ABC redundancy payouts leapt fivefold, annual report reveals
Redundancy costs at the ABC leapt fivefold in the past year to more than $22 million, as the organisation went through a major restructure aimed at boosting audiences and making better shows.
Details in the public broadcaster’s annual report reveal financial provisions for staff – annual leave, long service leave, superannuation and redundancy – jumped from $157.2 million to $176.1 million. The bulk of that rise, however, was in the form of redundancy payouts.
In the 2022 financial year, the ABC paid out $4.3 million in redundancies. In 2023, it paid out $22.2 million.
ABC managing director David Anderson announced that 120 roles would go. Alex Ellinghausen
Redundancies were flagged in the restructure announced in May, which split the public broadcaster into a news division, led by Justin Stevens, and a content division, led by Chris Oliver-Taylor. ABC managing director David Anderson announced that up to 120 roles, including that of former high-profile political editor Andrew Probyn, would go.
But despite the redundancy payouts, there was not a steep drop in staff numbers. It reported 3805 ongoing employees in 2022-23, while there were 3825 in the year before, the annual report shows.
It has been a challenging year for the ABC, which has come under sustained criticism for how it covered the coronation of King Charles and over a story covering an Alice Springs meeting about town violence. Journalist Stan Grant left the organisation after receiving racist abuse, and the ABC has called in Dr Terri Janke to lead a review.
Its ABC News audience on its website plummeted 30 per cent, from 11.1 million average weekly users to 7.7 million. Across all the ABC’s platforms, audiences fell 23 per cent, from 17 million weekly users
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