Labor will deliver an Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy that includes increased funding to the ABC as Australia’s international broadcaster, to boost Australian content and to project Australian identity, values and interests to the Indo-Pacific region.

The strategy will be delivered by the ABC and PacificAus TV, in consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). It will:  

• Increase funding to the ABC’s international program by $8 million a year over the four years from 2022-23, to expand ABC regional transmission and content production
• Enable the ABC to expand media capacity training for partners in the Pacific, in partnership with DFAT
• Maintain funding for PacificAus TV in the sum of $5.7 million in the 2022-23 financial year to Free TV Australia to continue to deliver Australian television content to broadcasters in the Pacific for another year. 

As part of the strategy, a Labor Government will review:

• The potential restoration of Australian shortwave radio broadcasting capacity in the Pacific
• How to best continue PacificAus TV, as informed by evidence of the program’s effectiveness which includes PacificAus TV performance and research reports
• How to maximise the impact of Australian taxpayer investment in the SBS, screen content production and co-production (including with co-production treaties) and regional media development initiatives and direct grants.

This policy is complemented by previously announced ALP policies to reverse Scott Morrison’s cut of $83.7 million to the ABC and to bolster the independence and stability of the national broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, with five-year funding terms.