Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended Tony Abbott's election eve comment that there would be no cuts to the ABC, saying he did not believe the Prime Minister intended to give the impression the national broadcaster would be exempt from any future belt tightening.
In an interview on ABC's 7.30 on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull said he and Treasurer Joe Hockey had made it clear during the election campaign that cuts to address the budget deficit had to made across the board and that "the ABC and SBS couldn't be exempt and that we would be seeking to address waste and inefficiencies".
He said some had been calling for the ABC's digital presence to be reduced and that Mr Abbott was reassuring voters this was not the Coalition's intention.
"I can only assume that what Mr Abbott was referring to or thinking about was the proposition that there would be cuts with the intent of reducing ABC services but we'd ruled that out," Mr Turnbull.
Host Leigh Sales then questioned whether voters would have made that distinction as "when someone says 'no cuts', you think no cuts".
Mr Turnbull replied: "To accept that you'd have to assume that he decided on the eve of the election to overrule and contradict the very carefully considered statements Joe Hockey and I had been making, and that's a big call too."
The Communications Minister on Wednesday detailed a $254 million funding cut to the ABC, which means the national broadcaster will receive $5.2 billion over four years, rather than $5.5 billion. The SBS will also have its budget cut by $25.2 million.
Interviewed on ABC TV on Thursday, Mr Turnbull acknowledged that once redundancy costs were taken into account, the reduction to the ABC's funding would be greater than $254 million or 4.6 per cent.
"If you add into that the implementation costs, mostly redundancies of $41 million then the total net reduction in the funds available to the ABC is about 5.4 per cent," Mr Turnbull said.
It is believed the cuts could lead to the loss of 500 jobs, the closure of foreign bureaus and the axing of state-based editions of 7.30, broadcast on Fridays.
Mr Turnbull said there was "plenty of scope for cuts … or saving" at the ABC in terms of efficiency.
Interviewed on radio on Thursday morning, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann denied the reduction in funding to the ABC announced by Mr Turnbull amounted to a cut.
"Well, they're not cuts," Senator Cormann said.
"Well, the ABC has been exempted from efficiency dividends for the last 20 years, efficiency dividends which apply to every other department in government, every other agency of government that is funded by the taxpayer. We believe it's important that the ABC, like every other taxpayer funded organisation …operates efficiently."
Asked whether Tony Abbott told the truth when, prior to the 2013 election he said there would be "no cuts to the ABC or SBS" under his government, Senator Cormann replied: "Well, the Prime Minister absolutely told the truth."
"We are not making cuts," he said. "What we are making sure happens with the ABC is what happens with every other taxpayer-funded organisation across government and that is to ensure that it operates as efficiently as possible. And that is our responsibility. We need to ensure that taxpayers' money is treated with respect.
Opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare criticised Mr Turnbull's reasoning on the election eve comment, saying it did not pass the "pub test".
"What [Turnbull] is effectively saying is Tony Abbott didn't break a promise because while Tony Abbott said there would be no cuts to the ABC, what he really meant was no cuts to the ABC over and above the cuts [he] said there would be."
"That sort of excuse is worse than what kids make up for why they didn't do their homework," Mr Clare told ABC's Lateline.
Mr Clare conceded the ABC could be more efficient but pushed for the Lewis efficiency review to be released to the public so its recommendations could be debated.
He said Mr Turnbull had understated the extent of the cuts and that the ABC would be 8 or 9 per cent worse off once spending drops in this year's budget and the loss of the Australia Network were taken into account.
"We're talking about half a billion here," he said.
