SUBSCRIBE
free
With all the to-ing and fro-ing by the Immigration Minister and the Opposition about a nine year boy orphaned on Christmas Island being shuttled to Sydney for an emotional funeral, then back to Christmas Island and now with the boy returning to relatives on the mainland, the recent Click here to read the full story . . .
|
||||||
  |
Although Labor faired poorly at the 21 August 2010 federal elections, it has now been given a second chance in the formation of a minority government. All the Parties and Independent’s agreement to the way parliament is to conduct itself could result in SBS getting a better deal. Private bills must now be debated and voted on. Labor’s Agreement with the Greens gives the Greens direct access to the Prime Minister on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This could ensure an opportunity for both to act Under the 11 year Howard Liberal-National Coalition government, funding for SBS did not keep pace with that required. As a result, in late 2006 SBS began interrupting all programs for advertisements. No one was happy. The Coalition government had abdicated its responsibility for multicultural broadcasting. The Labor party then in Opposition vehemently objected in the parliament and publicly stated in its SBS [election] Policy that “Labor opposes and continues to oppose the decision by SBS to introduce in-program advertising”. There was some excitement in In a media release issued yesterday the President of SaveOurSBS.org, Steve Aujard, called on the government and Opposition to include SBS in their election policies. Mr Aujard accused the Labor and Liberal parties of showing little regard towards SBS. “Despite more than 12,000 emails sent to leaders of all parties from visitors to the SaveOurSBS.org website in the past few weeks, pleading for a promise to increase funding for SBS to free it from advertising, neither Labor nor Liberal are The Greens have promised the most for SBS. Labor more of the same – perhaps, and the Liberals and Nationals are not saying. SaveOurSBS.org approached the four major parties for their SBS policies. The Greens and Labor parties responded whereas the Liberals and Nationals did not. An overview is provided in the table below – for the SBS policies of the Greens and Labor parties only. Our analysis and opinion is below the summary table followed by the full text of each party’s SBS policies. Summary of party policies at a glance Support SBS as a strong Cathy Carey writes:- Earlier this month, the 30 or so subtitlers still employed by SBS TV after several rounds of cutbacks in recent years were informed by station boss Shaun Brown that at least 10 of them must go in the coming weeks, and probably more later. The gloom that pervades the unit could not be further from the excited mood that prevailed over 25 years ago when it was established. Subtitlers at SBS TV have been part of a team which has produced arguably the world’s finest subtitles in a unit built from scratch starting in the early 80s. |
 |
||||
|
This is the official web site of Save Our SBS Inc. |
||||||
Parliament did not intend in-program breaks
When the SBS was established as a corporation under the SBS Act in 1991, the Parliament granted SBS the right to broadcast advertisements before and after programs, and in “natural program breaks”. Although the Act did not define that phrase, the Hansard of the day clearly shows the Parliament intended that “natural program breaks” meant “half time in a soccer match”. No other definition was given.
On this basis, advice was provided to the SBS that it was not allowed to place ads in programs except sport. Ads only appeared between programs
Click here to read the full story . . .