Edith Waller

Edith Waller was a key figure in the NSW Friends of the ABC in the 1980s and 1990s. She joined the committee in 1981 and quickly became secretary. In her report to the Annual General Meeting in 1986, she affirmed the potential of Friends of the ABC:

I would like to stress, it is not impossible for articulate minorities to gain the ear of governments if they are vocal enough and persistent enough… we are not powerless.

Edith Waller became editor of the newsletter News & Views, which blossomed under her direction. Her daughter Ruth Waller remembers her mother’s commitment to the Friends of the ABC.

Edith Waller also wrote to the ABC, both to staff and management. She would congratulate producers for programs she admired, and politely let management know about decisions of which she was critical. Her correspondence to the ABC, with the replies she received, as well as her letters to newspapers and articles for News & Views, were placed at the National Library of Australia at the instigation of historian Ken Inglis.

Edith Waller served on the NSW State Advisory Council for many years. She was made an honorary Life Member of the NSW Friends of the ABC in 1994.

‘Eight Cents a Day’ campaign

In October 1986, David Hill was appointed ABC Managing Director. In the face of continued cuts to ABC funding, Hill decided to confront the government head-on. In late 1987, the campaign known as ‘Eight cents a day’ was launched by the ABC to demonstrate its value to Australians. Promotions on radio and television showed audiences what they were getting ‘for only 8 cents a day’.

In addition to on-air promotions, the ABC’s Corporate Affairs division distributed 100,000 copies of a leaflet called ‘Time for Action’. This called on the public to support improved funding for the ABC and suggested ways individuals could put pressure on the government to do so, including holding public meetings.

Future of the ABC, February 1988

Sydney Rally 1988

On the morning of 24 February 1988, The Sydney Morning Herald published a letter from Walter Bass of the Friends of the ABC. He identified an attack on the ABC from two fronts – funding cuts and a proposal from Labor Senator Gareth Evans that ABC programs be categorised as ‘charter’ or ‘non-charter’.

The Friends of the ABC and the ABC’s NSW National Advisory Council joined together to host the rally at the Sydney Town Hall. The audience of over 3,000 heard ABC Managing Director David Hill speak under a banner saying ‘Australia’s backing the ABC’.

Also on the platform was president of NSW Friends of the ABC, Ed Davis, only recently in the position. He was a professor of economics at Macquarie University, often speaking on the ABC on economic matters and industrial relations.  He recalls the excitement of this occasion.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the event the following day with a photo of queues making their way into the Town Hall. 

The Friends of the ABC planning meetings were on a smaller scale – but nevertheless, could encompass different views. Ed Davis resigned as NSW president in the early 1990s as his family and work commitments grew; in addition, differences emerged between him and others on the committee.

The members of ABC Friends are not all cut from the same cloth. There is a range of views about the relationship between ABC Friends and the ABC, particularly the role of ‘critical friend’. 

Ed Davis returned to active participation in the Friends almost 20 years later and again, took a leading role with ABC Friends.

Melbourne Town Hall rally, March 1988

The newly formed Victorian Friends of the ABC was out in force on the evening of 7 March 1988. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra opened the evening before a succession of speakers spoke on two issues: firstly, to support increased funding for the ABC, and secondly to voice their opposition to a proposal by Senator Gareth Evans to restrict public funding to ‘core’ ABC programs. The other ‘non-core’ output – including sport, religion and lifestyle – was to be funded by sponsorship.

The audience at the Melbourne Town Hall cheered the new President of the Friends of the ABC Victoria, former Liberal Premier, Sir Rupert Hamer. He was a judicious choice of president, and the event was covered on the ABC’s television news that evening.

Melbournian Terri MacKenzie was in the audience that evening. By the time it finished, she was ready to sign up.

Like many members of Friends of the ABC, Terri MacKenzie had a long association with the ABC as an audience member.

Survival concert

The ‘Survival Concert’ hosted jointly by Friends of the ABC and the Public Sector Union on 26 May 1991, had a cheering audience of 2,000 people. The speakers included Jim Dibble, Quentin Dempster, Noni Hazelhurst, H. G. Nelson and Karina Kelly, interspersed with performances from Don Burrows, the Conservatorium Orchestra and an emerging attraction, Pacemaker and the Jerries. Sound, lighting and direction were handled by off-duty ABC staff.

News & Views published an appreciative letter from Senator Cheryl Kernot afterwards.

I am writing to tell you how much my family and I enjoyed yesterday’s absolutely wonderful concert. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I regard it as a privilege to publicly demonstrate my commitment to the ABC.

(News & Views, Vol 5, no 7, Winter 1991, p. 3)

The ABC’s various unions were active across the 1970s and 1980s in raising public awareness of threats to the ABC. They partnered with the Friends of the ABC to co-host several events. On other occasions, a Friends representative might appear as a speaker, for instance Sir Rupert Hamer, the new president of Friends of the ABC in Victoria, spoke in August 1988 at The Big Gag, a concert organised by the Public Sector Union at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Staff in different divisions of the ABC could be represented by different unions. Four of these came together to hold the Famous Phantoms Frolic in July 1985. The title derived from the expression coined by then ABC Managing Director Geoffrey Whitehead to refer to the ABC’s part-time and casual staff as a ‘phantom army’.

Walter Bass

Walter Bass was one of the co-founders of Friends of the ABC in 1976 and he went on to become its principal spokesperson in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was an avid letter writer and frequently quoted in press articles. He gave interviews to ABC radio and appeared on television, including Lateline in 1992.

The ABC’s funding was the issue in this instance, particularly in connection with the proposal that it participate in ‘pay tv’. The Board proposed two ABC subscription channels, but many people were concerned this would pave the way for the end of free-to-air television for everyone. Walter Bass was aware of the effects a similar move had had in New Zealand.

Walter Bass and fellow Friend of the ABC Paul Bales stood as candidates for the senate in the federal election in March 1993. Corin Fairburn Bass remembers the time well.

Walter Bass talked at the time about why he chose to participate in the election:

I’m trying to put a bit back into the organisation I’ve loved all my life. It’s not just a sentimental attachment – it’s my deep conviction that the ABC is an essential part of the democratic process in this country.

(News & Views, vol 6, no. 3, 1992, p. 1)

Walter Bass retired from Friends of the ABC in 1996.

Reflection: Newsletters

Newsletters have had a crucial role in keeping ABC Friends afloat since its inception.  They have been key to mobilising members, alerting them to campaigns and actions in which they can participate.

Newsletters inform members of government policy relating to the ABC, of developments in the ABC itself, and of changes in the broader media field. Newsletters also serve to circulate ideas about how to advocate, as well as celebrating the achievements of branches.

Aunty’s Nieces and Nephews began a newsletter within weeks of its first meeting – it had an informal air and was written in the style of a letter between friends. Friends of the ABC in Sydney started a newsletter in 1977 with the election of a new president, Joyce Belfrage (a former ABC TV producer notorious for having thrown a typewriter out of her office window, she was later one of the first media academics in Australia).

By 1980, the NSW branch was producing a thrice-yearly newsletter called News & Views. The final issue of Aunty’s Nieces and Nephews newsletter was in 1985. Newsletters in other states also ceased during the 1980s. But NSW’s News & Views was distributed interstate. It was also dispatched to the ABC, its advisory councils and unions – and retained in their archives. It contributed to the circulation of ideas and the formation of a network of individuals across Australia with shared concerns regarding advocacy for the ABC.

From the mid 1990s, there was a proliferation of newsletters within Friends of the ABC – dispatched by volunteers who would fold and apply address labels. The Victorian branch underwent rapid growth and began the production of Backchat in early 1997. It was succeeded in 2000 by Vic News, which was initially a supplement to Background Briefing, which began in 1999 as a national newsletter produced in Adelaide by editor Joan Laing. In 2006, Background Briefing ceased and Victoria began News & Views (the name had become available when in 2000, NSW renamed their newsletter Update). News & Views (Victoria) was edited by Campaign Manager Glenys Stradijot until its final issue in 2015.

Update was in production until the end of 2023. It became a substantial publication of up to 32 pages, under the stewardship of editor Mal Hewitt, deputy editor Diana Wyndham, and variously production managers Chris. Cartledge and Angela Williamson.

Mal Hewitt was disappointed by the decision to cease the hard copy production of Update in 2023:

When you’re in the community, at a local street stall talking to somebody, you can say, hey, take a copy of Update, take it home, and put it on your bedside and you can read all about it. You can’t do that with a digital statement.

In 2015, Victoria started email news. ABC Friends e-news is currently produced nationally, with additional e-newsletters in NSW and Victoria. Social media has also made an abundance of information available, with short reels and posts linking to videos of complete panel discussions.

The copy for newsletters could be written by the editorial team and other Friends members, but frequently included articles by academics, journalists and ABC staff – often the talks of visiting speakers would be published. Mal Hewitt has described Update as a link with the ABC, featuring interviews and profiles of ABC staff.

Many cartoonists gave permission for their published work to be reprinted in newsletters. Ron Tandberg and Phil Somerville were particularly generous in this regard.

August 1996: rallying season

Rallies have traditionally given the public a chance to declare their support for a cause: a slew of rallies took place in August 1996 to let ABC supporters do precisely that.

The first, at The Domain in Sydney on 4 August, was organised by ABC staff – journalists Maxine McHugh and Quentin Dempster shared the stage with Jemima from Play School and the Bananas in Pyjamas, before Christine Anu, Roy and H.G. and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra among others entertained an estimated crowd of 60,000.

A stall run by NSW Friends of the ABC enabled 4,000 letters to be written by members of the public to politicians. Among the many speakers was magistrate Pat O’Shane, who took issue with Bob Mansfield saying he did not want the inquiry he was then chairing into the ABC to become ‘emotional’. Pat O’Shane’s response was to declare ‘we are entitled to be emotional about the things we care about and if he can’t stand our emotional heat, he should get out of the kitchen cabinet.’

Rallies continued across Australia. Friends of the ABC in Queensland spokesman George Blair spoke at an event in Brisbane on 10 August calling for ‘protection’ of the ABC.

While in Melbourne, the City Council provided the Melbourne Town Hall for a rally and concert on 12 August organised by Friends of the ABC.

June Factor’s committee produced a stylish program for the occasion. It was almost a manifesto, with statements affirming the value of the ABC from groups such as the Council on the Ageing Victoria and the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties, as well as listing ’10 good reasons’ to save the ABC.

Glenys Stradijot, then a Friends of the ABC Victoria volunteer and later employed as campaign director, remembers the part the ABC itself played in the Melbourne rally.

In September, ABC Managing Director Brian Johns addressed a Friends of the ABC rally in Adelaide, describing the proposed cuts as ‘not a pruning exercise, but wrenching’ in their impact. He made a point of referring to ‘the public outcry’ shown by the rallies.