Research conducted last year across six key Pacific markets confirms that overall the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is performing strongly among Pacific audiences, a significant achievement given a decline in audiences for traditional media. An important finding is that trust in the ABC across the Pacific is equal to trust levels in Australia, at nearly 80%.    

In 2023 the ABC repeated its 2021 survey in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The aim of the ongoing research is to ensure that the ABC’s investments in the Pacific are effective and that its content and services are meeting audience needs. The survey was conducted by an independent research agency with expertise in the region and in accordance with international standards. 

The research looked at usage patterns relating to ABC Australia, ABC Radio Australia, ABC digital and social media channels, broader media consumption, and attitudes to ABC programs and Australia more generally. The findings, building on 2021 benchmarks, are robust and informative. 

Between 36% and 70% of those surveyed had listened to, watched or used ABC online in the prior three months. Respondents widely agreed that the ABC was educational, interesting and a trusted source of news and information. The ABC is highly regarded, especially for ABC news and current affairs and for targeted local-interest programming, while interest in Australian people and content is positive, high and growing.  

Digital media platforms are increasingly popular as ways to access ABC content. A very high number of those surveyed—between 67% and 98% of those who interacted with the ABC—reported that they did so through online platforms.  

Traditional media consumption still dominates, however, and the majority of those using the ABC online are also users of traditional radio and television. But the technological trends are clear: household ownership of radios and televisions is generally in decline while newspapers are increasingly read on line.  

An important measure of the impact of the of ABC in the region is its ranking against heavyweight international broadcasters such as the BBC, CNN and national broadcasters from France, Japan, New Zealand and China. In all markets the ABC was the most valued and preferred broadcaster frequented via websites, apps or social media, except in Fiji, where Al Jazeera was most preferred.  

Interest in Australia, the Australian people and Australian perspectives remain very high across the region. In fact, the appeal of Australian content has notably grown since the 2021 survey.  

Beyond the clear appeal of general ABC news and current affairs, programs doing particularly well include music and sport shows designed specifically for Pacific audiences.   

On ABC Australia TV, ABC news content dominates interaction and appeal. The ABC’s flagship Pacific program is The Pacific. It was produced in response to earlier research that showed Pacific audience hunger for news and current affairs with a Pacific focus. Since launching in 2020 That Pacific Sports Show has also rapidly increased its viewership and popularity. The ABC’s Australian Football League coverage and Gardening Australia are also popular across the region. 

Most-liked radio programs include Island Music (introduced 2021), the longstanding Pacific Beat, Stories from the Pacific (from 2023) and Sistas Let’s Talk (introduced in 2021). This indicates that the ABC’s recent programming strategies are well targeted and well received. 

The results confirm the value of regular benchmark surveys to ensure the independent ABC adapts and thrives in the Pacific as a representative of a democratic, friendly and trustworthy Australia. And they validate the government’s increased investment in the ABC as part of a broader strategy to promote shared interests within a peaceful, prosperous and resilient Pacific region. 

The review of Australia’s media reach in the Asia–Pacific is an orphan inquiry that has the chance to do great work. The responsible adults didn’t want the orphan, but they really need it.

The Coalition government didn’t seek the inquiry. Nor did the Australian Broadcasting Corporation like the way the inquiry was born. Yet now the orphan is up and running, it can offer answers and options both the government and the ABC need.

The media review is the progeny of a political deal (to win a parliamentary vote) that could deliver important policy. Such strange things happen in Canberra all the time. In theory, governments set up reviews to investigate difficult issues and offer solutions. Yes, minister, up to a point, but there’s always the dark art side …

Four dark reasons for an inquiry are:

1. To deliver a pre-determined answer (writing terms of reference is a vital subset of this category).
2. To defuse, delay or defer a political or policy headache.
3. To seal a deal.
4. To desert a leaky ship—to set the stage to shift or abandon policy.

The Asia–Pacific policy review delivers on one part of a deal the government made with then Senator Nick Xenophon to get his vote for changes to Australian media law.

The Xenophon agreement explains the rather limp justification the orphan inquiry offers for its existence, saying that last September, ‘the Government agreed to conduct a review of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Services’.

Here’s hoping that as well as the political-fix needs of dark arts category 3, the inquiry is going to stride into category 4 territory—preparing the way to shift policy.

To get the changes that Australia needs in its international media thinking, the government and the ABC will have to bury a lot of recent nastiness and bickering. Certainly, the times demand such a switch of tone and shift of policy. The review of Oz media interest/role/future in the Asia–Pacific is a chance for a Canberra re-do.

The government can overturn its own poor and petty decisions that have damaged our international voice. And the ABC can use the opportunity to repair and recover its role as the Oz international broadcaster, a core Charter responsibility that Aunty has been shedding. Asia and the South Pacific demand new thoughts and myriad means—media and communications are an important element. And this element of Oz policy has been withering.

The review ‘to assess the reach of Australia’s media in the Asia Pacific region’ will find that Australia has been reaching less and less. Australia retreats from the Asia–Pacific media arena as the contest intensifies. The liberal rules-based international order sags and struggles and strains. Fake news abounds. Great power competition builds.

No good crisis should go to waste: thus, tough times call for a substantial rethink of Australia’s media voices in the Asia–Pacific, as an integral part of our strategy for confronting the new abnormal of international power.

The inquiry can deliver vital thoughts about how Australia should be talking with the near neighbours in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, and with the broader region. Please note: talking with, not to.

In the South Pacific, Australia’s policy re-do should be based on a lot of listening to the region on the importance of Australia’s silenced shortwave service and the Australian media role in the Islands.

The inquiry has the delicate task of stepping through the ruin of past government and ABC actions. There’s still smoke and debris from the Coalition’s decision to axe the ABC’s $220 million, 10-year contract to run the Asia–Pacific television service, Australia Network. That chop happened in the first year of the contract.

The Abbott government action was a sad example of Australian international interests being trampled by domestic argy-bargy because of deeply-entrenched hang-ups about the ABC. The Liberal Party fear of the ABC was succinctly expressed long ago by John Howard’s consigliere Graham Morris: ‘The ABC is our enemy talking to our friends.’

The enemy/friends tension is a backhanded tribute to the importance of the ABC and its influence across Australian society. For many decades, that ABC influence reached beyond our borders. The domestic politics of the old Liberal battle with Aunty has obscured the ABC’s traditional role as a major media voice in our neighbourhood.

The constant Coalition squeeze on the ABC budget has had an important unintended consequence—sapping not just ABC resources but the ABC’s focus on its charter responsibility for international broadcasting.

The ABC must confront its loss of international focus. Closing down the shortwave service to the South Pacific last year was the act of a myopic organisation. The ABC discarded its shortwave audience by degrading the signal, an act of technological bastardry.

Last year’s Senate inquiry into the shortwave shutdown—inspired by Nick Xenophon—set the scene for this new Foreign/Communications inquiry. The Senate majority report recommended against legislation to overturn the shortwave decision, saying this would infringe on the ABC’s independence. But you’ll find plenty in that Senate report on why it was a bad (and bastard) move by Aunty: the ABC decided on its own interests and told the South Pacific it no longer needed shortwave.

The new inquiry should listen to the Pacific view that shortwave is still vital. It’d be a welcome change, listening to what the Islands say they need, rather than telling them what they’ll get.

Reviving shortwave should be one part of a much bigger project: to revive the ABC as an international broadcaster and to create a 21st-century voice for Australia across the Asia–Pacific.

To be continued …