the ABC

LtoR: Senator Aden Ridgeway with ABC staff JulieWilson and Brian Grant

36


The popularity of the Triple J website isevident in its access figures over the last 12months. Voting for the Hottest 100 songs ofthe year resulted in the site achieving itshighest levels of accesses - 509,038 for theweek ending 19 December. For the 2000year to date, the site is averaging 318,736weekly accesses. At the inauguralAustralian Online Music Awards, Triple Jwon an ONYA Award for ‘The Best MusicRadio Website’.

Through live audio-streaming of theSydney International Piano Competition,the ABC Classic FM website recorded itshighest level of accesses to date.

The ABC Children’s Television website, ThePlayground, is the second most accessedsite on the ABC server, after News Online.The Playground has an average of 400,384accesses per week.

ABC Children’s Television is hosting LinkUp as part of the ABC’s contribution to theWorld Summit on Media for Children. LinkUp is an international youth website whichfeatures personal web pages from youngpeople around the world, including events,forums, short videos and artwork. Thisonline international event will culminate ina virtual forum at the third World Summiton Media for Children in Greece in 2001.

ABC Education is developing the output ofweb-based resources for schools with newsites for Our Animals and For the Juniorsbeing offered in 1999–2000 to assistteachers and students in their use of theseseries. The Behind the News site continuesto be popular with teachers and studentsusing the weekly program.Going digitalDuring the year the Corporation researchedand developed a program and content planfor digital terrestrial television consisting ofadditional television services with anumber of proposed program streams:

´ ABC Kids. — The ABC’s successful,valued and distinctive children’sprograms available throughout theday and the weekends

´ ABC Knowledge — Educational andinformation programs that assistlifelong learning and coping strategiesin a changing society

´ ABC Local — Local and communityinformation programming and stationidentity.

The ABC also proposed wide-rangingcontent that would add new dimensions totelevision:

´ a seven-day electronic program guide´ text and graphics enhancements to

programs such as teachers notes toeducational content, recipes forcooking segments or statistics andhighlights of sports events

´ news, finance and weather updates.

As part of the preliminary work the ABCproduced a number of program pilots andpresentations to parliamentary, communityand industry groups. These included:

´ A demonstration of the fullyinteractive program and contentpossibilities that will be available overthe next few years

´ A number of consumer informationprograms (e.g. health) todemonstrate digital televisionproduction methods and the potentialvalue of producing programs formultiple outlets eg; television, radio,online and broadband

´ On Location, a program made by theABC’s regional reporters andbroadcasters using the latestconsumer digital cameras.

The ABC’s digital programming andcontent plans are being reassessed in thelight of the lack of additional funds for thenext triennium and the digital broadcastinglegislation passed by the FederalParliament at the end of June.

Radio National’s main studios in Sydneyhave been completely refitted and all RadioNational programs in Sydney are movingto a digital audio editing system.

37


Australian contentIn maintaining the ABC’s ongoingcommitment to Australian musicperformance and composition, Australiancontent levels of music performance (andmusic composition on ABC Classic FM)are established annually for each radionetwork.

During the 1999-2000 financial year, allradio networks exceeded their targets formusic performance. The averagepercentage of Australian musicperformance was 41 per cent on Triple Jand 39 per cent on Radio National. ABCClassic FM recorded an average of 31 percent Australian music performance andnine per cent Australian composition. ABCClassic FM’s New Music Australia won theAustralian Music Centre Award for ‘MostDistinguished Contribution to thePresentation of Australian Music by anOrganisation’.

Triple J was awarded the Ted Albert Awardfor Outstanding Service to Australian Musicat the Australasian Performing RightsAssociation (APRA) Awards.

The network’s highly successful Unearthedproject, fostering new Australian talent,continued throughout the year, uncoveringhidden talent in regional centres andcapital cities. In July the network“Unearthed” Geraldton in WesternAustralia. Other towns and cities“Unearthed” included Hamilton in Victoriain August, Mackay during October, WaggaWagga in February and Mt Isa in May.

Since the project’s inception in 1995, morethan 8,000 entries have been received and79 winners have been “Unearthed” from54 regions across Australia.

Triple J celebrated Australian Music Monthduring November. The network devotedeach week’s Live at the Wireless to anAustralian act, featured a new Australianalbum each week and broadcast allAustralian music over the final weekend ofthe month.

The feature Ocean of Time, a co-productionbetween ABC Radio Arts Features Unit andRadio New Zealand, was broadcast in earlyJanuary on ABC Classic FM, RadioAustralia, Radio National and theequivalent networks in New Zealand. Theprogram was a sound poem comprisingarchival and environmental sounds fromthe Pacific over the last 100 years. Awebsite was established to commemoratethe event and seek listener contributions.

National Poetry DayNational networks celebrated NationalPoetry Day with Dorothy Porter’s TheMonkey’s Mask in Soundstage on ABCClassic FM, Independence by AndrewMotion in Airplay, a feature on John Forbesin PoeticA, and a number of special piecesin Arts Today on Radio National. A poll tofind the nation’s favourite love poemattracted approximately 20,000 votes bytelephone and on ABC Online’s NationalPoetry Day website. The winner was W. H.Auden’s Funeral Blues (Stop The Clocks).

Scene from on The Farm

38


Network TelevisionABC television strengthened itscommitment to deliver diverse anddistinctive Australian content across allprogram genres.

ArtsArts programming reported anddocumented cultural life, encompassing thevisual and performing arts, music andcritical analysis.

In addition to The Arts Show and SundayAfternoon, the ABC broadcast highlights ofthe Adelaide Festival and a Sunday StereoSpecial series of nine programs, includingthe Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’sfarewell concert in January 2000 prior totheir European tour.

A new series of arts forums featuringleading Australian cultural figures wasintroduced as part of Sunday Afternoon.The Sunday afternoon schedule was furtherenhanced in April by The Last Word, a seriesof news and interviews on literature, and inOctober by Message Stick, a half hourweekly cultural program produced by theIndigenous Program Unit.

ABC initiatives celebrating National PoetryDay included Conversation with a DeadPoet, on the life of John Forbes.

YouthABC television offered an innovative rangeof youth and contemporary cultureprograms such as The 10:30 Slot, Studio 22and Race Around Oz. Introduced in August1999, The 10:30 Slot presented local andinternational music, comedians, artists andactors. Studio 22 presented live musicconcert performances for a late nightaudience.

Following the successful Race Around theWorld and Race Around The Corner, a newseries, Race Around Oz commenced in May2000. Six candidates were chosen to travelaround Australia, making a mini-documentary every 10 days, for 60 days.

Children’sIn 1999-2000 the ABC broadcast 1,785hours of children’s programs, including 459hours of Australian children’s programs, 54hours of which were first release programs.During the year the there was strong

support from young viewers: 18 ABCchildren’s programs were in the top 20children’s program viewed by Australianchildren up to 12 years old in an ACNeilsen survey of the top 50 children’sprograms in Australia, across all stations inthe five major city metropolitan areas in1999–2000. Forty-six of the top 50children’s programs for that age groupwere ABC programs.

A special four and half hours of children’sprograms were broadcast on 12 December1999 to mark UNICEF InternationalChildren’s Day of Broadcast.

On 1 July 1999 Mr Squiggle celebrated his40th Birthday.

DramaThe most notable Australian production onABC Television in 1999–2000 was theacclaimed second series of SeaChange.The ABC’s most watched program ever, itachieved an average, weekly metropolitanaudience of 1.8 million viewers and aregional average of 779,000 viewers.

Other Australian drama productions ofnote were the Australian tele-movie, SecretMen’s and the series Something In The Air.A tele-movie in July 1999, Time and Tide,was commissioned to acknowledge theInternational Year of the Older Person.

ComedyThe first two episodes of the second seriesof The Games broadcast in June 2000 werewatched by over 1.3 million metropolitanviewers and over half a million regionalviewers.

The weekly, half hour current affairs satire,BackBerner, and a second series of thesketch comedy, Micallef began in August.The ABC also screened Dog’s Head Bay, asituation comedy written by Australia’sbest-known playwright, David Williamson.Standing Up, a series showcasing stand-upcomedians, was developed from materialrecorded at the 1999 Melbourne ComedyFestival.

A quiz show co-production, Flashback,produced in Adelaide commenced inJanuary 2000 at 6 pm Monday toThursdays.

39


DocumentaryProgramming to mark Australia’sanniversary of Federation began in October1999 with Federation: A Three-PartJourney to Nationhood. Over 40 hours ofprograms are scheduled throughout thecoming year covering the Centenary ofFederation.

Flight for Life was filmed over six monthsfocusing on Royal Flying Doctor Servicebases at Broken Hill and Port Augusta andthe thousands of square kilometre bases inwhich they operate. The four partdocumentary series, Auto Stories, aboutpeople’s relationships with their cars,premiered in January 2000. In its secondweek, Auto Stories was among the top 20most popular television programsscreening in Australia that week.

Other innovative documentaries includedthe award winning documentaries, BushMechanics, produced by the Walpiri MediaAssociation in central Australia, screenedin November 1999, and ScreamingWheelies, a documentary about the lives ofsix men and women who participated inthe 1996 Paralympic and 1998 WorldChampionship Australian wheelchairbasketball teams, broadcast in April 2000.Screaming Wheelies received the award forbest Documentary Short at the 2000 SantaClarita International Film Festival. BushMechanic won an Australian Film InstituteAward in the Non-feature Open Craftcategory. (see awards in Appendix 6)

On the eve of International Day of theOlder Person the documentary, A Stage inOur Lives, chronicled the lives of five olderAustralians.

ScienceThe weekly half hour science programQuantum continued to explore theprocesses by which new discoveries andscientific advances occur. As part ofNational Science Week, Quantum featuredthe annual Australian Museum EurekaPrizes for outstanding achievements inAustralian science.

Other programs included the ABCTelevision Science production, The Sunand a nine part science series, FAQ,considered current events from a scientificbut entertaining perspective.

Another highlight was the television eventWalking with Dinosaurs, a BBC producedsix-part animated television series whichbrought dinosaurs back to life. The ABCadapted the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurswebsite for ABC Online and the video, aCD and book which evolved from the serieswere sold in ABC Shops.

Natural HistoryA three-part series about the most amazingarchipelago on earth was shown in October1999. In Islands of the Vampire Birds andTwo Years in Galapagos, David Parer and

ElizabethParer-Cookexploredmore of thefascinatingfeatures oftheGalapagosfirstintroducedtoaudienceswith theEmmyawardwinningDragons oftheGalapagos,in 1999.

Brian and Jenny Pumpa in the ABC’s Flight for Life

Female tyrannosaurus fromWalking with Dinosaurs

40


Developing efficiency andeffectivenessEfficient and effective use of ABC talentsand resources was maximised during theyear by the continued development ofcross-media and team-based productionprocedures and operations. This frequentlyinvolves collaboration between radio,television and online production teams tocreate additional or value added contentfrom their work. Some examples are:

� The establishment of a multimediaeducational series and specialbilingual websites in response tomajor regional events such as theTimor and Solomon Islands crises.These productions fostered closercooperation between radio and onlineproduction units. Internet audio andtext publishing in several languageson a daily basis further integratedcross media activities for RadioAustralia broadcasters andjournalists.

� The introduction of a cross-mediaproducer/presenter to create health-related material for radio, televisionand online.

� The production of a televisiondocumentary from a NAIDOC Weekactivity, Desert Rap Hip Hop, a coursein which young Aborigines weretaught Hip-Hop and the art of mixingand rapping.

� A multimedia collaboration by ABCClassic FM and ABC Online to markthe life, music and achievements ofmusician and composer Peter

Sculthorpe with the creation of awebsite which explores his lifethrough text, photos, music extractsand audio highlights.

Network television’s multimedia teamcarried out a review of options fordeveloping television-related multimediacontent for online, datacasting and othernew media delivery systems. The televisiongateway on ABC Online has beenenhanced following the review:

� Video previews of selected televisionprograms are now available on theABC Online television gateway andclick-through to synopses andarchival transcripts of programs areavailable.

� Current Affairs programs regularlyhold interactive forums following theirprogram in which key reporters andpresenters participate. As well asbeing value added content for theaudience, this kind of activity hasadditional benefits in preparingtechnical and creative teams forinteractive digital services.

� These collaborative activities haveestablished a basis for further cross-media team activities, such as thedevelopment of an ElectronicProgram Guide (EPG) in preparationfor the commencement of digitaltelevision. The EPG will provideaudiences with a simple and user-friendly way of navigating through therange of new services which willbecome available over the next fewyears.

Overseas repeat 15.2%

Overseas first release 26.2%

Australian repeat 6.0%

Australian first release 52.6%

Network Television Content6pm–midnight

Overseas repeat 31.0%

Overseas first release 13.2%

Australian repeat 20.8%

Australian first release 35.0%

Network Television Content6am–midnight

41


Television Content Analysis

Most Popular Metropolitan Programs

Audience Audience1999–2000 (000s) 1998–1999 (000s)

1 SeaChange (series 2) .................... 1827 1 SeaChange (series 2) ................ 19492 Monarch Of The Glen .................... 1517 2 Mrs Brown ................................. 16033 The Bill (Saturday) ........................ 1452 3 The Bill (Saturday) .................... 14714 Greatest Wildlife Show .................. 1414 4 Seachange (ser. 1 repeat) .......... 13805 Edinburgh Military Tattoo .............. 1407 5 Ballykissangel ........................... 13116 Walking With Dinosaurs ................ 1389 6 Pie In The Sky ........................... 12667 The Games (Series 2) ................... 1357 7 Fawlty Towers ........................... 12588. The Bill (Tuesday) ......................... 1285 8 The Vicar Of Dibley (Easter sp.) 12389. David Copperfield ......................... 1221 9 The Bill (Tuesday) ..................... 123010 ABC News Update ......................... 1185 10 The Vicar Of Dibley ................... 118511 The Vicar Of Dibley ....................... 1181 11 Edinburgh Military Tattoo .......... 117512 Secret Men’s Business ................... 1142 12 Life Of Birds .............................. 113813 Dr Bell and Mr Doyle ..................... 1124 13 The Human Body ...................... 110214 Maisie Raine .................................. 1119 14 Two Fat Ladies .......................... 109615 Referendum 1999 ......................... 1119 15 ABC Evening News ................... 109116 Late Edition News ......................... 1112 16 Late Edition News ..................... 104517 Mrs Bradley Mysteries ................... 1079 17 Sunday News ............................ 100918 The Madness of King George ............. 1072 18 Living Edens ............................. 100619 ABC Evening News ....................... 1068 19 Yes Prime Minister ..................... 100020 Second Sight ................................. 1061 20 Missing Postman .......................... 995

Most Popular Regional Programs

Audience Audience1999–2000 (000s) 1998–1999 (000s)

1 SeaChange (series 2) ...................... 764 1 SeaChange (series 2) .................. 8952 Monarch Of The Glen ...................... 700 2 The Bill (Saturday) ...................... 6753 Greatest Wildlife Show .................... 665 3 SeaChange (series 1) .................. 6524 The Bill (Saturday) .......................... 653 4 Edinburgh Military Tattoo ............ 6305 Edinburgh Military Tattoo ................ 616 5 Mrs Brown ................................... 6206 The Bill (Tuesday) ........................... 581 6 The Vicar Of Dibley (Easter sp.) .. 5927 Walking With Dinosaurs .................. 571 7 Fawlty Towers ............................. 5778 The Games (Series 2) ..................... 553 8 Pie In The Sky ............................. 5639 Cats ................................................ 550 9 The Bill (Tuesday) ....................... 55710 Maisie Raine .................................... 542 10 Ballykissangel ............................. 55411 ABC News Update ........................... 519 11 The Vicar Of Dibley ..................... 54512 Tiger ............................................... 509 12 Royal Wedding ............................ 54113 Late Edition News ........................... 493 13 7:30 Report Special ..................... 50014 ABC News Saturday ........................ 491 14 The Life of Birds .......................... 49215 The Vicar Of Dibley ......................... 482 15 Living Edens ............................... 48216 Referendum 1999 ........................... 473 16 Two Fat Ladies ............................ 48017 ABC News Sunday .......................... 465 17 The Human Body ........................ 47018 Time and Tide ................................. 463 18 ABC News Sunday ...................... 46619 Flight For Life ................................. 459 19 Late Edition News ....................... 46120 Living Britain ................................... 456 20 ABC Evening News ..................... 454

42


Television Content Analysis (continued)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

first run

repeat

Overseas ContentFirst run vs Repeatper cent

6pm to midnight

6am to midnight

first run

repeat

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

0

500

1000

1500

2000

Prom

otio

nsTr

ansm

issi

onSp

ort

Scie

nce

& T

alks

Rel

igio

usN

ews

Mov

ies

Feat

ures

Ente

rtai

nmen

tEd

ucat

ion

Dra

ma

Doc

umen

tary

Cur

rent

Affa

irs

Com

edy

Chi

ldre

n's

Art

s

Television program analysishours transmitted

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

20001999199819971996

6am to midnight

6pm to midnight

Australian Content 1996–2000per cent

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Repeat

First release

Repeat

First release

6am to midnight

6pm to midnight

Australian Content per cent

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

First run programsper cent

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

20001999199819971996

6pm to midnight

6am to midnight

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

6pm to midnight

6am to midnight

20001999199819971996

ABC made programs (first run)Hours broadcast

43


4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Television Audience Share per cent

PerthAdelaideBrisbaneMelbourneSydney

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

Television — Average Weekly Reach per cent

60

63

66

69

72

75

PerthAdelaideBrisbaneMelbourneSydney

ABC TelevisionAudiencesABC Television’s average weekly reach inthe 6 am to 6 am timeslot was 8 928 000people in the five cities of Sydney,Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.This is a decrease of 29 000 from1998–99.

Average regional weekly reach was3 978 000 people, a decrease of 242 000over 1998–99.

In percentage terms, ABC Television’s fivecity weekly reach was 69.9 per cent, adecline of 1.3 per cent compared to1998–99.

In individual cities, ABC Television’s weeklyaudience reach decreased slightly from theprevious year in Sydney (to 67.7 per cent),Melbourne (69.5 per cent) and Perth (69.7

per cent). Weekly audience reachincreased from the previous year inBrisbane (72.9 per cent) and Adelaide(73.0 per cent).

Regional weekly reach was 68.3 per cent, adecline of 4.5 per cent compared to theprevious year.

ABC Television’s average, metropolitanfour weekly reach (6 am to 6 am) was11,062,000, an increase of 47,000 over1998–99.

Average four weekly reach (6 am to 6 am)in regional areas was 4 891 000, adecrease of 244 000 over 1998/99.*

In percentage terms, the four weekly reachwas 86.6 per cent in the five cities, adecline of 1 per cent over the previousyear.

Four weekly reach was 83.9 per cent inregional areas, a decline of 4.4 per centcompared to the previous year.

* Note that there issome duplication ofmetropolitan andregional surveyareas, so thesefigures cannot beadded to arrive atan Australian total.

44


News &CurrentAffairs

News and Current Affairs continued to be aleading provider of news, analysis andinformation on radio, television, online andRadio Australia. More than 600 journalistsand 200 support staff covered Australialocally, regionally and nationally; while 20correspondents in 14 ABC foreign bureausprovided a uniquely Australian perspectiveon world events.

Following the restructure introduced by theManaging Director at the end of June2000, a new Director of News and CurrentAffairs was appointed.

Meeting our commitmentsThe year offered many opportunities todeliver independent and comprehensivenews, analysis and information.

Foreign coverage shifted dramatically toregional affairs, with unrest in Indonesia,heavy fighting and social turmoil in EastTimor, and political instability in Fiji andthe Solomon Islands. ABC correspondentsand crews provided in-depth and oftenexclusive coverage of rapidly-changingevents, at times under extreme duress. Theprotracted and unpredictable nature ofthese stories, the increased impact onoperating budgets was considerable.

Highlights of domestic coverage includedthe radio cash-for-comment affair,Aboriginal reconciliation, a stream of illegalarrivals in northern Australia, the RepublicReferendum, the Victorian state elections,

Deann Stevens and David Curnow in the integrated Adelaide newsroom

45


mandatory sentencing laws in the NorthernTerritory and Western Australia, blackmailscares on pharmaceutical products, theGST and tax reforms, the Glenbrook traincrash, the Childers backpackers’ hostelfire, ongoing scandals in both Test cricketand the lead-up to the Sydney 2000Olympics.

News and Current Affairs addressedchanging audience needs. Researchshowed growing demand for late eveningtelevision news, especially in major centresand among younger viewers. As a result,Lateline switched from its interview formatto news and news analysis, with a strongbusiness/finance component. The initialresponse was a slight increase in audiencefigures. The 7pm television News inSydney and Perth also introduced businesssegments.

There was a total of 19,587 phone calls,letters and emails received from news andcurrent affairs audiences. Of these, 13 292(67.9 per cent) were in the categories ofappreciation, requests, suggestions andgeneral comment. A further 6 295 (32.1

per cent) were complaints across a rangeof issues, down from 7 326 in 1998–99.

A performance study, released in January,showed that those who used ABC as asource of news and current affairs on mostdays (television, radio or online) rose from98 per cent to 99 per cent. Ninety per centof respondents thought the ABC was doinga good job of being balanced and even-handed when reporting news and currentaffairs. Eighty-six per cent of respondentsagreed ABC coverage of regional news andissues was good, compared with 52 percent for commercial media services.

Overall, audiences remained strong.Across five major cities, the projectedaverage nightly audience for the 7pmNational News (Monday–Friday) on ABCtelevision was 1,070,000 viewers. The 7.30Report average nightly audience across thefive cities was 787,000.

Going digitalNews and Current Affairs is embracing newtechnology and practices with theinstallation of non-linear editing and

Annual Production of News & Current Affairs

These figures do not include election night broadcasts, Budget Specials or newsspecials. Order in the House and National Press Club Luncheons have also beenexcluded. All radio figures are national totals, Metros being all metropolitan stationscombined.

Radio Current Affairs:Outlet HoursPM 200AM 130Early AM 41Saturday AM 24The World Today 200Correspondents Report 20Total 615

TV Current Affairs:Outlet HoursLateline 94Four Corners 32Foreign Correspondent 42The 7.30 Report 130 |Australian Story 21Landline 46Stateline 147Total 512

Radio News:Outlet HoursMetro 7228RN 884Triple J 676FM 728Regionals 1196Total 10,712

TV News:Outlet HoursWorld At Noon 1257.00pm 1222Updates, Late News,Weekend News 132Total 1,479

46


automated point-to-point syndicationsystems which will be completed over thenext 12 months.

These systems will integrate with theAvstar newsroom computer system,installed in Adelaide this year and due in allmajor centres by May 2001. Avstarreplaces the text-only Basys system andabout 1,000 ABC staff will need to betrained on the new systems. It willautomate several news productionprocesses and allow efficient multimediacontent sharing. Ultimately individual ABCjournalists will be able to shape radio,television and text stories, syndicate andplay them to air — all from their desktopPCs.

News and Current Affairs collocation ofstaff and operations was completed inPerth, Hobart and Adelaide. Collocation inMelbourne (Southbank) is due forcompletion by November 2000. The majorcomponent — collocating Sydney Newsand Current Affairs in Ultimo — wasdelayed until after the Olympics, and is duefor completion by July 2001.

News and Current Affairs worked closelywith other ABC portfolios on digital contentstrategies, piloting an early-evening localnews and information television show outof ABC Brisbane in preparation for multi-channelling services.

Significant moves are being made toimprove television weather presentationand a new computer-generated animationsystem is due on air early in 2001. Thenew system will be able to ingest data

automatically as the weather changes.

ABC News Online expanded its 24-hourcoverage of breaking news with a range ofspecialist sites such as for the Victorianstate election, Republic Referendum andthe East Timor crisis. Weekly accesses toNews Online regularly passed the one-million mark during major news events.

News Online launched web sites forLateline, Four Corners, Landline andAustralian Story; and introduced anindigenous news section. New systems toenhance video news streaming are beingdeveloped, using television news material.Plans are also underway to beginproducing video news for broadbandservices, and delivering WAP-style contentto new media platforms.

Australian contentNews and Current Affairs is the ABC’smain provider of Australian content. Radioproduced more than 10,000 hours of newsand 600 hours of current affairs material.On television more than 1400 hours ofnews and 500 hours of current affairscontent was produced.

Additional local productions includedcoverage of the Victorian state election; thelive Republic debate (jointly-produced withthe BBC); coverage of the first nationalDeliberative Poll; on referendum day,Australia Decides; and key players in thereconciliation debate were brought togetherin May for a forum, After the Corroboree.

Six young people trained in capital cities,before starting their careers in regional

newsrooms. Recruitment for2000-2001 was advertisedon the ABC website for thefirst time, and candidatescould apply online. Over800 applications werereceived nationally.

Expanding servicesOnline News completed thefirst stage of its regionalnews project, placing allregional newsrooms onlinefor text reporting. Furtherdevelopment in0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

JunMayAprMarFebJanDecNovOctSepAugJul

ABC News Online accessesNo. of accesses (millions)

East Timor crisis Fiji coup

Makeover offront page

Mid-yearholiday downturn

47


2000–2001 will see selected regional sitesdelivering a range of locally-producedaudio-visual content.

In the Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart andMelbourne newsrooms, journalists wereassigned to supervise state-based NewsOnline pages, with more centres followingnext year, to ensure maximum use oflocally-sourced News content.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessThis year the portfolio underwent anexternal review, conducted by Sibson andCompany, which found News and CurrentAffairs performed favourably whencompared with outputs, resources andprogram costs of Australian commercialnetworks, the BBC and CBC (Canada). Thereview also found that obtaining accurateportfolio data was difficult and time-consuming, and recommended adoption ofa standardised management informationsystem to increase budgetary control andreporting efficiency.

With user-friendly technologies and a new

Enterprise Agreement in place, News andCurrent Affairs anticipates greaterworkplace flexibility, including adoption ofthe industry-standard single-personcrewing for covering many stories, andscalable operations in studio controlrooms. Both initiatives will free staff forretraining and deployment in emergingnews areas.

An all-media Business Desk wasestablished to service growingrequirements on financial issues. Locatedat ABC Ultimo, it combines the expertise ofradio and television reporters from a mix ofnews and current affairs backgrounds. Aswell as generating stories for all ABCoutlets, the Desk began producing aweekly business program for RadioNational.

Substantial resources were utilised inplanning for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.Temporary studios were built for all-mediacoverage at the main Homebush site, andat Ultimo to serve Darling Harbour venuesfor the Games. Olympics coverage wasfocused on maximising use of resources.

Work began on providing Radio Nationalwith its own tailored bulletin service; andthe database of ABC radio news stories,ABC Wire, continued to be the majornational research tool for all ABC outlets.

Program sales remained steady. ForeignCorrespondent sold particularly well towestern European networks. Several co-productions were mounted, notably anABC-BBC live debate from Sydney on therepublic issue. The number of onlineservice providers taking ABC News Onlinerose from four to 14, making the ABC theleading supplier of Australian news in thisemerging market. These agreements,subject to strict editorial guidelines, helpedwiden the availability of ABC news.

ABC News and Current Affairs journalistscontinued to gain awards and peerrecognition. In the prestigious WalkleyAwards, they gained 27 nominations in all13 eligible categories, and won sixWalkleys.

Electronic News Gathering (ENG) truck in Sydney

48


ProgramProduction

The Program Production portfolioperformed to plan and budget during1999–2000, contributing significantly tosustaining ABC programs and services.

The portfolio’s major function was tosupply production resources and servicesfor ABC produced or co-producedprograms in a diversity of genres — arts,documentaries, indigenous, drama,children’s, youth, comedy, science, talks,sport, news and current affairs.

In the new ABC structure ProgramProduction becomes the ProductionResources division and a new Director hasbeen appointed.

Meeting our commitmentsProgram Production assisted theCorporation in fulfilling its Charter andother responsibilities under the ABC Act. Itsustained ABC programs and services byproviding resources and services forproduction and broadcast operations,accomplished by its skilled productionpersonnel and comprehensive productionfacilities, equipment and research services.

A wide variety of programs were producedor co-produced during the year using theportfolio’s resources and services. Anindication of the quality of these programswas the many regional, national andinternational awards won by their creators,producers, performers, crews andoperators. A highlight of the year forProgram Production was participating in

Studio cameras at Gore Hill

49


the Today 2000 millennium program (seepage 30 for details).

Program Production also manages archivesand library services, used by all ABCoutput portfolios for research andproduction of television, radio and onlinecontent. Other services includecataloguing, preserving and archivingprogram and footage material, managingmedia collections and libraries andproviding online research services. Duringthe year the archives service establishedan online site, which provides informationabout the collections and facilitatesproduction research.

Going digitalDuring the year planning continued fordigital conversion of the Sydney andMelbourne production centres operated bythe portfolio. Digital conversion of thesecentres is an important foundation fortransforming ABC programs and servicesfor new digital environment. In Sydneytemporary arrangements are being put inplace for digital production at the Gore Hillstudios pending completion of digitalfacilities in the new building beingconstructed at Ultimo.

In Melbourne conversion of the Ripponleastudios began towards the end of the year.Delivery of the first digital field camerasheralded the start of digital widescreenproduction operations with the productionof the programs Federation andArchitecture in Sydney and Something inthe Air in Melbourne.

Digital technology will transformaccess to archives collections.Currently archive databasesprovide information aboutcontent on film and tape, whichare individually and manuallystored and retrieved for viewing,research and copying. Planshave been developed for adigital asset managementsystem, which will enable onlineaccess to content. Part of thetechnology for this direct accesshas been demonstrated andadvice from experts at theUniversity of Queensland has

assisted in developing data structures forthe planned system.

Considerable planning went intoconstructing and re-equipping newfacilities, modifying production processesand developing the workforce.Implementation of these plans is nowunderway and the portfolio will focus onimproving operational procedures anddeveloping the skills of the workforce sothat the full capabilities of the digital agecan be realised.

Australian contentProgram Production contributed to thedevelopment and provision of Australiancontent through the supply of a range ofproduction resources and services for ABCproduced or co-produced programs. In itsrole the portfolio interacted withindependent producers, media and culturalsectors and contributed to theirdevelopment.

Internally the portfolio ensured thedevelopment of the skills of the ABC’screative and specialist craft people throughinternal training, external forums, suppliervisits and work assignments with co-producers.

The introduction of new facilities also helpsunderwrite the development of Australiancontent. The new ABC Studio Centre atLanceley Place, Artarmon in Sydney,replaced the French’s Forest facilities,which had been used for drama productionfor many years. A new drama series, TheFarm, is the first program to be produced

On the set of the third series of SeaChange.

50


in the new studio.

As in previous years, many individualsinvolved in ABC productions and co-productions were recognised for theirspecialised skills with local, national andinternational awards. Many other awardswere won by Australian productions andco-productions for which the portfoliosupplied resources and services. (SeeAppendix 6)

Expanding servicesProgram Production is not directly involvedin the expansion of services to local andregional communities but supports itthrough the provision of facilities, resourcesand training where required. ProgramProduction provided program staff forGardening Australia, filmed aroundAustralia and produced in Hobart. In SouthAustralia the portfolio provides programstaff to the education unit which producesprograms such as Behind the News, CouchPotato and For the Juniors.

The Hopman Cup program was producedusing outside broadcast vans and crewssourced from a number of states. Concertperformances for network programmingwere covered in most states using localfacilities and crews. The Local andRegional Services portfolio providesfacilities in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth,Hobart, Canberra and Darwin for somenetwork productions.

Developing efficiencyand effectivenessThe portfolio targeted improvements inproductivity, efficiency and effectivenessthrough changes in a number of areas. Animportant administrative change thatimproved efficiency and effectiveness wasbringing together financial and editorialproduction responsibilities to form closerlinkages between the Program Productionand National Networks portfolios.

Program Production improved theutilisation of ABC resources and offsetcosts for ABC made programs by providingresources and facilities in Sydney andMelbourne for external hire through itsdepartment ABC Productions. In thiscompetitive business, with jobs wonthrough the reputation, quality andcapability of the services offered, price isalways a sensitive issue and this year wasno exception. During the year acommercial competitor wrote to theCompetitive Neutrality Complaints Officeof the Productivity Commission (CCNCO)alleging that ABC Productions was notcomplying with competitive neutralitypolicy — specifically that ABC productionfacilities were not priced to fully covercosts. The complaint was investigated andthe CCNCO found that the allocation ofcosts to ABC Productions and the pricingof its services more than met the principlesof competitive neutrality.

Gardening Australia presenterMary Moodie.

John Ledwich & Jon Prenticeadjusting lights.

51


In addition to providing facilities for theproduction of a major portion of ABCtelevision programming, the products ofProgram Production also provideopportunities for overseas program salesand sources for additional products andservices marketed through ABCEnterprises. Revenue from sales of theseproducts and services, applied to newprogram development, created additionalprogram value and enhanced productivity.(See ABC Enterprises p55)

Many ABC Online sites also used theportfolio’s production resources andservices for producing, repackaging and

East Timorgrowth in the number of page visits toRadio Australia online.

The ABC’s resources in Darwin werestretched to cope with national andinternational media in addition toproviding regular crosses to local andnational ABC programming. A specialcomponent of Local Radio’s coverage wasa series of messages from Australianpeacekeepers in East Timor, talkingabout their roles, their home towns andsending messages to their families. Therewere live broadcasts of The Big Weekendand Australia All Over from Stokes HillWharf in Darwin for the departure ofAustralian troops. A local televisiondocumentary was produced inQueensland, following the distribution ofschool materials donated to the LocalRadio Back to School Appeal for thechildren of East Timor. The documentaryprovided Queenslanders with a movingaccount of life in East Timor after theheadlines had stopped and how theircontributions made a difference to thelives of East Timorese children.

The Northern Territory later celebratedthe return of more than 6 000 Australianservice personnel from East Timor withlive television coverage of the welcomehome parade in Darwin.

reversioning material, which extended andincreased the value of the originalproduction investment.

Future priorities for the area in the newstructure will focus on maintaining andimproving operational and financialperformance while providing qualityresources and services in response tocommissioning needs. The introduction ofdigital technology will not only change thenature of the production facilities but alsotransform production operations andprocesses as the technology develops. Thistransformation will assist the ABC improveproductivity and further develop Australiancontent.

The crisis in East Timor was a majorfocus for the ABC in 1999–2000.Australians at home and abroad werekept in touch by the ABC with events asthey unfolded.

News and Current Affairs providedregular, in-depth and often exclusivecoverage of the rapidly changing events,sometimes under extreme conditions.

Following the involvement of Australiantroops in resolving the crisis, RadioAustralia produced special programmingto keep local populations and Australiantroops on the ground informed and intouch with their families.

The Timor Hour, an evening programaimed at Australian Defence personnelstationed in East Timor, first went to airvia shortwave radio in late September.The program offered a mix of music,personal messages and live interviews.The Timor Hour dedicated websiteincluded an audio file of the most recentprogram and a messaging pageaccessible to audiences in Australia.

An off-shore transmission into Centraland Western Indonesia was established tokeep Indonesian audiences informedabout political developments andAustralian attitudes. Special bilingualwebsites attracted considerable interestand contributed significantly to the rapid

52


Meeting our commitmentsTechnology Strategy and Development(TS&D) contributes to theCorporation’s creation and delivery ofinnovative and contemporaryprogramming. In consultation with theoutput portfolios, TS&D is responsiblefor strategic decisions regarding theABC’s internal broadcast network formaking and delivering programs to thetransmitters and our audiences.

TS&D maintains an in-depthunderstanding of the ABC’s business. Ituses this knowledge to assist ABCportfolios to identify broadcast systemswhich will enhance the creation anddelivery of programs.

At the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union(ABU) General Assembly held in Sydney inNovember 1999, hosted by the ABC, abetter understanding was developed of thetechnical issues faced by broadcasters inthe Region. A new structure of the ABUEngineering Bureau to prepare for thechallenges of digital broadcasting was putforward.

TS&D actively engaged in industryconsultations with bodies such as theAustralian Communications Authority(ACA), Australian CommunicationsIndustry Forum (ACIF), AustralianElectrical Equipment Manufacturers’Association (AEEMA) and WirelessTechnology Forum(WTF).

The ABC was represented at the InteractiveTelecommunications Union (ITU) WorldRadiocommunications Conference. TS&Dstaff presented two papers on internationalregulatory issues of interest to the ABC.

Going digitalInstallation of digital television equipmentbegan in March 2000 and each State andTerritory is being supplied with a fullyequipped standard definition (SD)widescreen capable digital studio. By theend of 2000 new digital studios will becompleted in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth,Hobart, Darwin and Canberra for use byboth news and general programs.

Technology,Strategy &Development

53


TS&D’s Research and Development (R&D)worked closely with ABC Multimedia intrialing media streaming. This technologyallows audio and/or video programs to beaccessed on the internet via computer.Triple J, Radio Australia, NewsRadio andRadio Australia foreign language servicesare now streamed continuously. R&Ddeveloped a streaming monitor applicationthat periodically checks each live streamand alerts support staff if problems arefound.

The ABC Board entered into a Design andBuild Contract with NTL Australia Pty Ltd,funded by Government, to provide the ABCwith stand-by digital transmission facilitiesin each of the five metropolitan markets(Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth andSydney). The agreement will allow theABC to meet its legislative requirement tocommence digital transmission on1 January 2001, while continuing tonegotiate contractual terms for theremaining 430 analog transmissionservices required to convert to digital.

In May 2000, the ABC contracted with NTLAustralia to provide ABC Televisionservices at Hopetoun (Vic), RedlynchValley (Qld), Hallett Cove (SA), Manjimup(WA), Lilydale (Tas), Mangana (Tas),Meander (Tas) and Tumut (NSW), inaddition to radio services at Hopetoun (Vic)and Weldborough (Tas). These servicesshould gradually commence transmissionduring July to December 2000.

The ABC’s digital television technologystrategies are as follows:1. To progressively replace analog

technology with digital televisiontechnology, reflecting:

´ legislative requirements tosimulcast analog, standarddefinition television (SDTV)and high definition television(HDTV);

´ increased expense and limitedavailability of analogequipment;

´ increasing affordability ofdigital equipment; and

´ digital technology eliminatingmultiple generational losses in thedifferent stages of production andtransmission.

2. Establish an infrastructure for digitaltelevision that meets Governmentrequirements to transmit analog, HDTVand SDTV, as well as proposeddevelopment of datacasting and multi-channelling by the ABC.

3. Explore options to enable the ABC touse technology to expand delivery ofrelevant local and regional material.

TS&D, in conjunction with ABC Learningand Development, are developing andmanaging an implementation plan for thetraining of technical and operational staffon new digital production equipment.

The ABC has been an active participant indigital radio trials in Sydney.

Expanding servicesThe ABC is committed to ensuring that allAustralian communities benefit from digitalbroadcasting and online technologies. Inthe next few years, given adequate funding,the ABC plans to transform all 57 regionalradio stations into multimedia centrescapable of producing content for radio,online and television (includingdatacasting).

Metropolitan and some regional radiostations have already been equipped withcross-media production equipment.Communications links and desktop

Brian Bailey (TS&D) talking to local and overseas representativesof ROSS vision switchers

54


technology have been upgraded, and insome areas small digital cameras for videoproduction have been provided. Theimpact of these initiatives can be seen inthe enhanced online presence fromregional centres, documentaries, and videostories from a number of regional centres.

Four new sports-scoring computer systemshave been commissioned to cover lawnbowls, netball, basketball, soccer, tennis,rugby league, rugby union and Australianrules football games. These systems will belocated in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbaneand Adelaide.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessThe ABC is a member of the InternationalProject Benchmarking Network, a forummeasuring the effectiveness of projectmanagement. In Australia, the groupconsists of fifteen large public and privatesector members. In association with thismembership, TS&D are implementing aproject methodology which will provide aconsistent approach to project initiationand alignment to the Corporation’sstrategic intent.

The evaluation and decision-makingprocess for major capital projects has beenstrengthened with the preparation ofbusiness cases and whole-of-life costing forall major capital projects. Technical andoperational staff from the relevantportfolios are involved in developingspecifications and evaluating products. Theproject methodology is currently beingimplemented.

TS&D Research and Developmentsuccessfully completed the Y2K

certification of the D-CART, D-Localisation,D-RADIO and the Time Zone Delaysystems. No problems were identifiedduring the Year 2000 rollover.

The new graphics election systemenhancements were used for the first timein September 1999 in the Victorian Stateelection telecast.

In May 2000, the ABC entered into amanufacturing agreement withHannetDigital Corporation of Korea for themanufacture of D-CART equipment, and toestablish a licensing agreement forHannetDigital to market, promote,distribute, sell and support the D-CARTand D-RADIO products worldwide.

On 2 June 2000, the ABC sold itsintellectual property in D-CART andD-RADIO to HannetDigital Corporationincluding all manufacturing warranties andexisting support arrangements for overseascustomers. The transfer will take placeover the period to 1 July 2001 to ensure asmooth transition.

Technical scholarshipsTS&D has awarded two technicalscholarships for the 2000 calendar year.The scholarships provide developmentopportunities to less experienced staff intechnical areas across the ABC. The twowinners for 2000, Pete Smith fromNewcastle (NSW) and Kris Bathgate fromPerth (WA), attended the NationalAssociation of Broadcasters (NAB)conference in Las Vegas and theInternational Broadcasting Convention inAmsterdam, respectively. This scheme ispart of the technical leadership role thatTS&D plays within the ABC regarding thedevelopment of all technical staff.

55


ABCEnterprises

Meeting our commitmentsABC Enterprises contributes to the role ofthe ABC by providing quality products,activities and services related to the ABC’sfunctions. In this way, ABC Enterprisesextends the life of ABC programming,assists in fostering and developingAustralian talent and creativity, and makesa valuable financial return to theCorporation for investment in programs.

Despite a fall in revenue for the 1999–2000financial year, ABC Enterprises was able tomeet its cash distribution targets of $14.3million to the Corporation. This revenuewas used to fund the production of newprograms. The cash distribution was metby sustaining existing product lines andservices in 1999–2000, and increasingrevenue generating activities in accordancewith the ABC Act.

In 1999–2000, over 648 products relatedto ABC programming activities werereleased and a total of 96 awards werewon; 16 for creative excellence and 81 forbusiness performance. ABC Enterpriseswon four Australian Record IndustryAssociation (ARIA) awards for: BestClassical Album — Beethoven CompletePiano Sonatas Vol 1: performed by GerardWillems; Best Jazz Album: AndrewSpeight Quartet; Best Cast/Show Album —Perfect Strangers: Judi Connelli & SuzanneJohnston; Best Children’s Album: TheHooley Dooleys Pop.

CD cover for Gerard Willems Complete PianoSonatas Vol 3

56


Traditional activities such as ABC Retailexpanded its reach to the Australiancommunity throughout the year with theopening of five new ABC Shops and fournew ABC Centres. In December 1999, ABCShop Chatswood received the WestfieldCustomer Service Award for RetailExcellence. At the end of the financial year,ABC Enterprises had a total of 32 ABCShops throughout Australia. (see Appendix21)

The impact of changing customer demandsand expectations in the new mediaenvironment also became apparent during1999–2000 with the ABC’se-commerce web site — ABC Shop Online— increasing its revenue by 109 per centfrom the previous year.

In a broad national survey into consumershopping experiences and purchasingbehaviour on the net, conducted inDecember 1999 by www.Consult, ABCShop Online was rated the ninth mostpopular site in general to visit and seventhmost popular site to visit over Christmas.

The Enterprises’ Consumer Publishingdepartment expanded its activities during1999–2000. Apart from acquiring newintellectual property rights and licensingproperties throughout the year, ConsumerPublishing introduced a new MusicPublishing department and expanded theinternational reach of Bananas in Pyjamas.ABC Enterprises, upon request from thegovernment of Dubai, produced a specialBananas in Pyjamas show for the UnitedArab Emirates, which toured Dubai in themonth of June 2000. The show featuredthe Bananas, as well as Rat in a Hat, andappeared in shopping centres around thecity.

Following the successful film Her MajestyMrs Brown, ABC Enterprises wasappointed as the Australasian distributor ofthe feature film Thomas and The MagicRailroad. This film is due for release atChristmas 2000 and will be ABCEnterprises’ second venture into theatricaldistribution.

Going digitalDuring the year a new unit was created inABC Enterprises to manage the

Corporation’s online business activities,specifically e-commerce. The new unit’sobjective was to increase revenue fromlicensing ABC news, current affairs, sportand network services; licensing ABCcontent to external online sites anddeveloping the ABC’s e-commerceactivities. Existing departments such asABC Program Sales, ABC Non-TheatricSales and ABC Footage Sales joined theunit to introduce business-to-businesscapable web sites.

To ensure that the ABC has kept up to datewith the latest technology and audienceexpectations in relation to new standards ofquality, ABC Video introduced DVDproducts throughout the year and releasedprograms such as Don Quixote, ThePlanets and Walking with Dinosaurs in thisformat.

The new interactive world will also enableABC Enterprises to more effectivelyprovide more comprehensive andspecialised services to audiences in

Mr Squiggle celebrated his 40th birthday on1 July 1999 (shown here with his creator

Norman Hetherington).

57


relation to their specific communities ofinterest.

Australian contentABC Enterprises’ extends the life of ABCprogramming and Australian contentthrough all its activities. ABC ConsumerPublishing promotes Australian talent viaABC Books, ABC Video, ABC Music, ABCMusic Publishing, ABC Classics, ABCLicensing, ABC Films and Events and ABCAudio. ABC Shops and Centres alsodevelop and promote Australian content byproviding an extensive distribution network.The success of ABC Enterprises indeveloping Australian content and talent isillustrated by the Awards won during 1999–2000 (see Appendix 7).

Expanding servicesTo ensure reach of the ABC’s products,ABC Centres are established in local andregional communities that are not largeenough to support ABC Shops. The ABCCustomer Delivery Service (CDS) whichincludes mail, phone, fax and ABC ShopOnline offers home shoppers in local andregional Australia the convenience of homeshopping.

ABC Events extended its reach of regionaltouring concerts such as Pingu and theMagician and Miffy’s Birthday Surprisethroughout 1999–2000.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessIn September 1999, ABC Enterprisesintroduced a new Consumer Publishingdepartment which drew together all theexisting Consumer Publishing businessunits including ABC Books; ABC Video;ABC Music; ABC Music Publishing; ABCClassics; ABC Licensing; ABC Film andEvents; and ABC Audio (spoken word).

The support services of the Sales andDistribution business units and the Publicitybusiness unit were also integrated underthe new Consumer Publishing umbrella.Consolidating this group maximisedobvious economies of scale and ensuredconsistency in cross-promotional activitiesacross the ABC. It also ensured a unifiedapproach to the new media world. 0

3000

6000

9000

12000

15000

20001999199819971996

ABC EnterprisesCash contribution to the ABC

$millions

Business Development

Footage Sales

Program Sales

Classics

Licensing

Films & Events

Video (incl. Non Theatric)

Contemporary Music

Audio

Books & Magazines

Retail

ABC EnterprisesRevenue activities

The newly created Customer DeliveryService — which includes phone, mail, faxand online orders — has proved to be wellreceived by the ABC’s customers. At theend of the financial year, overall sales wereup by 25 per cent from last year and onlinesales had increased by 109 per cent.

To ensure that ABC Retail staff conditionsof employment are in line with industrystandards, ABC Retail introduced a newABC Retail Enterprise BargainingAgreement (EBA). The EBA wassuccessfully presented to staff in December1999 and certified in the AustralianIndustrial Relations Commission on 12January 2000. The new EBA providesgreater flexibility in rostering andrecruitment for ABC staff andmanagement.

58


HumanResources

Meeting our commitmentsDuring 1999–2000 the Human ResourcesPortfolio supported programs and servicesby maintaining operational humanresources activities and concurrentlydeveloping and implementing theCorporation’s workplace reform strategy.The strategy aims to facilitate the mosteffective use of people and fosterinnovation. The new workplace strategywill assist the ABC to achieve its businessobjectives, and to meet the challenges ofnew technologies and a more globallycompetitive media environment.

The workplace reform strategy includesprojects, partnered by Human Resources,focusing on:

• implementation of the ABCEmployment Agreement 2000–2002,including development of work levelstandards affecting the majority ofstaff groups;

• development and implementation ofperformance management andleadership frameworks;

• award simplification;• senior executive employment

arrangements, includingaccountability and performanceframeworks; and

• workforce planning.

TrainingA comprehensive national trainingprogram in craft skills and digitaltechnology has been delivered acrossradio, television and multimedia covering

Female42.94% Male

57.06%

Staff by Gender

See Appendix 3 for detailed staff statistics

59


editorial, technical and operational andproduction support training.

The ABC continues to offer traineeship andcadetship opportunities. During 1999–2000 there were over 30 trainees in avariety of fields such as journalism,information technology, broadcasting, ruralbroadcasting and program production.Comprehensive training programs wereprovided to support trainees. There wasalso a supervised field training programand a series of placements in operationalareas.

A new contract was negotiated with theDepartment of Employment, WorkplaceRelations and Small Business to ensure theinclusion of Indigenous trainees in a rangeof ABC areas over a three year period.

Equity and DiversityThe ABC’s Equity and DiversityManagement Plan reflects the transition toa broader workplace diversity focus.Individual plans were developed withstrategies from the six modules —Disability, Indigenous, Work/Life, Gender,Cultural Diversity and Human ResourcesIntegration.

Strategies to assist staff and thecommunity in relation to disabilityawareness and accessibility included theestablishment of an Accessible TelevisionCommittee, the production of a video‘employABILITY’ — a Hypothetical ondisability awareness and employment,

facilitated by Geoffrey Robertson QC, andthe publication of a Program Makers GuideYou can make a difference.

Health and RiskStaff and their families continued to besupported through the national EmployeeAssistance Program. A relaunch of theprogram with an associated publicitycampaign was undertaken for this thirdyear of the program’s operation. Usage ofthe program remained stable at about sixpercent, with 254 employees and 30 familymembers using the service in 1999–2000.

Safety guidelines were developed forcamera and field operations, film andtelevision production, and the use of filmcleaning agents. In addition, a review of themanagement of Radio Frequency Radiationwas initiated.

Going digitalThe finalisation of the ABC’s EmploymentAgreement 2000–2002 will support theABC’s conversion to digital broadcastingby enabling the development of a moreflexible, multiskilled workforce to suit theconverging media environment.

To assist the ABC with the changes relatedto the introduction of digital technology,Learning and Development activities havefocused on training and communicationwith staff and managers. An overview andunderstanding of the changes and newskills involved in a digital environment was

TS&D

Regional Srvs

Prog Prod

NewsCAff

Nat Networks

HumRes

Fin & Bus Srvs

Enterprises

Corporate

WA

Vic

Tas

SA

Qld

Overseas

NSW

NT

ACT

Staff by Region Staff by Portfolio


60


offered through courses looking at the roleof ABC Online services, including:managing interactivity, websitemaintenance and useability, and advancedInternet research skills.

The Proton Intranet Site providesinformation on the latest digital technologybeing used by the ABC.

A national technical generic trainingprogram to support the introduction ofdigital television has been conducted in allstates. A digitisation issues course hasbeen run in a number of states and trainingassociated with the introduction of theNetia (Digital Audio Workstation) projectwas offered to all broadcasters andtechnical staff.

Widescreen workshops have beendeveloped for delivery to all television staffthroughout Australia to address the changeto digital 16:9 transmission on 1 January2001. National cross-media trainingprograms were delivered in whichjournalists and radio broadcasters weregiven skills in television, radio and online.

Australian contentHuman Resources, through its Learningand Development department supports thedevelopment of Australian content bydelivering a range of training andinformation forums and providingdevelopment opportunities for program

makers across radio, television and onlinearound Australia. An intranet site includesinnovative techniques to stimulateprogram makers in creatively developingAustralian content.

Expanding servicesTo ensure availability of training for staffacross Australia, training deliverymethods have been diversified. Trainingnow incorporates online learningprograms, travelling roadshows wheretrainers visit regional areas and providetraining in broadcast, production andcomputer skills, and organising regionalconferences.

A tool kit for radio program-makers isaccessible through the Learning andDevelopment site on the ABC Intranet,giving advice on innovative presentation,communication and interview techniques.A computer-based training package forthe Office 2000 software has beeninstalled for all staff throughout Australia.Online training is being developed andpiloted in writing for the web and stillscamwork.

Forums for staff around the country,sometimes extended to other mediaorganisations and the community,

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

6500

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

Staff Numbers


0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Rad

io B

road

cast

ers

TV

pro

d Su

ppor

t

Tran

smis

sion

TV

Pro

d Se

rvic

es

TV

Pro

d D

irec

tors

TV

Pro

d O

ps

Jour

nalis

ts &

Rep

orte

rsEn

gine

erin

g &

Tec

hnic

al

Adm

in &

Sup

port

Seni

or E

xecu

tive

Staff by Job Group

61


encouraged participation, networking andthe provision of information on a range ofcareer and personal development issues.Opportunities included mentoring, workand life seminars, women in engineeringscholarship awards, workplace harassmentand equity and diversity workshops,NAIDOC Week activities, an Indigenousstaff conference and the industry-widewomen in television project.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessA significant achievement during the yearwas the acceptance by staff of the ABC’sEmployment Agreement 2000–2002 withthe Community and Public Sector Union(CPSU) and the Media Entertainment andArts Alliance (MEAA) covering themajority of ABC Staff. Following a longperiod of consultation, communication andnegotiation, the Agreement was certified bythe Australian Industrial RelationsCommission. The new terms andconditions came into operation on 3 July2000.Corresponding to broader industry andenvironmental trends, the agreementpresents major opportunities for managersto design new jobs across previouslyrestrictive and outmoded demarcations andto encourage a more mobile, multiskilledworkforce able to be deployed moreeffectively across different media contentgathering and production genres.

The purpose of the new agreement is toprovide streamlined classifications (from64 to three) and conditions of employmentthat are responsive to the ABC’srequirements, the needs and aspirations ofits employees, and the industry andmarkets in which the ABC operates.

The ABC’s workplace reform strategy,designed to meet the challenges oftransition to the digital age, has

emphasised a more strategic approach topeople management in contributing tobusiness results. The workplace reformstrategy has four discrete, yet interrelatedcomponents:

• moving from an industrial rules-basedto a relation or principle-basedworkplace environment;

• implementing a high performancebusiness planning approach to ABCmanagement;

• devolving accountability for peoplemanagement to line management;and

• implementing new enabling businesstechnology.

The strategy has become a major driver forchange, with much of its emphasis ontransforming an industrially regulatedorganisation, to one that is performanceand principles based. In 2000, the newABC Employment Agreement delivered:

• a single ABC wide classificationframework with 64 classificationsreduced to just three streams;

• a single performance managementsystem to replace the various salaryadvancement mechanisms;

• streamlined and more flexible hours,rostering, overtime and penalty andrelated provisions; and

• streamlined and consistentemployment provisions.

During 1999–2000 the Human ResourcesPortfolio undertook a major review of theABC’s approach to people management,while refocussing the human resourcesfunction and realigning its resources awayfrom processing and regulating toproviding an enhanced consultancyapproach.

62


Finance &BusinessServices

Meeting our commitmentsFor the 1999–2000 financial year theCorporation operated within its annualappropriation of $632.4 million andreceived an unqualified audit certificationfor its financial statements. In additionseveral large projects for the Finance &Business Services portfolio (FBS)culminated during the 1999–2000 financialyear. Two of these projects were externallyimposed and of major concern — the Year2000 ‘Y2K’ Bug and the preparation for theGoods & Services Tax (GST).

In relation to the Y2K issue, most of theefforts of Information Technology Services(ITS) were heavily influenced by theurgency of delivering to an immovabledeadline. The Year 2000 (Y2K) Projectresulted in a successful transition to 1January 2000.

To address the introduction of GST on 1July 2000, a corporate-wide GSTImplementation Project was established.Staff from all portfolios were involved inreviewing policies, procedures and systemsaffected by the GST and associated taxchanges. A comprehensive communicationstrategy was developed covering internalstakeholders, customers and suppliers. Avariety of communication mechanismswere utilised including presentations,workshops, a training video, newsletters,fact sheets, a phone help line and a ‘GSTReady’ Website. To ensure smoothtransition to the new tax system, theProject will continue into the early part of2000–01.

During the year the FBS Portfoliocontinued to provide professional input to anumber of corporate-wide projects andinitiatives, including the provision offinancial analysis in respect of variousEnterprise Bargaining Agreement optionsand outcomes, the Corporation’s TriennialFunding Submission and input to aGovernmental inquiry into the competitiveneutrality of the ABC’s facilities marketingarea. This inquiry found that ‘the ABCmethod of costing labour and facilitiesmore than exceeds the minimumbenchmark consistent with competitiveneutrality’. The Portfolio also commenceda high level Risk Management Review of

63


the Corporation to identify the keysignificant risks facing the Corporation.The findings of the review will enable thedevelopment of a Corporate RiskManagement policy and strategy.

Going digitalIn line with ABC’s Charter to providediverse broadcasting, FBS progressed anumber of major initiatives to suport theABC’s digital conversion strategy. Theseinitiatives included the development of afunding strategy in order to commitresources towards digital and strategies toensure optimal use of ABC properties.

The consolidation of all Melbourne ABCoperations in the Southbank precinct wasadvanced by the purchase of the adjoiningSouthbank site in Sturt Street. Work on thisproject is expected to commence withinfive to six years.

A five-year strategy to refurbish andupgrade the Collinswood, South Australia,site is more than half way progressed.

Building works associated with the digitalconversion of TV master control werecompleted in June.

Property Services also continued work onother major projects, including theproposal to construct new ABC facilities inEast Perth, and the review ofaccommodation in Brisbane and Canberra.

The 1999–2000 year saw two majorinformation systems installed for News andCurrent Affairs and ABCRadio, key elements intransforming the ABC’sservices in the digital age.

The Legal departmentdevoted significant resourcesto the procurement ofdistribution and transmissionservices for digital television.

Australian contentFinance and BusinessServices supports thedevelopment of Australiancontent by managing theCorporation’s financial andbusiness affairs to provide

financial support for the development ofnew ABC produced and commissionsAustralian programs. Further support forAustralian content is provided from FBSthrough Legal and Copyright andInformation Technology Services.

ABC Legal and CopyrightThe 1999–2000 Financial Year saw ABClawyers become increasingly involved inonline and multimedia projects forcontracting and rights clearances inparticular. This involvement is expected tobe a trend for the years to come withsignificant effort likely to be required in thearea of datacasting.

During the year the ABC successfullyresisted an application by Channel 9 for aninjunction to restrain the ABC fromincluding certain specified subject matter inits broadcast coverage of the 1999–2000New Year’s Eve celebrations on SydneyHarbour.

Information Technology ServicesInformation Technology Services (ITS)continued to provide technology supportfor the ABC’s broadcasting efforts,providing significant input to the coverageof various events including the VictorianState Election and the Referendum on theRepublic. Improved Web infrastructure wasestablished to support ABC Online,including audio and video streaming, andnew Web applications were completed forThe Backyard, Federation project andvarious online forums. ITS also developed

The ABC Helicopter with Garry Ticehurst.

64


new scheduling databases for ABC Radio,and extended its hours to provide bettersupport for broadcasters.

Expanding servicesRegional property refurbishments includedthe installation of a new roof and a newmain studio in Bunbury Western Australia,and major works in Longreach, Mt Isa,Townsville and Newcastle.

ITS continued to work on technologyenhancement and support during 1999–2000, including linking ABC regional sitesto the Corporation’s computer network forthe first time, providing desktop computersand phone systems in 48 locations. This isan important step in supporting the ABC’sexpansion of services to local and regionalcommunities.

Developing efficiency &effectivenessOver the year the Finance Group continuedto improve the quality of managementinformation reporting, substantiallyenhancing Monthly Financial ManagementReports to include monthly financialstatements and liquidity managementreporting. Work also commenced on a pilotproject of applying Activity Based Costingprinciples to output areas, initially in theNews and Current Affairs Portfolio.

The FBS Portfolio commenced work on thedevelopment of an information exchangeprogram and benchmarking ties betweenthe CBC, BBC and ABC, the three

broadcasters having agreed in principle toestablish a forum which will identify andutilise comparable data in order to promotebest practices within the publicbroadcasting sector. The CommonwealthBroadcasting Association has also beeninvolved in this proposal.

PropertyThe 1999–2000 financial year saw theimplementation of several better practicefacilities management strategiesthroughout the ABC’s 117 propertiesnationwide. These strategies have includedthe adoption of practices to promotepower/electricity consumption savings,amalgamation of service contracts,standardisation of building installations,national security policy includingcompatible access-ID systems,benchmarking of operational costs andcompliance with Disability andDiscrimination Act requirements. Improvedcontingency planning has developed fromthe successful transition to Y2K.

The implementation of new energymanagement strategies resulted in savings:for example a $15,000 saving on theSouthbank electricity contract and on theconsolidation of the supply contract forVictoria, NSW and ACT under the NationalElectricity Grid. The target for the five-yearperiod 1998–2003 is a 15 per cent savingand 25 per cent in 2003–2008.

In relation to the ABC’s SydneyAccommodation Project, the Public WorksCommittee Report was tabled in FederalParliament on April 5. The reportconcluded that conditions for many peopleat the Gore Hill site were unsatisfactoryand recommended that the proposal for theconstruction of a studio and office complexin Ultimo proceed, with an expected cost of$109.5m. Based on this report the Houseof Representatives passed an ExpediencyMotion on April 13 approvingcommencement of the SydneyAccommodation Project. Work on the newSite B Ultimo building commenced in May2000 with completion scheduled for late2002.

LtoR: Alex Hawkins and Vjek Tomac talking to StuartPoynton, distibutor of digital products

65


Following the Public Works Committeeapproval of the Sydney AccommodationProject, work for the associated sale of thebalance of the Gore Hill site began, withdisposal consultants engaged and duediligence processes formulated.

The Odeon Theatre, Hobart, was sold andnew accommodation was arranged for theTasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Finance and Procurement TrainingDuring 1999–2000, over 900 staff tookpart in Finance and Procurement Trainingmodules providing finance and purchasingsupport to ABC staff in all locations.Further training modules are planned for2000–01 with proposed futureenhancements to include self-guided onlinetutorials and an enhanced Financeinformation website.

Computer networkAn additional 1,400 devices (includingPCs, printers, laptops) were installed by

ITS, bringing the total to approximately6,000 managed devices on the network,with the IT Helpdesk servicing 74 000 callsduring the year from ABC staff. ITSsignificantly improved the ABC’smanagement of information security byestablishing an IT Security Policy and aSecurity Manager role to implement thepolicy. This resulted in the installation ofanti-virus software throughout theCorporation, which successfully negatedthe infiltration of viruses into the network.

Total Asset ManagementTotal Asset Management was progressedwith the launch of a nationwide stockcheckto physically verify all assets and amendthe ABC’s asset database. In accordancewith the findings of this stocktake, theABC’s asset policies and procedures wererefined and electronic options wereexplored that would enable managers toaccess online lists of assets.

Successful children’s entertainers, The Wiggles (with NSW Premier Bob Carr, centre) collect more awards (seeAppendix 7 for details).

66


Corporate Planning and Communicationscoordinates the development of strategicdirections and policies for the ABC. Itensures the Corporation meets itsaccountability responsibilities and that itsactivities are consistent with the ABC’s

statutoryobligations andBoard policies. Itis also responsiblefor corporatecommunications

with employees and other ABCstakeholders, maintaining the corporateimage of the ABC and managing mediarelations.

This portfolio incorporates the ManagingDirectors office, Board Secretariat,Corporate Affairs, CorporateCommunications, Corporate Strategy andCorporate Policy. It assists the operationsof the Managing Director’s office andprovides administrative support to the ABCBoard. It maintains relationships with keynational and international bodies, monitorsdevelopments in the media industry andmaintains an information base to informthe Board and management in theirplanning and decision-making. In thestructure introduced by the ManagingDirector in June 2000, these functions willform part of the Corporate Affairs Division.

Meeting our commitmentsCorporate Policy coordinates regularreviews of the ABC Editorial Policies andCode of Practice to respond to changingmedia, social and cultural circumstances.The ABC Editorial Policies were lastreviewed in 1997–98. The current review,for completion in 2001, pays particularattention to the ABC’s growing involvementwith new media services, and will reflectthe new structure introduced at the end ofJune 2000.

Corporate Planning assisted in developingthe Statement of Evidence to theParliamentary Standing Committee onPublic Works for approval to construct anew building adjacent to the ABC’s existingUltimo site in Sydney.

During the year Corporate Policy andCorporate Strategy prepared submissions

CorporatePlanning &Communications

67


to State and Federal inquiries. In additionto responding to ongoing digital legislativereviews and a Senate inquiry into theBroadcasting Services Amendment (DigitalTelevision and Datacasting) Bill 2000,theABC made submissions to the ProductivityCommission review of broadcasting and tothe Senate Inquiry into ABC Online. TheABC in Victoria made a submission to theReview of the Film and Television Industryin Victoria.

The most important submission of the yearwas the ABC triennial funding submissionto the Federal Government. This documentset out the desired level of funding for theperiod 2000–2003, a period which includesthe introduction of digital television. TheFederal budget, tabled in Parliament in May2000, maintained existing ABC fundinglevels but did not provide funding for newdigital programming initiatives.

Corporate Affairs handled audiencefeedback and complaints. The Australianpublic’s strong sense of ownership of theABC continued to be reflected and theCorporation was contacted about anextraordinarily diverse range of issues.

Going digitalThe ABC argued for flexible digitalregulation in its submissions to a numberof ongoing legislative reviews undertakenby the Department of CommunicationsInformation Technology and the Arts(DCITA). Following introduction of theBroadcasting Services Amendment (DigitalTelevision and Datacasting) Bill 2000 inParliament, the Senate conducted aninquiry into the proposed legislation.

The ABC made a submission and appearedat Senate hearings to reinforce its positionon high definition television, multi-channelling and datacasting. The amendedBill was passed by the Senate and House ofRepresentatives on 29 June 2000. Thefinal legislation allows multi-channellingand datacasting for the ABC, with somerestrictions as to the type of content thatmay be transmitted. The legislation alsopermits the ABC to provide programenhancements, transmit Internet materialand carry radio via datacasting.

To assist in coordinating the ABC’splanning for digital conversion, CorporateStrategy established a Digital ConversionCoordination Committee. The Committeebrought together people from all parts ofthe ABC, meeting regularly to exchangeinformation, coordinate planning andmonitor progress towards the Corporate-wide conversion to digital television. Anumber of working groups managedpreparations is special areas such ascontent, scheduling, technical operations,funding, advocacy and content rights.Regular reports were made to the ABCBoard on the progress in all of these areasas well as on developments in the widerindustry and in Government policy.

Corporate Strategy and Communicationscommisioned an animated website for ABCOnline, called Going Digital. The siteexplained what audiences should expectfrom digital television and illustrated someof the ABC’s ideas for using the newtechnology in innovative ways. The sitewas launched in Parliament House,Canberra in September 1999, and wasselected by the National Library ofAustralia for preservation in its heritagecollection of online sites.

Australian contentCorporate Planning and Communicationsassists in making representations topolitical, community and industry groupsand forums and developing policies whichsupport the Corporation in maintaining itslevels of Australian content.

An important element of the ABC’striennial funding submission was focusedon developing Australian content. Thesubmission included a comprehensive planto increase levels of Australian contentacross a number of areas, including music,arts, children’s, drama, performance,online, regional, rural and news and currentaffairs. Unfortunately the additional fundingrequired to implement these plans over thenext triennium was not granted.

68


Expanding servicesThe ABC renewed its long-standingcommitment to expanding services to localand regional communities in the 1999–2002 Corporate Plan. With appropriatefunding, digital broadcasting technologyoffers an unprecedented opportunity forregional and rural Australia to participatein generating viable and exciting contentfor the new media age.

While the technology to put its ideas intopractice is not yet perfected, the ABC hasbeen preparing the ground for some time.As detailed by other portfolios, digitalhand-held cameras are being distributedand equipment being updated in regionaloffices across Australia.

The triennial funding submission detailedthe ABC plans to develop regional officesas cross-media production centres toensure that regional and rural Australiawere fully involved, equipped and trainedto be a dynamic part of the digital age. Thelack of additional funding to implementthese plans will delay the incrementalimplementation of this initiative.

Developing efficiency andeffectivenessCorporate Planning and Communicationsreviewed a number of its functions duringthe year. An assessment of telephone andinternet complaints handling proceduresresulted in the appointment of a Head ofAudience and Consumer Affairs in the2000–2001 financial year, to undertake anumber of functions aimed at improvingthe handling of complaints and audiencecomment. An appraisal of the effectivenessof the ABC’s external and internalcommunications prompted a new staffnewsletter (abcXchange), a newpublication available to the public(ABCzINE) and a proposal to redesign theABC Intranet.

The ABC has made increasing use of theInternet and the Intranet to communicate tothe public and to staff. Majorannouncements, submissions,contributions to debate and inquiries,media statements and policies are all made

available on the Internet and Intranet aswell as through traditional means. This isan efficient and effective means ofdistributing information and allows theABC to be accountable more directly to itsaudience and other stakeholders.

Use of the ABC Intranet doubled during thelast year with staff increasingly relying onits many sites to provide timely andrelevant information and assist withdocument management. The site is beingstreamlined and consolidated, withguidelines on design and navigabilityrequirements for new sites issued to staffonline. Corporate also developed anIntranet Site providing the latestinformation on digital technology. Otherprojects planned include the posting ofback issues of the ABC Annual Report, thedevelopment of the digital site, the postingof ABCzINE and the production of anelectronic newsletter to keep staff informedabout collocation progress.

The Corporation has been building bettercommunication with staff through a newinternal newsletter, abcXchange. The one-page weekly publication keeps staff up-to-date with news affecting their working livesand wider public broadcasting issues. Thenewsletter contains useful links to the ABCIntranet for more in-depth treatment oftopics.

The ABC produces a free quarterlymagazine, ABCzINE, for distribution to staffand the public, available in print form andon the Internet. It provides readers with aninsight into ABC programs and theirmakers and information about currentdevelopments in broadcasting.

The corporate image of the ABC and itsrelations with the media were maintainedthrough regular communications withjournalists and other mediarepresentatives. This ensured that theABC’s objectives and initiatives wereexplained clearly to the public. Importantissues during the year included digitaltelevision, triennial funding anddevelopments in ABC Online. The arrival ofthe new Managing Director in March, alsoheightened media awareness of the ABC.

69


Planning across the organisation continuedto be a focus for the Corporation during1999–2000. Six monthly reporting againstbusiness plans from all operational centreswas coordinated by Corporate Planningand Communications. This managementdiscipline improved the tracking of internalperformance and provided the Board andthe Corporation with an overview of itsoperations and results.

A new Corporate Plan was developed andapproved by the Board during this period.

The new document sets out five majorobjectives for the ABC from 1999 to 2002.In addition to fulfilling its responsibilitiesunder the ABC Act, and pursuingmaximum efficiency and effectiveness, theBoard articulated other key areas forattention: transforming ABC services in thedigital age; developing Australian content;and expanding services to local andregional communities. These five keyobjectives form the basis of reporting inthis year’s Annual Report.

The Freedom of Information Act 1982(FOI) Act gives the public the right toaccess documents held by the ABC.Schedule 2 part 11 of the Act gives theABC an exemption in relation to materialwhich is program related.

During the year the ABC received fiverequests for access to documents underthe FOI Act. One request for personalinformation was granted in full. Threerequests were granted in part. Onerequest was denied due the nature of therequest and lack of resources. Onerequest for internal review was upheld inpart.

Categories of DocumentsThe ABC holds documents under threebroad categories:´ general records including

correspondence, reports andminutes of meetings relating to ABCpolicy, program development,external relations and internalmanagement, program transmissiondocuments, reports on audiencereaction to ABC programs andpublicity on programs and activities;

´ records subject to copyrightincluding scripts and transcripts of

programs (also subject toavailability), recorded programs andother recordings;

´ articles available for purchase,including merchandise from ABCShops and selected ABC programmaterial.

As noted above, program related materialis exempt under Schedule 2 Part II of theFOI Act.

Requests For AccessWritten requests for access to materialunder the FOI Act, including the $30application fee (not cash), should beaddressed to:

The Managing DirectorAustralian Broadcasting CorporationGPO Box 9994 in your State or Territorycapital city.

Requests addressed to the ManagingDirector can also be lodged at the nearestABC office (see Appendix 20).

Formal requests under the FOI Act will beacknowledged within 14 days of receiptand applications will be processed within30 days.

Freedom of Information

70


Complaints handling andaudience feedbackABC complaints handling is benchmarkedagainst the Australian Standard (AS4269—1995) and the ABC is an activemember of the industry body SOCAP —the Australian Society of Consumer AffairsProfessionals.

During the year, 4140 letters and 9471emails were received by ABC CorporateAffairs. As is the experience of publicbroadcasters overseas, the vast majority ofaudience contacts with the ABC requestsfor information about program content.

Analysis of some 45,000 calls made toABC capital city switchboards during theyear showed that the following were themajor issues of interest to our audiences(see Table 1 below).

Comments about political coverage oftengo direct to individual News and CurrentAffairs programs. However, the public’sconcern about this area remains generallylow at approximately five per cent of totalaudience contacts to the ABC.

During the year the ABC reviewed itsaudience contacts and complaintshandling. In order to take advantage of newtechnologies and to better handle thepublic’s increasing use of email the ABCinvited the former Deputy CommonwealthOmbudsman, Mr John Wood, to reviewaudience contact and complaints handlingprocedures. This review found that theABC has a welcoming culture for receiving

Number of calls

Appreciation for programs 9 936

Sporting coverage 6 939

Criticism of programs (quality, language, classification, violence) 6 851

Program scheduling (changes, start times or requests for repeats) 5 184

Reception and transmission problems 2 893

Claims of bias/factual error 1 427

Various other 11 770

Total 45 000

audience contacts but does not alwayshave the best mechanisms for handlingcomments, largely because of the ABC’smany services and diverse locations.

Mr Wood’s report provided many usefulrecommendations, which the Board hasaccepted. These included the appointmentof a new Manager of Audience andConsumer Affairs.

Australian Broadcasting AuthorityMembers of the public who complain to theABC about matters covered by theCorporation’s Code of Practice and who aredissatisfied with the ABC’s response or thehandling of their complaint may seekreview from the Australian BroadcastingAuthority (ABA).

During 1999–2000 eight such matters wereinvestigated by the ABA, which finaliseddecisions on four matters. No breach of theABC code was found in any of the finalisedinvestigations.

[Note: The ABC’s paper version of thisAnnual Report refers to nine investigationsconducted by the ABA and two breachesidentified. The breaches identified relate tomatters that were not finalised until the2000–01 year and should have beenreported in next year’s Annual Report. TheABC regrets this inadvertent error and willinclude details of the two breaches again inthe 2000–01 Annual Report.]

Commonwealth OmbudsmanThe Ombudsman’s office did not refer anycomplaints to the ABC during the year.

Key Audience Issues

71


Independent Complaints ReviewPanelThe Independent Complaints Review Panel(ICRP) reviews written complaints allegingserious cases of bias, lack of balance orunfair treatment arising from an ABCbroadcast or broadcasts. Complainantsmay seek an ICRP review once the ABC’snormal complaints handling procedureshave been completed and if thecomplainant is dissatisfied with the ABC’sresponse. ICRP findings andrecommendations are carefully consideredby the ABC, particularly when updating theABC’s Editorial Policies.

The ICRP members are Ted Thomas(Convenor), Margaret Jones (DeputyConvenor), Professor Michael Chesterman,Stepan Kerkyasharian AM and BobJohnson. Members of the Panel have been

The ABC maintains strong links withmajor overseas broadcasting unions.These include the CommonwealthBroadcasting Association (CBA) basedin London, the European BroadcastingUnion (EBU) based in Geneva, theInternational Council of the NationalAcademy of Television Arts andSciences in New York and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) basedin Kuala Lumpur.

The ABC was principal host for theAnnual General Assembly of the ABU inNovember 1999. Some 400 delegatesattended the eight days of meetings inSydney,which were opened by HisExcellency the Governor-General ofAustralia, Sir William Deane.

The ABC also hosted visits frombroadcasters from countries as diverseas Indonesia, China, Canada, Yugoslaviaand Germany during the year.

Major planning was undertaken for an

expected 200 visitors to the ABC fromoverseas public broadcasters during theSydney 2000 Olympic Games.

International Relations

appointed for their knowledge of, orexperience in, journalistic ethics andpractice, media operations and programproduction, complaints handling and otherreview processes.

In its ninth year of operation, the ICRPreceived 13 requests to review complaints.Many of these complaints did not meet thePanel’s criteria as they had not been dealtwith by the ABC or involved mattersoutside the Panel’s area of responsibility.During the year the ICRP accepted tworequests for review, one of which wascompleted during the reporting period. Inaddition, during the reporting period,reviews were completed for threecomplaints accepted for review in theprevious year.

The four reviews completed during the yearare detailed in Appendix 11.

Governor-General Sir William Deaneopening the ABU conference

71a


Performance againstService CommitmentThe ABC’s Service Commitment is astatement of what individuals are entitled toexpect in their dealings with the ABC. TheService Commitment is freely available tomembers of the public, including throughthe ABC’s website. The ABC is committedto the following standards of service:

• treating audience members withfairness, courtesy and integrity;

• respecting legitimate rights to privacyand confidentiality;

• complying with relevant legislation,such as the Commonwealth Freedomof Information Act 1982;

• responding to audience inquiriespromptly and as comprehensively aspossible;

• welcoming comments and answering,as far as possible, all writtencorrespondence;

• welcoming and responding tocomplaints;

• providing accurate information;• making information such as this

Service Commitment and the ABCCode of Practice freely available;

• making program information,including closed captioned detailsand timely advice on programchanges, widely available;

• monitoring audience concernsthrough phone calls, mail and presscoverage; and

• ensuring relevant staff are providedwith information about audienceresponse to programs.

Standard

Treating audiencesmembers with fairness,courtesy and integrity

Respecting legitimaterights to privacy andconfidentiality

Complying with relevantlegislation, such as theCommonwealth Freedom ofInformation Act 1982

Responding to audienceinquiries promptly and ascomprehensively aspossible; welcomingcomments and answering,as far as possible, allwritten correspondence;welcoming and respondingto complaints

Measure

Whether this is a significantsubject of complaint

Whether this is a significantsubject of complaint

Number of FOI requestsreceived and ABC response

Public statement welcomingcomments and complaints;number of calls logged bycapital city switchboards;emails and letters toCorporate Affairs;percentage of calls/emails/letters to News and CurrentAffairs which constitutecomplaints; number ofcomplaints upheld by reviewbodies (IndependentComplaints Review Panel[ICRP] AustralianBroadcasting Authority[ABA], Ombudsman)

The table below summarises ABC performance against these commitments:

Performance 1999-2000

Rarely a subject ofcomplaint

Rarely a subject ofcomplaint

5 requests, details providedseparately (See page 69)

Statements on website, inAnnual Report and ServiceCommitment; 45,000 callslogged to capital cityswitchboards; CorporateAffairs responded to 4140letters and 9471 emails; 32percent of all contacts toNews & Current Affairswere complaints;complaints upheld byreview bodies:ICRP 2 (partially)ABA 0Ombudsman 0

71b


Making information suchas this ServiceCommitment and the ABCCode of Practice freelyavailable

Making programinformation, includingclosed captioned detailsand timely advice onprogram changes, widelyavailable

Monitoring audienceconcerns through phonecalls, mail and presscoverage; ensuringrelevant staff are providedwith information aboutaudience response toprograms

Whether such information ismade freely available

Whether ABC provides suchinformation

Whether phone calls, mailand press coverage aremonitored for audienceconcerns; whether relevantstaff are provided withaudience responseinformation

Standard Measure Performance 1999–2000Available through ABCOnline, ABC Shops andoffices throughout Australia

Available through press, on-air announcements and onABC website; ABC receivescomplaints wheninformation is not published

Daily and weeklymonitoring; reportsdistributed to key staff andavailable on ABC Intranet;complaints passed on torelevant program areas;regular reports and analysisto Board; see page 70 forlist of key concerns

72


National Advisory Council (NAC)

Back Row LtoR: Mr Douglas Stott, Dr Edmund Sweeney, Mr Steven Mavrigiannakis, Mr James Salmon,Mrs Lorna CondieMiddle Row LtoR: Ms Francesca Beddie, Ms Katie Biggs, Mr Nicholas Moraitis, Mrs RosemaryChampion, Mr Ryan HonschootenSeated: Ms Deborah Klika (Convenor), Mrs Charlotte Samiec

This year Council has developed aworkplan which has a focus on Youth,Sports and Civics Eduction. Council hasformed three subcommittees to considerthese areas and will hold small groupconsultations to obtain community viewson these aspects of ABC programming.Council will report to the ABC Board on theoutcomes of these consultations.

Council has also continued to makerecommendations to the Board on variousaspects of ABC programming including the6-7pm timeslot, local production, crosspromotion, Sports programs, Indigenousprogramming,

Complete membership details for theNational Advisory Council are given atAppendix 9. National Advisory Councilrecommendations and commendations for1999–2000 are detailed in Appendix 10.

The ABC National Advisory Council is astatutory body. Section 11 of the ABC Actsets out the role of the Council as either onits own initiative or at the request of theABC Board, to furnish advice to the Boardon matters relating to broadcasting andtelevision programs of the Corporation.

Members of the public are invited to applyto join the Council through promotions onABC Radio and television. The 12members of the Council are appointed bythe ABC Board, usually for a three-yearterm. This year Francesca Beddie ofCanberra, Rosemary Champion ofLongreach Queensland, Nicholas Moraitisof Yapeen Victoria and Lorne Conde ofMullumbimby NSW, were appointed to theCouncil. Deborah Klika of NSW wasappointed Convenor.

73


SymphonyAustralia

Symphony Australia NetworkThe following companies are self-governing, wholly-owned subsidiaries ofthe ABC:

´ Symphony AustraliaHoldings Pty Ltd

´ Adelaide SymphonyOrchestra Pty Ltd

´ Melbourne SymphonyOrchestra Pty Ltd

´ Sydney SymphonyOrchestra Holdings Pty Ltd

´ Tasmanian SymphonyOrchestra Pty Ltd

´ West Australian Symphony OrchestraHoldings Pty Ltd

´ Orchestral Network Australia Pty Ltd

The Symphony Australia Network providesa range of services to the orchestras listedabove and for the Queensland SymphonyOrchestra which is due for incorporation in2000.

Symphony Australia Network’s CorporatePlan includes the following objectives;

´ fostering artistic achievement´ increasing and diversifying the

audience´ providing services to the orchestral

network´ managing the process of

corporatisation´ monitoring the financial performance

of the orchestral network.

Within the orchestral network, the processof transition continues to advancesmoothly towards strengthening theorchestras as individual identities.

As the central hub of the network,Symphony Australia provides a range ofadministrative, management and financialservices to the orchestras to avoidduplicating work and costs. It alsocoordinates artistic development programsand oversees education programs toincrease and diversify the audience base.

Highlights of the artistic developmentprogram in the last year included theSymphony Australia Young Performer

74


Award won by NSW percussionist, ClaireEdwardes, simulcast on ABC NetworkTelevision and Classic FM. Numerous pastwinners were engaged for performanceswithin the network during the year.

The Conductors’ Mastercourse, directed byMaestro Jorma Panula, involved six weeksin Sydney and Melbourne withmasterclasses in Perth, Adelaide andBrisbane. South Australian Nicholas Miltonwon the Westfield Young Conductor of theYear.

The alliance between the ABC and theSymphony Australia Network enables allAustralians to hear over 500 hours ofAustralian orchestral performancesthrough broadcasting on Classic FM.

During the year ABC Classics issued CDsof several orchestras.

Adelaide Symphony OrchestraThe Adelaide Symphony Orchestrademonstrated outstanding versatility in itsschedule for the Adelaide Festival 2000,including the Australian premiere of theLouis Andriessen opera Writing to Vermeer,two music-theatre rarities by Weill andCopland, and an authentic period styleperformance with Ensemble 415. Theorchestra premiered Peter Sculthorpe’s MyCountry Childhood in September whichwas recorded with other Sculthorpe worksfor future release on ABC Classics.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestraextended its traditional symphonic basewith several recent initiatives: theaudience-broadening Showtime and AlFresco series, continuing from 1999, andthe new innovative programming ofAntipodes in 2000. The Antipodes seriesexplores a spectrum of new and unusualrepertoire, including works such as theAustralian premiere of Karl Jenkins’Imagined Oceans and the rarely performedSeven Last Words on the Cross by Schütz.

The orchestra returned for some of itssubscription programs to the refurbishedAdelaide Festival Theatre. The facilitiesand space of this venue will enable theorchestra to perform more major orchestralrepertoire.

Melbourne Symphony OrchestraThe Melbourne Symphony’s first Europeantour in January and February 2000attracted critical acclaim. Beginning in theCanary Islands the Melbourne Symphonyperformed alongside some of the world’smost prestigious orchestras in the Festivalde Música de Canarias.

The inspirational leadership of ChiefConductor Markus Stenz ensured aconsistently high standard of playingthroughout the four-week tour and theorchestra has already received manyreturn invitations. The orchestra’s moraleremains buoyed by the tour and thesignificant international and national mediacoverage received. Following the successof the tour, the Melbourne Symphony

Schools

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Free

Paid

Attendances ('000s)

0100200300400500600700800

FreeSchoolsPaid

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

No. of Concerts

Concerts 1996–2000

Concerts Attendances 1996–2000

75


experienced a substantial increase insubscriptions.

The Melbourne Symphony continues topromote Australian artists with theintroduction of a new series, the RisingStars Recitals. Australian composer Brett

Dean’s Beggars and Angels featuredprominently in the European Tourprograms and the Melbourne Symphonycommissioned and premiered NigelWestlake’s Between Silence and Moonlightin its Metropolis series.

Concerts and Attendances1999–00 1998–99

No. of Total Average No. of Total AverageConcerts Attendances Attendance Concerts Attendances Attendance

New South Wales and ACTPaid Orchestral Concerts 134 268934 2007 115 237133 2062School Concerts 71 26533 374 62 22824 368Free Concerts 2 147500 73750 1 140000 140000Total 207 442967 178 399957VictoriaPaid Orchestral Concerts 103 163744 1590 83 150128 1809School Concerts 28 14594 521 22 13552 616Free Concerts 2 5054 2527 5 49500 9900Total 133 183392 110 213180QueenslandPaid Orchestral Concerts 60 65229 1087 58 71163 1227School Concerts 47 38528 820 52 30470 586Free Concerts 5 9600 1920 6 18275 3046Total 112 113357 116 119908South AustraliaPaid Orchestral Concerts 81 95242 1176 79 82436 1043School Concerts 19 7374 388 59 14871 252Free Concerts 7 75180 10740 4 37600 9400Total 107 177796 142 134907Western AustraliaPaid Orchestral Concerts 106 120106 1133 106 115010 1085School Concerts 22 11369 517 12 5400 450Free Concerts 26 13830 532 2 35000 17500Total 154 145305 120 155410TasmaniaPaid Orchestral Concerts 46 31154 678 42 45724 1089School Concerts 16 5521 345 35 12307 352Free Concerts 7 9860 1409 11 10072 916Total 69 46535 88 68103AustraliaPaid Orchestral Concerts 530 744409 1350 483 701594 1453School Concerts 203 103919 554 242 99424 411Free Concerts 49 261024 29 290447 10015

Grand Total 782 1109352 754 1091465

76


Queensland Symphony OrchestraIn 2000 Queensland Symphony Orchestrainitiated a new series, the Clocktower CitySeries, offering programs of popularclassical music with the intent of makingthe orchestra more accessible to a wideraudience. The orchestra developed plansto perform in a variety of venues inBrisbane and regional centres. The successof recent concerts in Townsville and Cairnsresulted indemands foradditionalperformances.

The QueenslandSymphonyOrchestra,featuring principalclarinettist PaulDean, received anomination forthe 1999 ARIAAwards in thecategory of BestAustralianClassicalRecording.

In May 2000 theQueenslandGovernmentannounced thedecision to mergethe QueenslandSymphonyOrchestra and theQueenslandPhilharmonicOrchestra to forma ‘Community ofMusicians’. Themergedorganisation isexpected to beoperational byJanuary 2001.

Sydney Symphony OrchestraA focus on Australian talent and creativitycharacterised the Sydney Symphony’s1999–2000 year. Leading Australian andemerging artists were given main-stageopportunities. Four concerts and a nationaltelecast celebrated Peter Sculthorpe’s 70thbirthday. Newly commissioned works byBarry Conyngham, Gordon Kerry andGraeme Koehne were premiered, while

Ben Jacks, Acting Principal Horn and Genevieve Lang, Acting Principal Harp at SydneySymphony Orchestra concert in Kuala Lumpur, April 2000

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Lau

rie G

raha

m

77


Richard Mills’ Emblems and GeorgesLentz’s Ngankar opened the 2000 season.

Annual regional tours featured the debut ofyoung Australian conductor Luke Dollman,a graduate of Symphony Australia’sConductors’ Mastercourse, and concertsconducted by Chief Conductor and ArtisticDirector Edo de Waart.

The Sydney Symphony’s New Year’s Eve

concert was telecast around the world. InApril 2000, the orchestra was invited toperform in the International OrchestraSeries in Malaysia’s Dewan FilharmonikPetronas — both sold-out concerts wererelayed back to Australia on ABC ClassicFM.

Among the Sydney Symphony’s educationactivities, Adult Themes (MA), an adult

education seriesdirected byRichard Gill, waslaunched in 2000and sold outimmediately.

TasmanianSymphonyOrchestraMajor transitionsfor the TasmanianSymphonyOrchestra includebeingcorporatised inOctober 1999 andthe planned moveto its new home,FederationConcert Hall.

The TasmanianSymphonyOrchestraextensively touredits Beethovenconcerts andrecording project,involving therecording of allnine Beethovensymphonies withChief ConductorDavid Porcelijn forCD release byABC Classics.The orchestrarecorded a widerange of music forrelease oncompact disc byABC Classics,including Mathew

Anthony Heinrichs, trumpet, and Christoper Harris , Principal Bass Trombone, SydneySymphony Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, April 2000

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Lau

rie G

raha

m

78


Hindson’s techno dance rave piece, Speed.

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestracontinued to support and perform newmusic by Australian and internationalcomposers. The orchestra hosted theAustralian Composers Orchestral Forum,which premiered four new works. Otherworld premieres included Southern Oceanby Andrew Schultz (commissioned for the50th Intervarsity Choral Festival), David byJeff Hamburg and Kuzanagi by MichaelSmetanin.

The orchestra toured statewide with theScared Weird Little Guys attracting newand diverse audiences. Other toursincluded Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydneyand Adelaide for the Adelaide Festival.

West Australian SymphonyOrchestraThe West Australian Symphony launchedits 2000 season with its biggest everoutdoor concert series, attractingthousands to Symphony Under the Stars,Pops in the Park and Symphony Cinema.

Highlights of these concerts includeBelgian conductor Robert Casteelsconducting Beethoven Symphony No.5, asmorgasbord of unforgettable hits fromvocalist Frank Bennett with Tommy Tychoand the orchestra playing the film score tothe movie ‘Flesh and the Devil’.

The Classic Pops series has been expandedand the popularity of the MorningSymphony concerts continued. Throughoutthe year the orchestra’s EducationChamber Orchestra (EChO) continued tomake music fun for people of all ages withits cushion and schools concerts andregional tours to Katanning, Mt Barker andthe Porongerups.

After three years at the helm of the WestAustralian Symphony, Rod Lillis resignedas Managing Director. The new position ofChief Executive Officer was taken on byCatherine Ferrari, former Director of theCPA (WA),at a time when manydevelopments are planned, including theestablishment of a new home.

Mission Statement - about.abc.net.au€¦ · Front cover: Top: The winning photo in The Backyard...

Documents

Transcript of Mission Statement - about.abc.net.au€¦ · Front cover: Top: The winning photo in The Backyard...