Dear Crikey, Mark Scott and Senator Conroy,
Yet again the Aunty Senior Executives are running up the overseas travel junkets. While we cannot afford any new programs or production staff (as you know we produce less local content than the quotas that apply to the commercial networks), we continue to send the senior executives on unnecessary and overpriced overseas junkets.
There had been hope that our new MD, Mark Scott, would stop this having come from a media journalist background — but the latest junket to the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam this September is staggering.
The ABC has completed all the decision making in its digital technical upgrades with almost all thee gear now installed under the Federal Governments Digital Phase 1 (SD) and Digital Phase 2 (HD), yet the junkets continue.
Despite the fact that there is a much cheaper and closer conference in Asia called Broadcast Asia every year where all the major equipment suppliers are represented or the Sydney based SMPTE Conference — but they still all go to the most expensive exhibition in the world, IBC. Of course going to IBC also includes the required side trip to London to have tea with the BBC and the guys at the London ABC bureau.
So who is going? Well the rumour mill says the team will include:
Chief Operating Officer — David Pendleton and mate of the previous MD.
Director of Production Resources — David Cruttenden, mate of and works for David Pendleton and is a serial attendee every year!
Plus, I am told, the Acting Director of Technology and Head of Transmission.
The costs; well they will only stay at five star hotels and fly full fare business class, so based on last years costs, per person it will approximately cost:
Airfares (business): $12,000
Accomodation (five star): $8,000
Registration $3000 to $4500
Expenses: $2000Which equals $25,000 per attendee!
Thus total cost of around $100,000 for a free European Getaway! So much for a cash strapped ABC! Senator Conroy promised to stop this public broadcaster when in opposition, how about stopping this Senator — and put the $100,000 to production — in radio it could fund a whole new internet station.
And Mark Scott, how about it? Please, please, live up to your promise to staff to put the dollars into program making instead of this blatant waste of tax payers’ money. Do all your staff a favour — cancel these wasted technology junkets and send your executive to next year’s SMPTE Conference and Exhibition in June 2009. I am sure nine months delay will not be a problem.
Nobody minds OS trips for productions and news — just the waste of money on executive junkets. And what about the frequent flyer points these guys accrue — which the ABC doesn’t require them to use — amazing given all the senior executives proudly display their Platinum Frequent Flyer Membership labels of their briefcases!
Yours sincerely and on behalf of the few remaining production staff,
David (please excuse me not using my real name, I am sure you understand).
“David” and his rant are typical of a culture, which still exists inside large sections of the ABC.
I’ve had various associations over the last 30+ years with the ABC including working there.
Amongst many permanent staff I saw constant navel gazing and an obsessional interest in internal politics, rumor making, whingeing and petty jealousies aimed at superiors and managers.
“David”’s comments today reflect just that type of person.
Most staff just got in and did the job quietly and efficiently.
However, there were many who were indolent, difficult to motivate, handing in work of patchy quality and were personally quite relaxed about their low productivity.
It was as if they saw the ABC as their personal property, undermining decision makers and those charged with management responsibilities. In any organization there has to be a culture of acceptance that there is a captain – and regardless of merit, he/she’s been appointed and their decisions respected and accepted – otherwise there is anarchy.
The ABC must be in the forefront of technical and creative/programming trends to survive in today’s media. The Ultimo facilities and iView (indeed the ABC website itself) are examples of the ABC’s technical excellence.
An organization of the size and scope of today’s ABC must expose as many of its senior decision makers to overseas trends and techniques to stay in the race with new media and the commercial competitors.
I’ve been to IBC and NAB (Las Vegas). It is wrong to compare them in favor of the Asian and Australian conferences.
IBC and NAB are many times larger than the local equivalents. One sees things there that never make it to SMPTE – which “David” fails to mention, is only conducted only every 2 years.
Cutting-edge technology, keynote speakers, meets with engineering executives plus the value of visiting, learning from and observing other world’s-best-practice media organizations in operation simply cannot be dismissed so insolently it has by “David”.
Living offshore I would have to agree with David (seeing Austrade etc. assist with offshore “tourism” services under the guise of fact finding, marketing etc.)
Surely offshore conferences are not the sole channel for keeping up with media related technical developments?
Like other Australian industries, most employees whether management or otherwise seem to prefer (or are desperate) to travel and meet people offshore face to face versus using communications technology to deal directly with international stakeholders……e.g. Australian education industry for one.
A university employee working in international area with young family who understandably prefers not to travel but use internet, teleconferencing etc. all year round (which is more effective than solid state physical) was ordered in no uncertain terms by senior management to take up offshore travel opportunities because “this is how we prefer to do things”…..these Australians are known offshore as “upmarket middle aged backpackers” (due to the drinking)….or simply “self important pretentious w…kers” hopping round international conferences, exhibitions, receptions etc. ..trying to be important…..
For example see how many Australians attending this one http://www.eaie.org/antwerp/participants/index.asp?wat=country
plus the side trips to other countries, how much, I’d guess easily AUD1 million?
The money would still be wasted if you spent it on internal production.
May as well see what international public broadcasters are up to stop feeding the slackers in like David.
Go back to looking out the window and dreaming of the BBC