The ABC has walked away from LGBTQ+, disability and diversity groups following friction over the public broadcaster paying fees to those organisations.
An exclusive report from The Guardian uncovered plans for the ABC to end its memberships with ACON Health’s Pride in Diversity program, the Australian Disability Network and the Diversity Council of Australia.
The ABC’s relationship with ACON has long been the subject of scrutiny, due to the broadcaster paying membership fees to the group, which then ranks and awards the ABC based on its inclusion and diversity scores.
In emails seen by The Guardian, the ABC said it had conducted a top-down assessment of its external partnerships and concluded they were “no longer providing sufficient value” to the organisation.
In a statement to The Guardian, the ABC said the review of its workplace partnerships affirmed that it was meeting its obligations of editorial independence.
“We will always invest in these fundamental principles,” an ABC spokesperson said.
“The ABC remains committed to diversity and inclusion and will redirect funding to internal initiatives.”
The ABC’s equivalent in the UK, the BBC, withdrew from a similar program to ACON’s in 2021 in a move to protect its reputation for impartiality.
It is understood the ABC was paying up to $12,000 a year to ACON and was, in turn, included in its Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI).
Under the scheme, the ABC earns points towards its ranking for specific editorial content, and in documents uncovered by Media Watch in 2022, ACON even offered editorial tips to help the broadcaster climb the rankings.
Media Watch first examined the ABC’s relationship with ACON in 2022, when then host Paul Barry questioned whether it was appropriate.
“Regardless of how good or worthy these programs (inclusion ones) are… having them scored by a lobby group raises questions about ABC impartiality,” he said.
He compared it to hypothetically the ABC paying Greenpeace and winning prizes for attacking the fossil fuel industry.
Late last year, the relationship was the subject of an article by The Australian, with editor Stephen Rice speaking to Kit Kowalski, a self-proclaimed gender-critical activist.
Kowalski uses her spare time to criticise diversity and inclusion groups like ACON and was given an unchallenged platform to criticise the relationship between the broadcaster and ACON.
The article resulted in a push by the would-be political party Family First, which currently has no MPs, to call for an investigation into whether the ABC had breached its charter.
There was also a petition submitted to Parliament calling for the ABC to end its relationship with ACON.
That petition was presented at the start of February and had only 1,260 signatures.
A spokesperson for ACON told The Guardian the organisation did not seek to influence the media and made its insights available to all organisations.
“We do not seek to, nor do we have, any influence over the way media outlets, who are members of Pride in Diversity, report issues, including the ABC,” the statement said.
“We will continue to offer our services to employers to advance their diversity, inclusion and belonging goals in their workplaces.”
