Staff Welcome ABA Licence Changes

Date: 19 December 2002

Staff at regional TV stations in NSW, Queensland and Victoria have welcomed the release of new Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) licence conditions which will see an increase in the amount of locally produced content per week from July 2003.

The new conditions follow an ABA investigation into the adequacy of local news and information on TV in those areas.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which represents thousands of broadcasting employees around Australia, has announced it will shortly contact all effected broadcasters to "work through organisational and staffing issues" in relation to the new licence conditions.

The CPSU's Paul Ingwersen said today, "This is good news for regional television viewers and for those employed in the industry. Regional television staff feel positive about the outcome. We will continue to work closely with regional communities to ensure programming is locally produced.

"Changing the current arrangements to ensure licence holders are required to cover local news, sporting, cultural and community events, was the central plank of the CPSU's submission to the inquiry. It's good to see the stand we took has been vindicated," added Mr Ingwersen.

For further information

Contact:	Dermot Browne,CPSU Campaigning and Communications Unit (Sydney)
Union:	Labor Council of NSW
Phone:	(02) 8204 6951
Contact Mobile:	0408 265 081
Email:	dermot_browne@cpsu.org
WWW:	http://www.cpsu.org

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