Former ABC radio presenter Lawrence Mooney has slammed the national broadcaster as being ‘elitist’ and ‘tone deaf’ when it comes to budget cuts.
The ABC last year was allocated $1.062billion from taxpayers, a slight increase from the $1.046billion set aside in the 2018-19 financial year.
Mooney, a comedian and former TV and radio presenter, pointed out how ABC presenters hadn’t been forced to take pay cuts, despite falls in government revenue as a result of coronavirus.
Commercial media journalists, however, have had to take pay cuts as advertising revenue has plunged, with some newsrooms even closing down.
Former ABC radio presenter Lawrence Mooney (pictured with actress Brooke Satchwell) has slammed the national broadcaster as being elitist and tone deaf when it comes to budget cuts
‘Thousands of businesses are struggling to survive, and government debt is spiralling out of control,’ Mooney told his Triple M listeners in Sydney.
‘(We’ve) had to take drastic measures to survive. Here at Triple M, we’ve all taken a pay cut.
‘Yes it sucks, but it is what it is but there’s a group of people doing plenty of bellyaching, and it’s the ones who have been least affected by this global crisis, the ABC.
‘Oh, dear old Aunty. ABC, you can’t pretend to be the victims here. ABC, you can’t.
‘At a time of crisis with so many people out of work, whining about budget cuts seems pretty tasteless in itself but what makes it worse is it’s not even true.’
Mooney, also known as Moonman, also had a message for those highly-paid ABC presenters whingeing about budget cuts.
‘While everybody else struggles through COVID-19, the tone-deaf elitists at the ABC have made it clear that they think they’re different and special,’ he said.
‘So now that we know that, ABC, do us a favour. Get rid of all your stupid “we’re all in this together” promos, because you clearly believe you’re on your own.’
Fill-in Q&A host Virginia Trioli (pictured), who was paid $235,664 a year as an ABC News Breakfast host, rudely interrupted Communications Minister Paul Fletcher multiple times to suggest ABC funding had been cut, even though funding increases were frozen over three years instead of being indexed to inflation
Despite the funding increase during the last financial year, ABC presenters have preferred to focus on the $84million funding freeze over three years introduced in 2018.
Media Watch presenter Paul Barry, who is paid more than $200,000 a year to host a weekly, 15-minute program, last week whinged about the ABC having to cut back on programming.
‘Well, for starters, you’ll only get 42 episodes a year of programs like Four Corners and Media Watch, instead of up to 45,’ he said.
ABC managing director David Anderson announced 74 ABC news jobs would go as the travel budget was cut by 25 per cent.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher pointed out that unlike commercial media, the ABC had a guaranteed source of funding
Fill-in Q&A host Virginia Trioli, who was paid $235,664 a year as an ABC News Breakfast host, interrupted Communications Minister Paul Fletcher multiple times to suggest ABC funding had been cut, even though funding increases were frozen over three years instead of being indexed to inflation.
‘Minister, the funding simply has not gone up over the period. In fact, it’s going down,’ she said.
Mr Fletcher replied: ‘That’s not true.’
He also pointed out the ABC had secure funding unlike commercial media.
The ABC last year received $1.062billion from taxpayers, a slight increase from the $1.046billion allocated in the 2018-19 financial year
‘No other media business has the certainty of revenue that the ABC has,’ Mr Fletcher said.
‘In fact, just about every other media business has seen a catastrophic drop in revenue this year due to a loss of advertising.’
After Mr Fletcher pointed out $50million had been allocated to struggling, privately-owned regional media, Ms Trioli cut him off.
‘Well, the figures… the figures are taken from the budget and we can’t waste any more time on that,’ she said.
‘I’m going to go to our next question. You’ve made the point several times, minister.’