Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces 5 per cent cut to ABC's annual funding

Updated

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirms the ABC's annual funding will be reduced by about 5 per cent, and says he will detail the budget cuts this week.

The ABC's Media Watch program reported the Government would cut the public broadcaster's funding by $50 million a year, on top of the $9 million cut announced in the May budget.

Sources have told the program the cuts will see state-based 7.30 editions axed, Lateline pared back, bureaus in Tokyo, Bangkok, New Delhi and New Zealand scaled back, $6 million sliced off radio budgets and TV production in South Australia shut down.

Speaking on the ABC's Q&A program, Mr Turnbull said the cuts would average at 5 per cent over five years.

"That includes the 1 per cent, it includes everything since the budget, including the budget," he said.

"It does not include the cancellation or termination of the Australia Network contract.

"And the reason for that is that that was a contract between the Department of Foreign Affairs and ABC."

He said the cuts were reasonable, and were a part of a Government-wide savings exercise necessary to help with the budget.

"We're spending more than we are receiving... so we've got to raise some more money and we've got to spend less," Mr Turnbull said.

"There is no reason for the ABC and SBS to be exempt from that."

Opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare said if the reports were correct, it amounted to another broken election promise from the Coalition.

"Any organisation can be more efficient, but you find efficiencies in the organisation and then re-invest it in new programs and new services," he told ABC News Breakfast.

"This Government is doing something very different - it's just cutting the guts out of the ABC and they're doing it after they promised that they wouldn't do it."

Mr Turnbull said the ABC received around $1.1 billion a year from the Government and that the cuts were "relatively modest savings" in relation to that budget.

He said 20 per cent of the ABC's budget was dedicated to transmission costs, meaning the savings could be made from cuts to "everything else", so as not to disrupt broadcasting services.

"I've gone to the considerable pains to ensure that the ABC is well able to deliver these savings without cutting into the resources available for programming," he said.

"Anyone here who is in business, who has been in business, particularly anyone who has been in the media business, in the private sector, that could not manage to find 5 per cent out of efficiencies is not even trying."

In his pre-election campaign, Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised there would be no cuts to the ABC or SBS under his government.

Mr Turnbull denied the cuts were a punitive measure.

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