The NEMBC develops policy and provides an important national voice to effectively support and promote the views of its members and sustainability of the multicultural broadcasting sector.
The NEMBC provides assistance and advice to broadcasters on broadcasting and policy issues, sector information, training and technical changes and is available for dispute resolution.
Click on the links below to read the NEMBC’s recent media releases in PDF format.
2017
28 June 2017: The Multicultural AFL Football Show
30 March 2017: PROLIFERATION OF RACIAL HATERED
2016
14 December 2016: An Extension has been given for individuals and stations to Make a submission by Friday 23 December 2016
12 December 2016: The NEMBC Won Australian Human Rights Award for ‘Racism It Stops With Me’ campaign
6 December 2016: URGENT ATTENTION about Racial Discrimination – Action needed by this Friday 9 December 2016
19 July 2016: Re: UPDATE on CBF’s new model and funding arrangements
28 June 2016: Melbourne conference sets blueprint for racism-battling media
1 April 2016: NEMBC Response to CBAA
23 March 2016: Community Broadcasters and Station Oppose the CBF’s new Model
23 March 2016: Open Letter
7 March 2016: Serious threat to independence of ethnic community broadcasting
2015
7 July 2015: NEMBC Opposes the CBF New Model
2014
14 May 2014: Funding maintained in Federal Budget
2 May 2014: Ethnic community radio at risk of losing all funds
22 April 2014: NEMBC Opposes Attorney-General’s Proposed Changes to the Racial Discrimination Act
2011
11 May 2011: Ethnic Community Broadcasters Welcome Increased Funding
18 February 2011: Ethnic Broadcasters welcome Government’s Multicultural Position
2010
16 September 2010: NEMBC Urges Prime Minister Gillard to Reinstate Multicultural Affairs Position
14 May 2010: Silencing the Voices of Multicultural Communities
5 March 2010: Time to Tune in – Ethnic Community Broadcasters Call for Government Funding
2009
2 December 2009: NEMBC 2009 Conference and AGM Results
13 May 2009: Federal Budget Fails Ethnic Commmunity Broadcasting
5 March 2009: Stopping Social Unrest through Ethnic Community Broadcasting
2008
4 February 2008: Sorry – the Debt of the Nation
2007
19 November 2007: Inaugural NEMBC and AICA Joint Conference
1 May 2007: ALP Conference Recognises Importance of Ethnic Community Broadcasting
2006
12 December 2006: Citizenship Test Discriminatory and Divisive
26 February 2006: Treasurer Wrong on Multiculturalism
9 February 2006: Community Broadcasting to be reviewed in Government Inquiry
The NEMBC maintains a strong industry voice making policy submissions to government on matters relating to community broadcasting, multiculturalism, multilingualism and social inclusion.
Read the NEMBC’s submissions to government below (PDF format), or contact us if you need any policy advice or assistance.
2024
News Media Assistance Program (News MAP)
2023
NEMBC Multicultural Framework Review 2023
NEMBC Submission Framework for Measuring Media Diversity 2023
2022
….
2021
…
2019
NEMBC Federal Budget Submission
2014
NEMBC Federal Budget Submission
NEMBC Submission to Attorney-General on proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act
2012
NEMBC Submission into Parliamentary Inquiry into Migration and Multiculturalism – Supplement
2011
NEMBC Submission into Parliamentary Inquiry into Migration and Multiculturalism (also see Supplement to this Submission)
NEMBC Submission to the National Cultural Policy
NEMBC Submission to Public Inquiry on Malaysian Asylum Seeker Agreement
NEMBC Submission to the Department of Communications on Convergence Review Terms of Reference
2009
NEMBC Submission to ACMA on Community Participation Guidelines Dec 2009
NEMBC Submission to ACMA on Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Services Dec 2009
NEMBC Submission to the Social Inclusion National Compact Consultations Sep 2009
NEMBC Submission on Migration Amendment (Complementary Protection) Bill Sep 2009
NEMBC Submission to National Human Rights Commission June 2009
NEMBC Submission to Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission May 2009
2008
NEMBC Response to DBCDE Discussion Paper on ABC and SBS ‘Towards a Digital Future’ Dec 2008
2006
NEMBC Response to DIMIA Citizenship Discussion Paper Nov 2006
NEMBC Submission to House of Representatives Inquiry on Community Broadcasting Mar 2006
Below is a selection of resources produced for the NEMBC’s national lobby campaigns. For more information on past campaigns, use the menu on the left to navigate through a selection of the NEMBC’s past campaigns.
2013 Federal Election Campaign
2010: It’s Time – Federal Election Campaign
- Media Release: Silencing the Voices of Multicultural Communities
- Media Release: Time to Tune in
- Flyer: 2010 Federal Election – Full Funding Proposal
- Flyer: 2010 Federal Election – What You Can Do
- Booklet: 2010 Federal Election – Voices and Vision: All About Community Broadcasting
- Campaign Letter: Letter to Radio Broadcasters and Stations – What You Can Do
2009: Vision 2015 (a joint community broadcasting sector five-year vision)
- Flyer: Community Broadcasting and Media, Year 2015
- Full Policy Proposal: Community Broadcasting and Media, Year 2015 Plan
Value Our Voices (2008-2009)
Ethnic community broadcasting will lose its voice, if the CBF accepts the Nous report findings. Please read this and respond.
> Read NEMBC’s full detailed response (PDF)
Your urgent attention is needed to respond to a potentially major shake-up of ethnic community broadcasting.
The Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF) initiated a review of its ‘Governance and Structure’ and employed a consultant called the Nous Group. They have produced a report and it is now on the CBF website for comment. Unfortunately, responses are due by the 24th November. This does not allow us much time, so your response is urgent.
If the CBF agrees to the recommendations it will mean that the CBF will change from being a funds dispersal agency to a ‘sector shaper’ — a move towards a development agency. This is indicated in the report by such statements as: ‘The CBF should have more scope to drive specific policy objectives of the government’, and the CBF is ‘weak in shaping outcomes’ and it should ‘tightly define its strategic intent’.
We believe the consultant, the Nous Group, has looked through a corporate lens and recommended a CBF with far reaching powers to decide what is best for the community sector, with no understanding of the history and practice of the sector.
The NEMBC has major concerns with this report and the direction recommended. We ask you to write a simple email using the information below and send it to us, or ring us and we will help you formulate a response. By sending it to us you agree that we can publish it on webiste and to other members. The report is very detailed and at times a perplexing report. The least you could do is complain how little time has been allowed to respond to this fundamentally pivotal report.
The NEMBC detailed response is available on our website. However, to make it easier, here are the primary Nous Group recommendations that the NEMBC strongly opposes.
1) Establishing a self-selecting board. This is contrary to the community-based ethos of participation, access and equity. Recommendation 20 states: ‘The CBF Board should be appointed by the outgoing Board against a skills matrix, from candidates nominated by sector stations and SROs. Each station and SRO can nominate up to two candidates.’ Nous recommends that by July next year the present CBF board chooses a new board from hundreds of nominations.
2) The necessity to have an ethnic person on the board is not identified.
3) No governance model options suggested by the Nous Report: Despite the NEMBC suggesting other models, the Nous Group chose to ignore them and suggested one model only: a self-selecting board. There are many examples that could have been used: why did they pick the most extreme example?
4) Abolishing the current GACs. The Nous Group recommended ‘assessor pools’ based on other ‘like- organisations’ (Australia Council, Screen Australia) that bear no resemblance to the CBF or other community based organisations. The CBF Administration Officer will drive policy from these assessor pools. They will assemble the Grants panel selected from the ‘assessor pools’ and they will ‘lead the administration of Ethnic grants, serving as a convener’. This will take away the present role of the GAC Convener and reporting will rest with the Grants Administrator.
5) Establishing a Social Return on Investment (SROI) Framework. The report recommends moving to a ‘social benefits’ focused approach, but no reason is given why we need to make this change. This recommendation will lead to the CBF setting outcomes and dispersing funds for radio stations and national peak bodies based on a very narrow and contrary set of “social benefits”.
6) CBF becoming a ‘sector shaper’ for funds dispersal: This gives the CBF too much control, and funds will be dispersed according to the CBF. For example, Ethnic funds would be used in a ‘content innovation’ funding pool with guidelines decided by the CBF Board.
7) The CBF Secretariat will have strong policy control: Recommendation 30 states that the present Grants Administrator will have a sector engagement role to ‘cover responsibility for shaping and measuring outcomes of sector projects and sector advancement’. The national peak bodies will therefore be answerable to the CBF secretariat to achieve ‘outcomes’.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
The present community broadcasting structure has stood the test of time and is well respected for being ethical, transparent and truly representative. This is acknowledged by government, the community broadcasting sector and radio broadcasters.
This truly participatory and bottom-up approach, with elections and AGMs to the national representative peak bodies, all flow into the CBF, and thus provide the CBF a meaningful and representative role within the community broadcasting sector. This structure that has grown from a grassroots volunteer base is exceptional; in fact, it’s unique in the world.
For the Nous Group to recommend the CBF change its constitution by February 2015 and have in place a self-selecting board by July is quite extraordinary. The Nous Group Report intends to turn community broadcasting on its head and proposes to do so with lightning speed.
A major misunderstanding made by the Nous Group was why the CBF was first established and the fact that it is not empowered to shape outcomes for national representative peak-bodies or in fact make decisions on how funding can be changed. The CBF was established as a ‘clearing-house’, as an administrator of funds; not a development agency. The Nous Group misses this point completely, and instead claims that the CBF is ‘weak in shaping outcomes’. The purpose of the CBF is not to shape outcomes. There are Government guidelines and targets for the CBF to follow, and they distribute funds accordingly.
The Nous Report is lacking in details and analysis, such as explaining how the SROI outcomes would work in a community setting; why the current changes to the CBF Board and GACs need to be changed; why the one board model was proposed and why is it better than the current structure. They use grandiose statements such as the ‘moment of truth’, as if there is some terrible urgency why radical changes must be made.
The NEMBC also has concerns about meaningful consultation and ‘independence’ of the Review. The CBF Structural and Governance Review is treated in almost the same way as the CBOnline Review, while the CBF Structural and Governance review is a much broader important issue with wider ramifications. Also concerning is that the CBF’s closeness to the process: they were the contractor, wrote the tender brief and employed the consultant to evaluate their own performance and structure. Furthermore, the Nous Group has had little connection with the community broadcasting sector.
The NEMBC questions where the ‘sector shaper’ idea emanates from, especially when the majority of the ‘stakeholders’ interviewed were from the CBF (see page 57 of the report). We were also very disappointed by the ‘consultation’ process, which limited the time for the NEMBC and other peak organisations to put its views.
The NEMBC is very concerned about the fairness of the Review process. The public release of the Report came as a surprise when it was a confidential document for stakeholders to have input. Then unexpectedly, it was released just prior to the national peak-bodies AGMs leaving no time for AICA or the NEMBC to distribute information to members. The CBAA had one week to notify its members. This makes for an ill-conceived process for members to respond fully to the Structural and Governance Review.
The NEMBC at their 2014 AGM recommended that CBF further extend the November 24 deadline so all members have adequate time to prepare responses.
Please write your responses to us or call us as soon as you can. Make your opinions count.
Funding for the community broadcasting sector is under threat. Ethnic programs could stop and radio stations be forced to close.
Funding could be cut in the Federal Budget to be announced next week on Tuesday 13 May 2014, if the government agrees with the National Commission of Audit Report.
At the 2013 NEMBC National Conference in Brisbane, The Hon. Wyatt Roy MP, Federal Member for Longman, represented Prime Minister Tony Abbott and delivered a speech on his behalf at the NEMBC Conference opening speeches. Please find the message from the Hon. Tony Abbott MP here and a video of the Hon. Wyatt Roy’s speech here.
The report has suggested abolishing ALL FUNDING to community broadcasting.
This is URGENT! We need your help to resist the cuts.
What you can do
Tell the Government the importance of ethnic community broadcasting
- Sign our online petition and ask others to sign.
- Email Treasurer Joe Hockey via the CBAA Commit to Community Radio site.
- Email, call or tweet at the Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull MP:
Email – [email protected]
Phone – 02 9327 3988
Twitter – @TurnbullMalcolm
On your program and at your station
- Discuss the issue on air and encourage your listeners to take action. You can read out the NEMBC Media Release or other material on this website.
- Play our Community Service Announcement on your program. Download the CSA recorded by 4EB (right click and “save link as” – you can also listen below) or read the text script out on your program.
Audio Player - Print and display this poster at your radio station.
In your community
- Ask for support from ethnic and multicultural organisations by asking them to send letters and make statements.
- Get your organisation, family or friends involved.
- Use Facebook, Twitter and other social media to spread the word.
Talking points and other resources
- ‘Ethnic community radio at risk of losing all funds‘, media release from NEMBC
- ‘Community radio will “die a slow death” if audit cuts adopted‘, Deborah Gough, The Age
- ‘Proposed cuts to community radio spark fears for ethnic communities‘, media release from Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA)
- ‘Community radio at risk under audit cuts‘, media release from Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA)
- Form letter to Treasurer Joe Hockey on CBAA’s Commit to Community Radio website
- Message from the Prime Minister, this was a letter sent to us by Prime Minister Abbott to show his support for ethnic community broadcasting. His message was delivered to us at the 2013 NEMBC Conference
- City Park Radio’s submission to government
- 3ZZZ Melbourne’s ethnic community radio station’s submission to government
We need to let the government know that there has been over 30 years of bipartisan support for ALL community broadcasting.
We hope that the government will see reason when it develops its budget over the coming week but we need to make our voices heard.
Ahead of the Australian Federal Election in 2013, the NEMBC put together a Lobbying Toolkit to help broadcasters lobby politicians and conduct in-depth political radio interviews.
Some lobbying ideas for broadcasters, in brief:
- Hold a one-on-one interview with a politician
- Invite a group of people from the community and a politician to discuss issues
- Get your friends and colleagues together in a round table discussion
- Invite candidates and political leaders to tour your station
- Ask your listeners and community leaders to contact local candidates explain the importance of ethnic community radio and seek their support
- Talk about funding for ethnic community broadcasting on your own program
- Organise a forum or meeting at your community radio station
- Write to political parties and political leaders outside of your program
For more information, browse through our Lobbying Toolkit:
- How to run a media campaign – see p 21 of our Leadership Media Manual
- radio tips for the 2013 election campaign
- flyer of some basic facts on why ethnic and multicultural community broadcasting is important
- the latest government inquiry showing that multiculturalism is a defining success story for Australia
Feel free to contact the NEMBC for further ideas or discussion of how you can use your role as a broadcaster to lobby for your community and the multicultural broadcasting sector.