See the latest AWEI 2022 results for ABC
The ABC’s Mission
The ABC’s charter is enshrined in s6 of the ABC Act. The first stipulation is that the ABC is “to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and community sectors”.
The ABC educates Australians, and reflects an image of our national identity. What happens then, when activist journalists portray the image of an Australia they wish to see, in place of the Australia that is? The Women’s Cooee campaign has assembled multiple examples of ABC’s bias when reporting on gender issues.
Summary of AWEI 2021 Results
| Category | Media |
| Organisation | Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) |
| FOI Documents Link | FOI Disclosure Log – there are a number of documents to be downloaded under these 3 request numbers: 202122-012 202122-009 202021-056 |
| AWEI Score | 177 |
| AWEI Ranking | GOLD |
| Sponsorship | No |
| Invoices | $29,095 |
ABC AWEI 2021 Submission
The ABC’s submission to the 2021 AWEI is over 286 pages long. It is comprehensive, and reveals a wide spectrum of activities undertaken by the ABC in order to win points and progress in the index ranking.
Section 1 – Standing Submission
Section 1 is the ‘standing submission’ and points may be carried over for 1 year. It is worth a total of 79 out of 200 available points in the AWEI. ABC scored 73/79 for the standing submission.
This section is divided into 4 sub-sections:
- HR Policies & Practice (questions 1-7, 20 points)
- LGBTQ Bullying/Harassment & Support (questions 8-11, 14 points)
- Trans/Gender Diverse Inclusion (questions 12-18, 27 points)
- Strategic focus (questions 19-24, 18 points)
The ABC have elected to carry over 11 of the questions from 2020. They note this is because they received full points. Organisations are permitted to do this if they are happy with points accrued the previous year.
- Question 6 – describes “controlling someone’s… access to gender transition” or “pressuring them to conform to gender norms” as a special form of domestic violence abuse that can take place for LGBTIQ+ people
- Question 14 – see below for the Gender Affirmation Policy. 10 days paid, 12 months unpaid leave.
- Question 15 – see below for Gender Neutral Bathrooms
- Question 16 – ABC has updated forms to include transgender and non-binary identities (page 26)
- Question 23 – Customer-facing LGBTQ Inclusion. ABC lists the production of “First Day”, a television series about a “transgender girl” starting school as a customer-inclusion exercise. They also list ABCQueer within this question (page 40)
Section 2 – Strategy & Accountability
ABC scored 20/22 for this section.
- S2 Question 1 – Engaging external LGBTQ expertise – ABC declares that they are members of Pride in Diversity, and engaged with their business liaison Chris Nelson several times during the year. See below for examples of email exchanges with Chris Nelson.
- S2 Question 2 – Document LGBTQ Strategy – ABC plans to set targets for LGBTIQ+ employee numbers based on gender identity information (page 50). ABC notes that participating and improving their AWEI score is a “big ticket” item in the Diversity & Inclusion Plan (page 52, 53).
- S2 Question 5 – Media Coverage – To get these points, the ABC needed to secure coverage in another news outlet. Mirage News is an online publication out of Wollongong.
- S2 Question 6 – Strategic work in recruitment – “The ABC has successfully targeted LGBTQ+ job seekers” (page 77).
- S2 Question 8 – LGBTQ Inclusion Promotion – ABC started the Instagram channel ABCQueer. See below (page 81); ABC has also purchased rainbow merchandise from a community provider, Bongo, “to support community organisations such as ACON and Pride in Diversity“. Note that points were not awarded for this. (page 84, 85)
Section 3 – LGBTQ Employee Network / Resource Groups
- S3 Question 15 – Allies of Trans and Gender Diverse People – ABC made training available to staff on trans allyship. The training “forms part of our ABC internal training promotion material to educate more employees as to how to be a better ally with a focus on Transgender.” (page 124)
Section 4 – Visibility of Inclusion
- S4 Question 21 – Days of Significance – ABC observed 4 days of significance, 2 for transgender awareness: IDAHOBIT, Wear It Purple Day, Transgender Day of Awareness/Visibility, Transgender Week of Remembrance (page 152)
- S4 Question 22 – Visibility in the Workplace – Several pages about rainbow merchandise for sale to staff, and advise for allies to “be informed, be mindful” (page 161)
Section 5 – Training, Awareness & Professional Development
- S5 Question 28 – Face to Face Training – Chris Nelson (ACON) delivered a 1 hour training session on transgender allyship, including instructions to “intervene when inappropriate language and behaviour occurs“.
- S5 Question 31 – LBGTQ inclusion Training Plan – ABC offers a copy of their Diversity & Inclusion Learning Strategy (see below) as evidence. Page 5 of this document lists Pride in Diversity as an external resource, ABC Pride as a site of exposure to learning, and “days of significance” as learning environments. Page 13 lists a talk by ACON’s Chris Nelson as a core learning resource. Page 14 identifies both LGBTQI+ awareness and Gender diversity as key learning areas.
Section 6 – Executive Leadership & Engagement
- S6 Question 33 – Executive Sponsor or Champion – the ABC identifies an executive champion who set up a broad “Diversity and Inclusion Standing Committee” to which “provided a platform for ABC Pride Chair Manda Hatter to table key strategic objectives… and have direct communication with Senior Divisional Leaders from across the organisation”. (Page 205)
- S6 Question 34 – Executive Advocacy – ABC CEO David Anderson advocated for public funds to be spent on gender transition leave when he appeared before the Senate Estimates in October 2020 . The transcript is available here. (Page 208)
- S6 Question 36 – CEO or Equivalent Speaking at Events – Unfortunately for the ABC the evidence offered for this question was insufficient to win the 2 points on offer. CEO David Anderson leading the Mardi Gas parade received the response “marching in MG is not evidence of speaking at events” from the AWEI markers.
Section 7 – Data Collection & Reporting
- S7 Question 38 – LGTBQ Analysis – ABC analysed the results of the AWEI staff survey and used this to decide on areas of action.
Section 8 – Community Engagement
- S8 Question 39 – Employer Branded Participation at Community Events – Here “community” means LGBTQ events. ABC participated in “a number of events” but have redacted the detail of their answer.
- S8 Question 40 – Pro bono or financial support: LGBTQ Charities/Organisations – Jeremy Fernandez hosted an event for Pride in Diversity (ACON);
- S8 Question 41 – Fundraising for LGBTQ Charities – ABC encouraged staff to donate to Wear It Purple on multiple occasions and multiple channels.
Section 9 – Survey
- S9 Question 42 – Survey participation – As a large organisation, ABC required 100 or more responses to receive the 2 points for this question.
Section 10 – Additional Work
The additional work section allows the organisation to nominate up to 15 additional activities to receive 1 point each. Sometimes evidence supplied for another question will be credited in this section. ABC nominated 21 items, of which 12 have been listed on the scoresheet, and 11 received a point.
| Item | Score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Pro-bono – Pride in Practice Conference | 1 | Page 233 – a presentation on 50 years of LGBTIQ+ Stories at the ABC |
| Pro-bono – ACON Big Stays In | 1 | Page 236 – support for ACON |
| Data Collection – Answered in Q37 | 0 | Page 238 – ABC is collecting, storing and using personal information about staff sexuality and gender identity |
| Intersectionality – Julie Peters at Sapphire event. | 1 | Julie Peters is a male employee of the ABC; Sapphire is a group for women in leadership. |
| Pro-bono – Greeting cards | 1 | |
| Intersectionality – Older generation | 1 | Page 253 – An Instagram story about a friendship between a young man and and older man |
| Fair Day | 1 | |
| Mardi Gras | 1 | |
| Days of Significance – People with a Disability | 1 | |
| 16 – Pro-bono – Manda Hatter volunteering for Out50 | 1 | |
| Rainbow Families | 1 | Page 242 – An event for staff aimed at normalising transgender youth experiences in community and at school |
| 18. ABC Kids – Wear It Purple | 1 | Page 270 – ABC promoted Wear It Purple in an ABC Kids segment aimed at young preschool children. |
ABC AWEI 2021 Scorecard
Invoices Totalling $29,095
2019
2020
2021
Gender Affirmation Process
Up to 10 days’ paid Gender Affirmation Leave, which counts as service for all purposes; and Up to 12 months’ unpaid Gender Affirmation Leave. Unpaid Gender Affirmation Leave does not count as service. This paid leave is in addition to existing entitlements and may be taken as consecutive days, or as a portion of a day.
The ABC “supports individuals to use the facilities of your affirmed gender or those which you are most comfortable using” regardless of the comfort of other staff.
Gender Neutral Bathrooms
ABC scored 4 out of 4 available points for their response to ACON’s requirement for them to provide gender-neutral bathrooms. Note: “Unisex” signage is not acceptable to ACON.
ABC’s activity is in several parts.
ABC has installed Gender Neutral bathroom signage in the Ultimo office and has plans to extend this to all offices Australia-wide where possible. Evidence A/ This image here is the of the communication that was sent out to all employees – Australia wide
Page 23
Evidence B/ Within this is the image with the blue backing is the sign used for each bathroom stating all gendered bathroom. Also provided are some images of the bathrooms with the signs.
Page 23
“Evidence C” notes the impact of making disabled toilets available to able-bodied people. Disabled people will, for now, simply have to hold on.
Evidence c/ The requirement to have additional bathrooms so as not to impact people with disability is on the agenda however at this stage building works is not possible. However the ABC 5 Year Strategic plan released in Sept 2020 will see a major property and facilities review over the coming period during which time exploration of more inclusive and accessibility building practices including bathrooms will be incorporated. Plans are underway and will be referenced as evidence in future AWEI submissions. For now the signage has been actioned in all suitable bathrooms in Ultimo offices and rolling out to offices Australia wide.
Page 23
ABC Pride Work Plan for 2020
- Actions align with the AWEI goals
- Note training for “employees and content makers” – clearly linking content creation to an ideological viewpoint
- Gender neutral bathrooms – completed for new build in Ultimo and planned to roll out nationally
Chris Nelson
Chris Nelson is a Pride in Diversity Relationship Manager. According to his bio, “Chris was a foundation committee member of the Commonwealth Bank’s LGBTQ network, Unity.”
Chris subtly influences the ABC to promote certain themes in broadcast coverage for AWEI points.
- ABC released several emails sent between staff members and Chris during 2020/2021. Chris casually suggests to the ABC that in future they include the QLife number in televised content touching on the LGBTQ sphere.
Just a thought for future LGBTQ content and there are AWEI points in it too.
Chris Nelson to ABC (page 1)
- Chris suggests that publicising “normalising trans experience” is worth AWEI points too (page 2)
- ABC asks ACON for a new definition of “family” (page 5). Note this is the national broadcaster, taking their definition of family from a single consultant from an activist organisation.
- Chris deems Ed Ayres discussing Wear It Purple Day as “AWEI worthy” (page 10) though he should probably feel embarrassed for his misgendering gaff: “her own journey as a trans man“.
ABC’s Attitude to the AWEI
Below is ABC’s internal presentation reviewing their 2019 AWEI performance, and deciding what to focus on in 2020. The ABC has broken down the performance into points scored in each category, and selected 4 main areas to improve in 2020. These areas are:
- Trans and gender-diverse inclusion (including gender-neutral bathrooms)
- Strategy & Accountability (includes media coverage)
- LGBTIQ Employee Networks
- Visibility of inclusion
The presentation deals only in points, presenting the performance as red/green pie charts. Against each pie chart, is a list of goals directly taken from the AWEI. ABC have translated ACON’s instructions into operational directives.
Below is the internal pamphlet about the ABC Pride Network. The history of “ABC Pride” is clearly linked to the personal arrival of Manda Hatter in the Head of Operations role. Manda came to ABC from Channel 10 (also a Pride in Diversity member) in January 2017. In February 2017 she founded ABC Pride.
ABC Pride: What is Success?
Under the heading “What is Success?”, the ABC Pride pamphlet declares their intention to improve the organisation’s AWEI score. This means unquestioningly implementing the goals set out by ACON.
4. Significant improvement in AWEI score
Continual improvement in the Australian Workplace Equality Index
The AWEI now stands as the definitive national benchmark
on LGBTI workplace inclusion and comprises the largest and only national employee survey designed to gauge the overall impact of inclusion initiatives on organisational culture as well as identifying and non-identifying employees. The Index drives best practice in Australia and sets a comparative benchmark for Australian employers across all sectors.
ABC Queer
ABCQueer is an Instagram channel created by the ABC in 2020, headed up by non-binary female Mon Schafter.
ABCQueer won the Best External Media award at the 2021 AWEI awards.
Instagram users must be at least 13 years old, although there are no controls preventing younger audiences from accessing content that includes:
- A “Queer” version of PlaySchool featuring a story where a family take their child to Mardi Gras
- Drag features heavily, including teachers in drag, nudity, drag directed at children, and drag performed by children
- Explanations of a new lexicon – asexuality, pronouns, queer, pansexual and more
- Promotion of non-binary identity (in children)
- Promotion of transgender identification in children
- Self harm
- Promotion of males in women’s sport
- Promotion of medical transition for youth
- Anti-science – “some men have periods”, “some women have penises”
- Discussion of polyamoury
ABCQueer Newsletter
The Instagram channel bio contains a link to a linktree where you can read articles or subscribe to the ABCQueer email newsletter. The email newsletter is a long-form version of the content delivered via Instagram.
Promoting Wear It Purple to Young Children
One of the links from ABCQueer is to ABC Kids Listen. The FAQ for ABC Kids Listen states that this content is for “children in their early years”.
WHAT AGE RANGE IS Kids Listen FOR?
ABC Kids Listen FAQ
We are a service for children in their early years, however some of our programs are perfect for co-listening with older siblings (and even adults)!
This ABC Kids Listen News Time podcast promotes the charity Wear It Purple to young children. This charity promotes sexuality in schools, children in drag and self-harm.
Innies + Outies
Innies + Outies is a 30 minute podcast launched by the ABC in October 2021. Like ABCQueer t is headed up by Mon Schafter. It is about “coming out…and sometimes staying in”, focusing on the difficulties faced by “Queer Australians” today.
Innies + Outies won the best External Media Award at the 2022 AWEI awards.
Mon Schafter also published a number of very short (2-3min) podcasts to explain the new lexicon. Pronouns explained, intersex explained, pansexuality explained and more.
ABC Diversity & Inclusion Learning Strategy
See pages 5, 13, 14
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