Mark Scott has signalled the ABC faces a major restructure, which he said will follow further budget cuts yet to be announced by the federal government.

As well as more outsourcing of TV production, buildings sales, automation and consolidation of websites, Scott also said ABC programming and services were not immune.

Scott said the ABC had created many specialist websites and specialist content, such as arts, which would now be shifted to the news sites to streamline digital services.

“We face the immediate future knowing that funding cuts are coming, but their size has not yet been determined,” the managing director told journalism students at the Queensland University of Technology faculty of creative industries in Brisbane on Friday morning.

Scott warned of “further dislocation” as the old analogue structure of the ABC was transformed into one suited to a digital world.

In the federal budget, the government said the withdrawal of funding for the Australia Network – which resulted in the loss of 70 jobs – was only a “down payment” on further cuts the ABC would be required to make.

Scott said the ABC – which created ABC News 24 and iView with no additional funding – was already operating with 2,000 fewer staff and $200m less in funding in real terms than 10 years ago.

“I expect when the funding position from Canberra becomes clear, significant decisions about the ABC’s operations and funding priorities will follow,” he said.

“Are there activities that we can drop, automate, do differently? We are working with SBS to see if, by working more closely together, we can make back-room savings, while remaining independent editorially.

“Our ambition must be to spend as much as we can on programs, to reduce what we spend on administration and support functions. Ensuring the ABC is as efficient and effective as possible.”

In a speech clearly aimed at the government, Scott said “those who write the cheques in Canberra” should get a sense of the “unprecedented scale and pace of change that we and our colleagues in the media sector are encountering”.

“We must accept that in the fierce contest for audiences, where old alliances no longer work and where friends can become rivals, the ABC has to robustly review its programming and services, find new ways to keep the audiences we have and to attract new ones.

“We will make the investment necessary to deliver quality programming. But it will be prudent and we will need to make careful judgments about the audience return.

In a wide-ranging speech he outlined the bleak landscape in which the media was operating in 2014, with fewer media proprietors, huge job losses and “few survivors willing to sacrifice earnings to deliver a broader, less tangible asset back to the community”.

The ABC provided content the commercial media would not and could not because it didn’t deliver the biggest audiences and the biggest profits: things such as children’s television, narrative comedy and innovative drama. An example is Triple J, he said, without which the Australian music industry would struggle to survive.

“The ABC is not immune to the cost pressures that have squeezed the rest of the industry. Costs are rising for both acquired material and local production content. Like our rivals we battle ever-increasing insurance premiums and electricity charges,” he said.

“Now the pressure has been intensified: we must return efficiency saving to Canberra, yet at the same time, free up the funds needed for investment to meet audience needs and expectations.

Scott mounted a strong argument that despite the ABC’s vociferous critics it enjoyed the support of 84% of the Australian public who believe the ABC provides a valuable or very valuable service.

Newspoll recently confirmed what every survey has found which is that audiences believe the ABC is fair and balanced and that it is overwhelmingly supported and trusted by the Australian public.

“But many of our relentless critics reveal more about their own views of the world and how they are positioning themselves in the media marketplace than they do about the ABC,” Scott said.

“They speak because of an ideological opposition to public funding of media like the ABC or because of the commercial impact they feel the ABC has on their own operations.”