RA cuts a worry for Papua New Guineans - Philemon

Transcript

A veteran of the Papua New Guinea news media says the cutbacks at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be disastrous for his country.

The ABC is slashing its international services after major cuts in this year's federal budget.

80 staff with ABC International are to go, after the ABC lost the Australian Network contract.

Radio Australia's operations in the Pacific are expected to be the worst hit.

The Australian Network's Sean Dorney whose work is often carried on Radio Australia's Pacific Beat expects to lose his job.

Oseah Philemon is now retired but for many years worked for newspapers in PNG, including some time as the editor of the Post Courier.

He told Don Wiseman many Papua New Guineans rely on Radio Australia and the cutbacks will have a severe impact.

OSEAH PHILEMON: The service provided by Radio Australia to the Pacific, including into Papua New Guinea, is very very important. It is a very important news and information service for the people of Papua New Guinea. The main radio stations in Papua New Guinea relay news from Radio Australia. Overseas news that they cannot get or afford to get from other sources. Radio Australia provides that reliable, timely and accurate news service, information service.

DON WISEMAN: I guess that Radio Australia or the ABC will still broadcast but they are not going to have journalists, or as many journalists, involved in covering the Pacific.

OP: Yeah well this is the problem because when you don't have people like Sean Dorney who know the Pacific very well, and you yourself, you know the Pacific very well, we are going to go back to an era in the past when Pacific islanders and their leaders were complaining that their affairs were not being properly by the media in Australia. When people like Sean Dorney travel around the Pacific, they know the leaders here, they understand the issues, giving the Australian public and the government in Australia accurate information on what is happening in the Pacific. What the Australian government has done effectively is cut that link. They are going to cut that link. They are going to rely on their diplomats and I guess that is probably what they want to do but I am sad personally, as a journalist myself, I am sad that such a very important service that is provided by Radio Australia should be cut. It is going to have a very, very severe on our people, because they rely on Radio Australia and a lot of people listen to local stations but when it comes to news time they relay Radio Australia news. That is all going to go now, and I think we are going to be poorer for it.

DW: A key service on Radio Australia has been the Tok Pisin service. They have had eight staff and those eight are going to be cut back to two. How important is the Tok Pisin service for Papua New Guineans?

OP: Well it is important for Papua New Guinea and I can tell you that Papua New Guinea leaders actually respect Radio Australia, because they have confidence in Radio Australia. They know that when people like Sean Dorney report on Papua New Guinea that is objective information. They are putting out news and information that is accurate and objective but when you cut down and you reduce the staff I think they are going to be very very hard pressed and I don't think they are going to do such a good job.