With the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) international broadcasting budget of $35 million cut by more than half, Radio Australia (RA) faces major job cuts.
With just $15 million to play with, ABC’s management’s plan a new “converged service” for its international broadcasting outlets.
Though RA will continue to broadcast a 24/7 schedule, there will be some cuts to staff and programmes.
Three RA correspondent positions covering Asia, Finance and the Pacific will be axed.
The flagship Pacific Beat will continue, as will RA’s hourly news bulletins, but English language staff will be cut and English programming will be sourced from ABC Radio and ABC News.
The RA Morning program, the Asia Pacific and Asia Review programs will be axed.
RA’s language services in Tok Pisin, Khmer and Burmese will offer reduced original content with some translated ABC and SBS content.
The future of the French language service is still uncertain.