I agree Fatty, the 10 cents per days would make a big difference to me.
Oh, I forgot to mention the facts. Facts Fatty,FACTS.
Fiction: Commercial broadcasting is free but we pay for the ABC through our taxes.
Fact: The ABC cost taxpayers about 10c per Australian per day in the latest period for which data is available, namely 2005-06. This is verifiable via the ABC Annual Report 2006 page 143: Revenue from Government to fund the ABC is shown as $774,254,000. Then divide by 365 days and again by 20 million estimated population, making 10.6 cents per day for each Australian.
By contrast, the cost of commercial radio and television is built into the price of everything we consume to cover advertising, and in 2005 this cost the consumer 67cents per day for electronic media and $1.38 per day for all media. (Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia, 2005)
Fact: It costs less to run all of the ABC’s services (one television network, 5 radio networks, Radio Australia, ABC Online, ABC Shops) than it does to run the Channel 9 network (Report by Prof. Glenn Withers).
Fact: For almost three times the population of Australia, the BBC receives almost ten times the funding of the ABC (ABC and BBC Annual Reports).
Fact: The Federal Government has been known to spend about $40 million of taxpayers’ money in one month to advertise its Workplace Reform Legislation. (Prime Minister, John Howard, 3AW, 21/10/05). Had these funds been made available to the ABC, it could have produced more than 100 hours of Australian drama per year compared to a paltry 20 hours.
Fact: Over 80% of Australians believe the ABC provides a valuable service to the community (Independent Surveys conducted by Newspoll since 1998).
Fact: Nearly nine out of ten Australians (86%) over the age of 15, use ABC Radio and/or Television each week (Australian Nationwide Opinion Polls).
Fact: Since 1996, ABC staffing has been cut by about 20%.
