Australia Network is the latest victim in Gillard-Rudd war
Written by Julie Bishop Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Published on Fairfax's National Times website
An important element of Australia's engagement with our region is the taxpayer-funded international television service Australia Network which broadcasts to more than 44 countries in the Asia/Pacific/Indian Ocean.
The broadcasts are a powerful tool of public diplomacy, furthering and promoting our foreign policy and national interests through the dissemination of ideas, information, values and beliefs and building greater understanding among the billions of people who live to our north, east and west.Australian international television broadcasting has been around in one form or another since the early 1990s, when the ABC launched Australia Television International.
The ABC operated the service until 1998 when the Seven Network was successful in winning the tender.
The service reverted to the ABC in 2002, and the national broadcaster was successful in winning subsequent tenders.
The Gillard Government announced the most recent tender in December 2010 with the tender documents issued in February 2011. At stake is $223 million over 10 years for the successful bidder, and Australia's 'soft power' capability.
SkyNews and the ABC both submitted tenders and a decision was due to be made in May 2011.
Given that the existing contract was to end in early August 2011 it was important for a decision to be made quickly to remove uncertainty.
Responsibility for the decision rested with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs which had set up an independent review panel to assess the bids.
Without explanation, the government refused to announce the recommendation of the independent review panel or the decision of the department and extended the tender to June 8.
There were reports that SkyNews had provided a superior bid and several cabinet ministers confirmed that they had been directly lobbied by ABC management, which was, at best, highly questionable in the circumstances.
The probity surrounding the tender process changed dramatically on June 24 2011 with the release of extraordinary joint media statement from the Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Communications.
A six month extension to the existing contract was announced, allowing the ABC to continue the service until 8 February 2012, but responsibility for the decision was stripped from the Foreign Affairs Department and handed to the Minister for Communications.
The excuse for not accepting a decision from the Foreign Affairs Department was said to be the "... significant political transformation occurring across the Middle East and North Africa, and the need identified during recent consular crises for strengthened associated information services through a range of sources."
Even accepting the highly dubious proposition that the "Arab Spring" required a revision of the tender, given the Australia Network does not broadcast into the Middle East or North Africa, this should have reinforced the Department of Foreign Affairs as the most appropriate agency to make a decision about the issue.
Ignoring the significant cost and effort involved in the tender process, the government asked SkyNews and the ABC to resubmit tenders.
At the time I raised concerns about the potential conflict of interest created by the decision to transfer responsibility for the tender to the same minister who has statutory responsibility for the ABC.
The competence of the Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy was also called into question, given he is a proven serial bungler of important government tenders. After all, he was the minister responsible for the original tender process for the $4.7 billion National Broadband Network, which collapsed in 2009.
More recently, Stephen Conroy was responsible for the tender process for the construction of the $36 billion NBN, with that tender collapsing in April this year.
Perhaps it should not have come as a surprise that this tender also collapsed, with Minister Conroy announcing late on November 7 2011 that he was scrapping the tender process for the Australia Network.
His excuse that leaks to the media undermined the tender process is laughable, given that the most likely source of the leaks is from within the cabinet itself. The Australian Federal Police have been brought in to investigate the alleged leaks.
Whatever the AFP is able to ascertain as to the source of various stories about the tender, the fact is the entire tender process has been subject to an unacceptable and highly inappropriate level of political interference.
The Australia Network tender has become the latest victim in the battle being waged between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Journalists citing reliable sources suggest that the independent review panel recommended, and the Department of Foreign Affair had decided, that SkyNews had the superior bid.
However, the Prime Minister is said to be opposed to the bid on the basis that SkyNews is part owned by News Limited.
Whatever political machinations are going on within the Government, it is clear that senior figures are using the Australia Network tender for personal political games.
The lack of integrity surrounding this process is potentially damaging to Australia's national interest.
The ongoing uncertainty about the Australia Network and its operations sends a negative message to our region that Australia does not take seriously this broadcasting service.
Furthermore, it again puts on public display the dysfunctional relationship between Prime Minister Gillard and Foreign Minister Rudd.
There are clear grounds for an urgent inquiry into the farcical handling of this important tender and specifically into the conduct of the three protagonist Ministers involved.
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