The Centre for Independent Studies, in a ‘Emergency Budget Repair Kit’ released this week, recommended among other measures the government has to take in order to reduce its expenses, the closure of SBS Television. The future of SBS and the operational costs involved in the running of the government funded network have also come to the attention of News Corporation media outlets lately.
George Zangalis, a former SBS board member and ABC National Advisory Committee member, speaking about the future of SBS said that: “In an increasingly multicultural and multilingual Australia, such suggestions should be dismissed forthrightly by the government and all parties as they strike at the very heart of multiculturalism and the immense gains we have made in building through diversity a cohesive nation.”
Mr Zangalis went on to say that “spending on SBS, and all ethnic broadcasting and other ethno-specific services and institutions, is a small investment to social justice, equality and nation building”.
“The real issue for SBS TV is how well it performs its mission, how it connects with and gives expression to the issues confronting multicultural Australia, how to be primarily a producer and not an importer and distributor,” Mr Zangalis said.
“Sharing some resources with the ABC makes a lot of economic sense. SBS should make one of its four channels available for non-Anglo-Australians to air their views, to tell their stories in the language and manner of their choice, as Channel 34 tries to do for Indigenous Australians. SBS needs above all to build a real working partnership with the communities, if it is to fulfil its mission and help beat back the often repeated calls for its closure,” he concluded.