Communications minister says further cuts to ABC later this year will ensure a ‘leaner, fitter’ public broadcaster

The government is not planning to “slash and burn” the ABC when it imposes further cuts to its budget later this year, the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has said.

“We’ve got to cut expenditure,” Turnbull told ABC radio in Brisbane on Tuesday. “Nobody can be exempt, the ABC cannot be exempt. What we’ve got to ensure is that the cuts to the ABC are effected with the least impact on the quality of the program offering.

“This is not slash and burn, this is designed to ensure that the ABC emerges from this a bit leaner, but fitter, better, stronger, more creative than ever before.”

Turnbull confirmed that ABC management was working on a response to the Lewis review, a government-commissioned report which examined ways the two public broadcasters could make backroom savings.

The Lewis review is understood to have found $70m in potential savings but unconfirmed reports suggest the cut may be as high as $100m. This is on top of the $120m cut announced in the budget.

Turnbull would not be drawn on when the cuts would be revealed but he praised the work of the ABC managing director, Mark Scott, claiming he had “a much harder job at the ABC than David Gyngell does at Channel Nine”.

“David Gyngell would say, ‘That’s ridiculous, I don’t get a big cheque from the government every year.’ But the difference is David has a very clear KPI of profit and loss. So he knows, he’s got that discipline there. With the ABC you don’t have that.”

This view of the scale of Scott’s task is backed by the chairman of the ABC, James Spigelman, who has told staff the ABC is facing a “major challenge” to remain relevant in the digital age while making savings.

Spigelman and Scott have both refused to meet with the staff and unions who have demanded they explain what plans are underway to outsource more programming, sell off assets and merge functions with SBS.

Scott flagged these and other cost-saving measures, including reviewing television and radio programming, in a major speech last month.

After that speech the Community and Public Sector Union and Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance wrote to him requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the nature of the changes but the ABC told them a meeting would be premature.

“In that address, you flagged a dramatic overhaul of the ABC, including but not limited to plans to outsource more ABC production to the private sector, review television and radio programming, sell off assets, redesign websites and investigate closer merging of functions with SBS,” the unions said.

“Any such major structural changes are likely to result in high job losses and significant restructuring of remaining positions and we request immediate consultation with the ABC regarding the nature of the changes, timelines for their implementation, impact on staff and strategies to minimise cuts to jobs and services.”

ABC staff’s open letter to Scott and the board, including a petition demanding information on how the ABC plans to implement impending cuts, has been answered by Spigelman.

In his response, Spigelman revealed the board had, as late as last week, not received “official notification of the scale and timing of further funding reductions”.

“Without formal confirmation from ERC [expenditure review committee]of the future funding envelope provided by Canberra, the ABC executive and board cannot finalise a proposal for change that would serve as a basis for consultation with staff,” he said.