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Friends of the ABC (Western Australia) web site.
On our site you will find out about our activities, as well as information on our ABC.
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Last Updated January 12, 2010
NOVEMBER 2009 FABCWA UPDATE
Annual General Meeting
The AGM was held on Sunday 8 November and was attended by about 40 people. Frank Calabrese and Alison and John White retired from the committee and were replaced by three new members. They are Veronica Brady, a former member of the ABC Board, Tony Costa a former Mayor of Subiaco and Colin Latchem, and Academic and author. FABCWA is very pleased to have these people as members and welcome them to the committee.
The speaker Diana Warnock gave an entertaining and thought-provoking address and the forum afterwards proved a lively discussion. The results of the members’ forum have given the committee guidance on the way forward for the Friends in 2010.
The committee for 2010 are as follows
President Dr. Harry Cohen harry.cohen@bigpond.com
Vice President Lindsay Smith lirsmith@bigpond.com
Treasurer/membership Meg Durston durston@amnet.net.au
Secretary Myrna Tonkinson bmtonk@bigpond.net.au
Committee John Smith
Barbara Henderson
Veronica Brady
Tony Costa
Colin Latchem
President’s address to the AGM of the FABCWA
Welcome to you all.
We have had a busy year and my committee has worked very hard. All have worked very hard this year and I would like to thank them for their efforts.
I would also like to thank other hardworking members. Firstly Ranjan Ray and his committee for organising the wonderful film afternoons at the Windsor; John and Rosemary Smith for their hard work in undertaking the mail-out of the newsletter and Background Briefing; Alison Clifford for producing the labels for postage; and Val Marsden who has worked hard in producing the newsletter. Thank you very much, and your efforts are greatly appreciated.
We have run several stalls this year and have held them in places where we have not had a previous presence. One was held at Orientation Day at the University of WA in February. We hoped that this way we might attract some younger members. Two country members held stalls for us in different places. Tanya Smith from Balingup held a stall for the Friends at the Nannup Music Festival in July and Sheila Ferguson from Bunbury held one at the Brunswick Farmers Market in October. All were very successful with many people showing interest, asking questions and taking away literature. Unfortunately, while a great amount of interest and support for the ABC is shown at these events, not many actually became members.
We seem to sell out of merchandise quite quickly after these stalls, so it is nice to know that people are walking around in our t-shirts, caps and displaying our stickers and are aware of the existence of the FABC. The most popular items at all stalls are the Bananas in Pyjamas T-Shirt and the ABC cook-book.
I do not think that we need be overly concerned that we do not gain many members from these stalls. While it would be nice to come away with a bundle of completed membership forms, an FABCWA stall lets people know of our existence, we distribute our literature and get people interested. I think that stalls are a vital part of our activities and we would like to hold more in this coming year if we can. If any member knows of an event which might suit as a stall venue, city or country, let us know.
We have also held stalls at FABCWA events such as a film afternoon and the luncheon, and again members take away literature to give to friends and buy merchandise which advertises the FABC.
At the end of last year FABCWA put in a submission to the review of the ABC/SBS on your behalf. The recommendations that we made were published in the last newsletter, so I will not re-iterate them here.
However, we are hoping to get guidance from you all here today in the forum as to what is important to you regarding the ABC, which will help guide the incoming committee as to what direction to take for the coming year.
Another innovation this year has been the Pixie Angel bequest being used for a prize for Journalism through the Edith Cowan University.
Pixie Angel was a member of FABCWA who sadly died some years ago, leaving a bequest to us. For some time the committee has been trying to decide the best use of this money to further the aims of the organisation.
Last year we decided upon a $500 yearly scholarship to a journalism student at ECU for the best investigative journalism. We chose investigative journalism, as it is something the ABC – and often ONLY the ABC – do so well. The prize money is the highest of any prize at the school, so it is keenly contested by students. We hope that winners of this prize will not only honour the memory of Pixie Angel, but maybe see future Four Corners or documentary journalists in the making, keeping alive the great tradition of the ABC of shining a light in dark corners.
Our luncheon this year was held at the Nedlands Yacht Club and had Geoff Duncan State Director of the ABC in WA as guest speaker. Geoff spoke very well, and we were able to forge a link with ABC management in the state, something which has been difficult over the past decade, when relationships between the Friends and the ABC were not cordial. Since then, we have been invited to meet the ABC Board when they visited Perth in August, and we look forward to constructive and co-operative relationships with ABC management.
Next year we are looking at having an afternoon tea rather than a luncheon. This will of course include a guest speaker. But we are hoping that this way we can keep costs down. These days it is almost impossible to get a luncheon for under $40-$50 per head in a venue large enough to house members, and sufficiently central to allow for ease of access. But this is to be decided by the incoming committee.
We are also planning to have an e-list so that we can contact all members on e mail in a timely manner and with ease. There have been a number of occasions when this would have been most useful this year, but the system that we devised was not workable. So we plan to hand over the issue to our web masters to resolve. About two-thirds of members are on email and we will be able to contact them at the press of a button. For those of you without email, we will still send out the information by so called snail mail. However this will only be for a third of members, which will cut down the time and expense in sending out all information by post.
Thank you all for attending and I look forward to working with you over the coming year to further support the ABC that we all love.
Public broadcasting is still under threat world-wide, and for those of us who value it as a national treasure, we need to remain as vigilant as ever.
JOIN FRIENDS OF THE ABC!
The Friends of the ABC has grown considerably since it was started around 30 years ago,
but we must keep on growing if we are to carry out our mission of preserving the independence of the ABC and obtaining the funding to keep it operational.
The Friends are as varied in their interests and concerns as the ABC's programs. Some of us are more concerned about one facet of programming or policy than another, but we are united in our desire to keep our ABC safe from budget-chopping, news-diluting, censorship and general meddling. We do not oppose change, but we do oppose tinkering with something that works well just because someone has found a new set of spanners.
The Friends see two major threats to the ABC: (l) Lack of adequate funding and (2) attempts to interfere with its independence. The Rudd Labor Government has made a number of commitments in relation to the ABC: adequate funding on a triennial basis; maintaining the independence of the ABC; introduction of a new process for board appointments; appointments to the board based on merit, and restoration of the staff-elected director. It is now over six months since the election of the Rudd government and it is timely to ask questions about progress on implementation of these commitments.
What can you do?
- WRITE to Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, the PrimeMinister and your Federal Member of Parliament. Tell them how important the ABC is to you and ask them for an update on progress towards implementation of their commitments.
- JOIN the Friends of the ABC and increase the volume of our voice.
- RECRUIT others to write letters.
You can download a membership form and also get further information from our website, www.abcfriendswa.net or contact me, Harry Cohen, President, Friends of the ABC (WA) harry.cohen@bigpond.com.