Proposed cuts to community radio has sparked fears amongst ethnic communities, after the recently released National Commission of Audit Report recommended to cut all funding for the Community Broadcasting Program.
If the proposal goes through in the Federal Budget of Tuesday 13 May, it could mean the end of ethnic radio programs and the closure of community radio stations.
Russell Anderson, the Executive Officer of the peak body of the sector, the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council (NEMBC), said that funding cuts to community broadcasting would affect ethnic community broadcasting, as well as regional and rural radio stations and new emerging communities.
Additionally, the NEMBC itself, a national advocate for 130 radio stations with ethnic language content, would be heavily affected as well.
“Presently, when ethnic radio programs are on air, both the station and the program receive funding for being on air, and that money won’t be there if cuts are implemented. So stations won’t be encouraged to support new emerging communities to have their voice heard. At the moment, we are trying to set up a full time ethnic station in Darwin. If the funding is not there, that station will not get off the ground,” Mr Anderson told Neos Kosmos.
“There seems to be a lack of understanding from the Commission of what we do, of the role that community and ethnic community broadcasting play. The small amount of money that goes to community broadcasting goes a long, long way, it’s really cost effective.”
Mr Anderson said that after almost 40 years of commitment to community and ethnic community broadcasting, with the Federal Budget to be released on Tuesday the government will make a decision on whether to cut the funding.
“If the government was to cut the funding for ethnic communities broadcasting, then yes, that would show a real lack of commitment to what previous governments have done.
“We are running a number of campaigns and we hope that the government won’t take on the recommendation, that they will see what the ethnic sector has been through and what multiculturalism means for this country in terms of social cohesion and diversity, and continue its support,” he said.
The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) has joined the Council in voicing strong opposition to the funding cuts.
FECCA chair, Mr Joe Caputo, said that the recommendation was “alarming”, given that “for people from diverse backgrounds, community broadcasting plays a vital role in enabling the exchange of important information and promoting the incredible diversity of our society”.
George Zangalis, 3ZZZ secretary and broadcaster, told Neos Kosmos that proposed cuts would mean the end of the 30-year plus bipartisan government funding policy for community radio, of which ethnic broadcasting is the major recipient.
“From $2 billion a year funding that has been forked out to ABC and $220 million to SBS – and rightfully so – they came down to community broadcasting that receives $15 million a year to fund their programming in over 300 community radio stations, 80 of which broadcast in ethnic languages. It is hard to believe, and certainly, if it’s proceeded with, it will mean the end of over 30 years of the media set up in Australia.
“Community media have been around for the last 45-50 years. It is not an experiment that has failed. It has succeeded, and it’s the creation of communities including the Greek Australian community, who took a leading role in establishing ethnic radio both at SBS and also in the community sector.”
Voicing their great concern over the proposed funding cut this week was the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria. The GOCMV has strongly urged the government to reject this recommendation and not only to maintain, but to increase funding to the sector which has enjoyed bipartisan support since its formative years.
Victorian Labor Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has also condemned the prospect of cuts to multicultural community broadcasting.
“These programs need the support of the government to stay on the airwaves,” he said.
The ethnic community broadcasting sector covers around 4,000 volunteers from 125 distinct cultural groups that produce over 2,118 hours of content every week. Aside from its self-derived funding, community broadcasting requires additional financial support from government.
“Ethnic community broadcasting is one of the major pillars of multiculturalism. It will be a tremendous blow against the essence of multiculturalism – we don’t want the government to praise multiculturalism, when in fact in terms of policy they are subverting it,” Mr Zangalis said.
For more information, or to sign the online petition, visit www.nembc.org.au