The government has abandoned any tender for the ill-starred $223 million Australia Network contract, instead bowing to Greens demands and awarding responsibility for the soft-diplomacy broadcaster to the ABC permanently.
“The decision provides certainty for the future and allows the ABC to get on with the job of delivering an outstanding international broadcasting service for Australia,” Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said.
“The ABC has been performing well in the role and the government believes that the national broadcaster will maintain and further enhance the Australia Network in the years ahead.
"The government also believes that the ABC is well placed to explore the opportunity to combine the Australia Network with its current international radio service, Radio Australia, and potentially with new online services to provide a multi-platform international media operation to embrace the converged media era," Senator Conroy said.
Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Bishop tonight said Julia Gillard needed to explain the “ongoing and unacceptable political interference in its handling of the $223 million Australia Network tender".
“It is deeply troubling that the government has made a rush decision to grant the contract to the ABC before the outcome of the AFP investigation is known,’’ Ms Bishop, the opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, said.
“The Prime Minister must give a full explanation for her intervention into the tender process and her decision to strip responsibility from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and hand it to the Minister for Communications, who has responsibility for oversight of the ABC."
Ms Bishop also said the decision appeared to have been made while Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd was out of the country and absent from cabinet.
“This is further evidence of the breakdown in the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and the damage it is causing to Australia’s national interest," she said.
The controversy surrounding the tender for the nation's most important public diplomacy service is the subject of both Australian Federal Police and Auditor-General inquiries.
Mr Rudd unveiled the tender for the 10-year Australia Network contract 12 months ago.
Julia Gillard announced an "amended" tender on June 24, around the time when a decision on the successful bidder was expected.
It emerged responsibility for the tender decision had been taken from the Department of Foreign Affairs and given to Communications.
But Senator Conroy scrapped the tender last month, claiming government legal advice had found that leaks had left the process compromised.
It was the second setback for the bidders after the government stripped the Department of Foreign Affairs of the right to decide the winner - despite it providing the funding - and revised the tender terms.
The original and revised tender processes are believed to have backed the Sky bid.
