The policy priorities we highlighted during the previous election
Public Broadcasting
The Australian Progressives will:
- Restore and expand (where necessary) funding to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS).
- Support the funding of high quality content broadcast free to Australians and oppose the expansion of advertising or commercial influence.
- The Australian Progressives will remove commercial advertising on the SBS.
- Develop policy to build up in-house capability to achieve critical mass/competency centres to produce quality Australian educational programs, programmes to support cultural and regional diversity, specialist programming, and programming supportive of communicating the national character locally and overseas.
- Adequately fund maintenance or creation of necessary infrastructure (digital and physical broadcast) to ensure the ABC & SBS have adequate capability/capacity to meet their charters.
- Provide the funding and contract for the Australia Network (the international television broadcasting function) to be restored to the ABC.
Broader Media
The Australian Progressives support:
- Policy to require self governed media regulation to adhere to their declared standards in accuracy, corrections and balanced reporting.
- Policy to lower the ownership threshold to encourage diversity of media ownership.
- Policy to remove gambling from professional sports broadcasts.
National Broadband Network
The Australian Progressives support:
- Policies to enhance and retain publicly owned majority Fibre to the Home (FTTH) / Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) network.
- Policies that would allow broadband prices to be set equally across the country.
The Australian Progressives oppose the privatisation of the NBN Co.
Sport
The Australian Progressives support:
- A shift in sports policy to a focus on grassroots health and activities as a priority to professional level sports.
- Policies to encourage cycling as an alternative to motorised transport.
- Sports policies with a focus on benefits in addition to the risks of various exercise equipment/facilities.
- Nationwide campaigns on the benefits of daily exercise.
The Arts
The Australian Progressives support:
- The government funding of the arts to provide great art for everyone.
- An “At arm’s length” principle of structural separation between government and arts councils.
- The abolition of the “National Programme for Excellence in the Arts” and Book Council.
- Policy to restore funding to the Australia Council.
- Policy for the Australia Council to be funded/staffed to accommodate emerging/newer/wider art.
- Policy that seeks collaboration/integration of artistic programs and other government services.
- The creation of a National Arts week.