Last month, despite plummeting government revenue, the Gillard government could still find an extra $10 million to give to the ABC. The sum did not emerge through the normal channels of government budget process. ABC managing director Mark Scott told a Senate Estimates Committee hearing on February 11 that it had been especially negotiated with the government in late 2012. The ABC normally operates on a three-year funding period, which now grosses it about $1.2 billion a year.
Annual budget of 1.22 billion.
MORE than $6 million has been siphoned from the ABC’s children’s and drama television budgets to boost spending in news and pay for rising salaries, in a steady drain of funds that has shocked producers.
