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EVENTS COORDINATOR REPORT

Stalls
We have started the year with a burst of activity. We have held two stalls so far this year – one at Orientation Day at The University of WA, and the other at The Nannup Music Festival. The Nannup Festival was worked by members Tanya Smith and Diana Brett from Balingup. We offer both members our sincere thanks, and if any rural members know of events in their local community and would be prepared to run a stall for FABCWA, please let me know. We can provide all the merchandise and documents for the stall and arrange to get it to and from your area.

We are particularly keen to attract more rural and younger members, as these groups are not as well represented as others in our membership. Rural people have a particular interest in supporting the ABC in that it is often the only coverage for both radio and television in some rural and remote areas. The recent Victorian bushfires have also shown, how important the ABC is in providing warnings and updates regarding local disasters.

E-List
I have devised an e-list so that I can contact members with e-mail with ease, and send a blind copy to each member. However it is not currently working, so I am having to send a message to members regarding letters to government about Triennial funding, in groups of 20 or so and no blind copy. My apologies for this and I hope to have the problem sorted by the time I need to send another message. Although it is time consuming for me (we have about two thirds of our members on email) and annoying for you not to receive a blind copy, I thought it best to send information rather than not. Well – if you cannot trust members of the FABC, whom can you trust?????

Annual luncheon
No date has yet been set for the annual luncheon as we are still negotiating regarding a speaker and we need to be flexible in order to fit in with potential candidates. I have issued an invitation to Senator Stephen Conroy Minister for Communications but have not yet received a reply. I thought that he might be a good choice as the ABC’s Triennial Funding is to be set this year, and it would be a chance to hear what he has to say about this issue, and to ask him the hard questions.

Merchandise
I have ordered a new stock of merchandise as our stocks had run very low. It is amazing how popular the Bananas Without Pyjamas t-shirts are, and we have sold out all stock of this item over just two stalls. We have several other types of t-shirt, friends cap, key rings, badges and stickers.

Film Afternoons
Please note the changes to the film afternoons in a separate item. I plan to advise members on email of the film title as soon as it is known, and those without email can ring Myrna on the number given.

Alison White

FABC (WA) FILM AFTERNOON

SUNDAY 19 APRIL AT 3.30 PM (COFFEE AND MINGLE) for 4.20 FILM START $12 PER TICKET

FILM AFTERNOONS

Many FABCWA members have enjoyed the film afternoons over the years. They have been a chance to view a good film, catch up with like-minded people and maybe discuss issues relating to our ABC.

Ranjan Ray of the film committee is asking for people to volunteer to assist with these events.

‘There is not really much to do, but it is too much for the small film committee, and we would greatly appreciate some assistance’ he said. ‘Basically it is just some help in setting up the afternoon tea and some assistance is serving and clearing up afterwards’.

If you can assist, please contact Ranjan on 9387 5126 or email indausind@iinet.net.au

There will also be a small change to film afternoons this year. There will be three such events this year, the dates being 19 April; 19 July and 18 October.

‘The dates have been set in advance to allow members to put them in their diaries’ said Ranjan. ‘We will choose the actual film closer to the day, when we know what is available. However as they are all held at the Windsor Theatre in Nedlands where films of good quality are shown, members can be assured that it will be a film of a high standard’.

Members wanting to know the name of the film in advance can call Myrna on 9386 4802.

‘We do hope that members will continue to support the film afternoon’ Ranjan said. ‘They have been popular for a long time and it is one way we can keep in touch with our members’.

STAFF ELECTED DIRECTOR ON THE ABC BOARD

The WA Friends of the ABC have been following this issue with some interest. Before the 2007 federal election committee members met with then Senator Stephen Conroy. At this meeting Senator Conroy expressed an intention to promote the reinstatement of the staff elected director, along with a push for non-partisan appointments to the board. It is intended to effect the latter by the use of the Nolan Rules, a system used to appoint BBC board members.

Senator Conroy, (now Minister for Communications) has recently reported on the progress of both the Staff Elected Director and the use of the Nolan Rules at Senate estimates, where budgetary proposals are analysed. He said prior to of the autumn sitting of the senate that the government planned to introduce the legislation in that session. Their intention was to get it through sooner rather than later in the year. The question is when, with many other pressing issues on the legislative agenda.

Other state FABCs and Quentin Dempster are keeping the pressure up on this issue. Mr Dempster was to be the next staff elected director, but the position was abolished before he officially took it up.

On the related matter of board appointments, Senator Conroy announced on April 2 that two new members have been appointed. The Minister stated that they were chosen through a process based on the Nolan principles. The appointees are academic Dr Julianne Schultz AM and Mr Michael Lynch, former Sydney Opera House Chief Executive.

With acknowledgements to Quentin Dempster, Joan Laing and Glenys Stradijot

FABCWA New Website

Just before Christmas in 2008 we launched our new website. This was possible as the quote we received from Gold PC Services was so reasonable. Before establishing the new site we obtained quotes from four different Internet Site Design companies and Gold PC services was by far the most affordable. We obtained several photos and images from different FABC websites around Australia to provide an easy to view and colourful website. Currently we have the Film Afternoon dates on the site under Coming Events and soon will put the details for our Annual Lunch and AGM on the website. We welcome any feedback from our members and also encourage members to submit articles or suggestions for our website. Membership forms as well as information on the aims of the FABC organisations around Australia are also on the Website.
John Smith, Web Master

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.

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