An ABC investigation that could bite

Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan has finally got round to appointing consultants to investigate funding of the ABC. The gig has gone to accounting firm KPMG, as this announcement from the Minister says.

“The review will assess how the ABC uses its funding and provide a sound basis for future consideration of the ABC′s funding needs,” says Senator Coonan. “As stated in the Australian Government′s broadcasting election policy, any additional resources identified as a result of this review will be available to the ABC to use towards meeting its Charter obligations.”

The ABC will receive around $792 million from the Government this financial year, plus the millions it generates from internal businesses like film and tape sales and enterprises and the rental of facilities.

But ask any long-term employee and a cascade of rorts, real and imagined, come tumbling out. For example, it′s roughly a year since the biggest alleged fraud in ABC history started emerging. The sum is claimed to be just under a million dollars and the method of the alleged defalcation was simple.

It took advantage of poor checks and balances in the internal audit and vetting process that sees the ABC′s operations predominantly based in Sydney, but the checking of the invoices and other payment material located in Adelaide. It was based in the huge News and Current Affairs division and involved at least three programs and the Asia Pacific Service.

Then there′s the situation with contractors: they are used extensively throughout the ABC but there′s an internal rule that a contractor cannot do three successive contracts. Why? Because they would make them a full time employee (that′s three contracts of six months one after the other). So producers, camera people and other technical people working as contractors quite often have two contracts back to back and are then forced to wait around in no man′s land for several months before returning to work at the ABC on yet another contract or two.

Then there′s the scheduling of staff travel interstate and within cities: instead of people travelling to a location for a shoot together, the camera people, stills photographer and quite often a reporter and/or producer will turn up separately, with three different cabcharge dockets. That doesn′t happen all the time, but it has been enough to be noticed.

Then there′s the lack of knowledge about exactly how many leases the ABC has over office and telephone equipment, mobile phones, laptop computers, PDAs and the like. When ABC TV moved from Gore Hill to Ultimo in Sydney several years ago a host of telephone lines, handsets and other telecoms and office equipment were found to be leased, much to the surprise of ABC financial people.

If KPMG is tough-minded enough this funding and efficiency review could really make some gains.