ABC chair Kim Williams addresses the National Press Club (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch) ABC chair Kim Williams, addressing the National Press Club on Wednesday, has called for greater investment in the national broadcaster as the best method of fighting misinformation. Williams said that “as our nation has become richer, our nation’s broadcaster has become much poorer”, noting the $150 million annual reduction in the ABC’s budget over the past decade. “Everywhere you look: down, down, down the numbers go,” he said.
Ahead of the federal election, Williams pitched the case for a better-funded national broadcaster as a bulwark against the rising “waters of misinformation and disinformation”, arguing that “the continuing existence of the ABC as a trusted source of the truth will help save our democracy from the populist damage going on elsewhere”. As ABC staff reel over radio shakedown, Kim Williams lectures on ethical leadership Read More Williams outlined a vision of the ABC as showcasing Australian culture, attracting youth and improving “social cohesion” by “listening to everyone and telling everyone’s stories”. Williams’ call for a revitalised ABC comes as the radio division of which he spoke so glowingly was shaken by the exit of the much-loved Sarah Macdonald and Simon Marnie in Sydney, alongside a host of changes to the broadcaster’s audio lineup in 2025.
Journalists then grilled Williams on the ABC’s conduct under his leadership, with The Nig.