Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Department of Treasury and Finance

Budget papers 2024–25

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (17:08): First of all, I will pick up some of the points made by Mr Galea, very quickly, and just make the point that none of us like the threatening and violent behaviour we have seen on campuses and elsewhere. Our Jewish community in particular has a right – as does everyone else – to have free and safe movement. They should not have their activities impeded, they should not face hate speech, they should not face threatening commentary or pressure. I agree with Mr Galea on many of the points that he made.

The PRESIDENT: Just for Hansard, Mr Davis, you are speaking on the same report as Mr Galea?

David DAVIS: I am indeed, and I am about to talk about the budget, and specifically the creative industries section of the budget. I am particularly interested in employment in the creative industries. There is an interplay between the state here in Victoria and the federal spending on creative industries. Two of the biggest organisations in this state, in terms of spending in creative industries, are the ABC and the SBS. I want to say something very clear about these bodies, which are terribly Sydney-based, terribly Sydney-centric. Both of them have board appointments up now, board appointments that were advertised on 6 May 2024 – current vacancies, ABC board and SBS board. I make the point that the ABC board currently has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine members – six of whom live in Sydney, one of whom is based in Canberra. So seven of the nine members are in that axis between Sydney and Melbourne, but two-thirds of the board are Sydney-based individuals. This is an absolute outrage. No wonder it has a Sydney-centric feel. No wonder we feel like we are listening to the Sydney broadcasting corporation.

This is important because creative industries jobs relate to spending by a number of these big federal bodies. SBS has got hundreds of millions of dollars of money that is there spent every year. The ABC has about $1.1 billion spent every year. These are huge spends that employ people and that actually spin off a range of film and television matters. Whole industries are linked to them, whether they be films or other things like that, and all of those jobs in the creative industries are paid for by taxpayers. They are paid for by Australian taxpayers, and Victorian taxpayers are 25 per cent of Australian taxpayers. I tell you what, we do not have 25 per cent of the people on the ABC board, and we do not have 25 per cent of the spending down here. We actually need to have our fair share.

There is plenty to say about the ABC and the problems at the ABC. I have noticed the issues with Laura Tingle in this recent period and the commentary that she has made – the clearly biased commentary. I have not traditionally been a person who worries about the ABC’s views in general, but this has become ridiculous. I do think that Laura Tingle has gone too far, and a number of these other ABC commentators have gone too far. Gone are the days when the ABC was a middle-of-the-road organisation that reflected relatively conservative values. Gone are the days when the organisation spent around the country much more evenly. The share in Victoria is not up to scratch, and we need to make sure that 25 per cent of the board are Victorians, 25 per cent of the spending is in Victoria and 25 per cent of the linkage spending, the downstream spending, that comes from these federal bodies, which is paid for by Victorian taxpayers, occurs to the tune of roughly 25 per cent, because that is our population and taxation share.

This is about jobs. It is about thousands and thousands of jobs, and it is about reflecting our country properly and reflecting it evenly so that our multicultural communities are in a stronger position. Mr Luu and I have both talked about the fact that the SBS is making a wrong move in moving from a Sydney suburb to the western suburbs of Sydney. They cannot have both national broadcasters and all the spending that goes with them. Whatever the ABC’s problems, it is a huge amount of money. It is a huge number of jobs. It is a huge amount of reflection on our community, and our multicultural community is in Melbourne, not in Sydney.