AnnuAl REPORT 2011-2012 - Sbs

ChAiRmAn And mAnAging diRECTOR’s
lETTER TO ThE minisTER
Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital economy
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Parliament House
CANBeRRA ACT 2600
1 October 2012
Dear Minister,
On behalf of the Board we have the pleasure in presenting to you this Annual Report of operations of the Special
Broadcasting Service (SBS) Corporation for the year ending 30 June 2012. The Report was approved by a resolution of
directors of the Corporation on 24 September, 2012 and has been prepared in accordance with the relevant requirements
of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 and the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991.
In addition, it assesses the Corporation’s performance against the goals of the SBS Corporate Plan 2010–2013.
In 2011–12 SBS welcomed an announcement by the Federal Government to increase its core funding. This
announcement was recognition that the services provided by SBS are a vital component of national strategies to
ensure the continued success of Australia as a migrant society. SBS was also honoured to be given the responsibility
for developing a new free-to-air Indigenous television channel. When launched, the new channel will mark a new stage
for Indigenous broadcasting, and significantly increase audience access to news and content produced by and about
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
SBS’s relevance increases as the nation becomes more and more diverse. The 2011 Census revealed almost a quarter
of the nation’s population was born overseas and 43.1 per cent of people have at least one parent born overseas.
We continued to expand news and content that contributes to an inclusive society by inspiring all Australians to explore
and appreciate our multicultural world, and to invest in distribution of our content via the many new online and mobile
devices available to our audiences.
SBS continued to cement its reputation for thought-provoking content, with landmark history series Once upon a Time
in Cabramatta, which explored the experiences of Vietnamese migrants in the suburb of Cabramatta in western Sydney
after the Vietnam War. Go Back to Where You Came From received national and international acclaim, mostly notably
winning the Golden Rose at the prestigious Rose D’Or Awards in Switzerland, one of the highest international accolades
and the first time it has been awarded to an Australian program.
We would like to pay tribute to Bob Cronin and Christopher Pearson who retired during the year after 10 and eight years
respectively on the Board of Directors of SBS, and who each greatly contributed to the development of SBS, drawing
generously on their respective industry backgrounds.
Yours Sincerely,
Joseph Skrzynski, AO
Chairman
Michael Ebeid
Managing Director
AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 – 2012 5