[Australia]: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

[Owen]

​

Type:	Statutory Corporation
Predecessors:	Australian Broadcasting Company (1929–1932) Australian Broadcasting Commission (1932–1983)
Founded:	23 November 1923 (as the Australian Broadcasting Company)
Headquarters:	Ultimo, New South Wales
Area Served:	Worldwide
Key People:	Stephen Smith (Minister for Communications and the Arts) Donald McDonald (Chair) John Bannon (Deputy Chair) Brian Johns (Managing Director)
Owner:	Government of Australia
Divisions:	ABC Television ABC Radio ABC News ABC Sport ABC International ABC Commercial

TV Channels​

Logo:	Channel:	Broadcast Area:	Language:	Content:	Channel Number:
	ABC TV/ABC TV HD	Australia	English	Mixture	Channel 2, 20 and 21
	ABC Kids/Family	Australia	English	Children's, Teen and Family	Channel 22
	ABC Entertains	Australia	English	Comedy, Adult Programming	Channel 23
	ABC News	Australia	English	News and Current Affairs	Channel 24
	ABC Australia	Asia Pacific Islands	English Mandarin Chinese Indonesian Tok Pisin	Mixture	SKY Pacific Various cable television companies

Radio Stations​

Logo:	Station:	Broadcast Area:	Language:	Content:	Frequencies:
	ABC Local Radio	Australia	English	News, Current Affairs, Talkback, Entertainment, Sport, Music and Local Affairs	Sydney: 702AM Melbourne: 774AM Brisbane: 612AM Perth: 720AM Adelaide: 891AM
	Radio National	Australia	English	News, Current Affairs, Talkback	Sydney: 576AM Melbourne: 621AM Brisbane: 792AM Perth: 810AM Adelaide: 729AM
	ABC NewsRadio	Australia	English	All-News Radio	Sydney: 630AM Melbourne: 1026AM Brisbane: 936AM Perth: 585AM Adelaide: 972AM
	Radio Australia	Asia Pacific Islands Middle East	English French Mandarin Chinese Cantonese Chinese Vietnamese Indonesian Thai Lao Khmer Burmese Tok Pisin	News, Current Affairs, Talkback, Program Relay	Frequencies 96.0FM (Vientiane, Laos) 106.4FM (East Timor) 103.0FM (Vanuatu, Tonga) 106.6FM (Fiji, New Caledonia) 107FM (Solomon Islands) 101.9FM (Papua New Guinea) 102FM (Samoa, American Samoa, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna) 91.5FM (Palau, Cook Islands, Niue, French Polynesia, Pitcairn Islands) 89.1FM (FS of Micronesia, Marshall Islands) 90.0FM (Nauru, Kiribati) G17C Satellite Transponder (Pacific, South-East Asia) LM15C Satellite Transponder (East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Middle East) Shortwave Frequencies (from Brandon, Carnarvon, Shepparton and Cox Peninsula Transmission Facilities)
	ABC Classic	Australia	English	Classical Music	Sydney: 92.9FM Melbourne: 105.9FM Brisbane: 106.1FM Perth: 97.7FM Adelaide: 103.9FM
	ABC Classic 2	Australia	English	Australian Classical Music	DAB+
	Triple J	Australia	English	Alternative Music (younger audience)	Sydney: 105.7FM Melbourne: 107.5FM Brisbane: 107.7FM Perth: 99.3FM Adelaide: 105.5FM
	Triple J Unearthed	Australia	English	Independent Australian Music	DAB+
	Double J	Australia	English	Alternative Music (older audience)	DAB+
	ABC Jazz	Australia	English	Jazz Music	DAB+
	ABC Country	Australia	English	Australian Country Music	DAB+
	ABC Sport	Australia	English	Sport Programming, Sport News	DAB+
	ABC Kids Listen	Australia	English	Children's Programming	DAB+

 

[Owen]

"Good Evening,

Well it was the result many did see coming. Paul Keating has managed to retain Government, albeit with a reduced majority in what is seen by many as an upset victory for Labor with the Coalition expecting a landslide. This is the second time Paul Keating has pulled off an upset victory after his famous 1993 election victory over then Leader of the Opposition, John Hewson. The current Leader of the Opposition, John Howard has vowed to stay on as Leader of the Liberal Party despite the loss saying that while it wasn't the result he was expecting there were some key victories tonight that put the Liberal Party in a much better position for the next 3 years. There was talk that a leadership spill could be mounted against Mr. Howard by current Deputy Leader, Peter Costello but that remains not to be seen. One interesting moment of the night was when controversial Liberal turned Independent, Pauline Hanson managed to pick up the seat of Oxley in Queensland off Labor's Les Scott on a swing of 19%."

 

[Owen]

"Good Evening,

Today Prime Minister Paul Keating announced that the replacement for Bill Hayden as Governor-General will be former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who was ousted from the position 5 years ago by Mr. Keating himself. The Prime Minister says he is preparing a letter of recommendation to the Queen to accept the position of Bob Hawke as the next Governor-General of Australia. Many Australians will remember Bob Hawke as a memorable Prime Minister with a larrikin attitude that many ordinary Australians looked up upon. Mr. Keating says there is no bad blood between the pair after the leadership spill of 1991."

​

 

[Owen]

PAUL KEATING ARRIVES IN JAPAN

​

 

[Owen]

​

"Good evening I'm Ros Childs,

The Prime Minister is facing an unprecendented amount of pressure tonight. At 7pm tonight, a ballot for the Leadership and Deputy Leadership of the Labor Party will be held after the Prime Minister announced the ballot of the leadership earlier today. It's reported that last night, senior members of the caucus informed the Prime Minister that he had lost the confidence of the party and that it was time for new leadership. The Prime Minister has been in power for nearly 8 years and has told ABC News he intends to fight on for his position. The main contender is the Treasurer, Kim Beazley. His pick for the Deputy Leadership ballot is Minister for Human Services and Health, Jenny Macklin. She will contend the Deputy Leadership with incumbent Deputy Leader, Dr. Carmen Lawrence. Mr. Beazley is confident he has a majority of the Labor caucus behind him. He has said that polling has shown that Labor will lose the next election and that a change in leadership is necessary. This comes in the middle of a tight election campaign in Victoria where incumbent Liberal Jeff Kennett is seeking his third term in office. Mr. Beazley says he will continue to support Victorian Labor leader John Brumby on the election campaign and says the ballot for the federal leadership should not deter voters from voting Labor in Victoria. Mr. Keating has a different view, saying the fighting and disunity within the Labor Party will secure Jeff Kennett a third term in office."

 

[Owen]

​

"Good evening I'm Michael Tetlow,

Well the results are in and it's a resounding victory for Labor in the Victorian state election tonight. After 7 years of Liberal Government, Victoria has decided to turn a new chapter, so much so that Premier Jeff Kennett even lost his own seat to the narrowist of margins. Here's ABC's chief election analyst Antony Green to give us the run down...."

​

"So what we saw tonight was quite a strong vote for Labor. 55.6% of the two-party preferred vote, which is a swing of 9.1%. They have romped it home in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and down the Mornington Peninsula, with a few pick ups in surrounding rural areas of Melbourne, including down the Bellarine Peninsula. Basically, there's little left of Liberal seats in Metropolitan Melbourne. The Coalition even lost two seats in regional Victoria, Gippsland East and Gippsland West to Independents. And of course Jeff Kennett lost his own seat of Burwood to Labor's Bob Stensholt on a margin of .5%. It was enough to put him over the line, but Jeff Kennett held a near marginal seat and with a swing of 9.1% it was enough to wipe out all of their marginals and almost all of their seats they held below 10% at the last election. So overall the Coalition has ended up on 30 seats, which is a net loss of 28, Labor has ended up with 55 seats, a net gain of 26, and the Crossbench has now grown to 3, a net gain of 2. It's a different story in the Legislative Council where of course the system is skewed heavily to regional Victoria. Labor managed to gain 7 seats in the Legislative Council but it is not enough to secure a majority especially since we only elect half of it at this election. Labor now has 17 seats and the Coalition has 27, which effectively means the Coalition can block any legislation that the Brumby Government wishes to get through Parliament, so a lot of negotiations will be going on inside the Legislative Council during this term. John Brumby gave his election speech where he said it was a new dawn for Victoria and the Labor Party nationally as Kim Beazley takes over as the leader of the federal Labor Party. The federal government is quietly confident tonight that as a result like this will mean they will retain government at the federal election, there is a lot of ground to gain in Victoria and if this translates federally they will gain a decent chunk of seats in Victoria, potentially enough to offset any loss in any other states, potentially in Queensland."

 

[Owen]

Australia Votes 1999
​

After several hours of coverage and analysing election data and counting seat counts the ABC's Election Analyst Antony Green will give a projection about 30 minutes after the South Australia/Northern Territory polls closing.

"What I can say tonight is confidently, that the Coaliton will not be able to form government tonight. Looking at the nation wide swing of about 1.7% towards Labor, it is my prediction that the Beazley Labor government will be returned to power. The most interesting factor tonight is of course the One Nation vote. This has been primarily at the expense of the Coalition vote, sinking nearly 10% in the Primary Vote. One Nation is looking at sitting overall about 16% of the Primary Vote, maybe more as we expect greater support for them in Western Australia. At this point in time I can say that Pauline Hanson has been elected to the seat of Blair and Graeme Wicks to the seat of Wide Bay. We are also looking at very likely One Nation gains in Gwydir and Maranoa. In the Senate, it's hard to tell right now as the votes are counted but we are expecting at least 1 One Nation senator for Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. Possibly even another one in Queensland. Regardless of the One Nation seat pick ups, which have all been at the expense of sitting Coalition members, Labor is projected to get over 80 seats and as a result will be returned to government. The Coalition could even sink below 60."

About 45 minutes after Antony Green called the election for Labor, Kim Beazley would go to the podium with his wife to speak with the Labor faithful in Perth.

Kim Beazley approaching the podium with former Labor Prime Minister's Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke and former Labor Premier of New South Wales, Neville Wran.​

Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, to all the Labor volunteers out there, thank you. We could not have done this without you....

Nearly 100 years ago, our forebears created a new nation on this continent—a land to which people from all over the world could come to make a contribution. As we enter a new century, we face again the same challenge that confronted our nation’s founders. Can we come together, and put petty rivalries and differences aside, and build a new nation for a new century?

I believe we can and we will. This new Labor government, with fresh ideas and fresh members will lead Australia into the 21st century.

We have many new members of Parliament across the country and I am excited to see what they can do. Firstly though I want to say thanks to the Labor members who couldn't be re-elected tonight. Mary Crawford, Geoff Buckland, Ted Lindsay, Gary Johns and Steve Georganas. Your time with us in the parliamentary Labor caucus will not be forgotten and of course we wish you all the best for your futures.

Now some of you might be feeling a bit of a bitter-sweet moment tonight. Yes we increased our primary vote, our two-party preferred, our House seat count. But of course we lost some ground in the Senate... to Pauline Hanson and her One Nation team. Despite their victories tonight in the Senate and in the House, I want to make it clear to all Australians, particularly those of a multicultural background and to the world, THEY DO NOT REPRESENT WHO WE ARE."

The crowd would cheer.

"We will fight Pauline Hanson all the way! Her bigoted and racist ideas for this country will not stand the test of time in Parliament and I hope the Coalition agrees with me and will stand with Labor to oppose the propositions made by One Nation in Parliament. Notably, I make a promise to never accept their vote on any legislation or work with them in anyway. I encourage the Coalition to stand with us and make the same promise.

We are going to build real social reform in this country, expand Medicare, expand the rights of all Australians, commit to reconciliation and COMMIT TO TREATY!"

The crowd would cheer again.

"We are going to make an Australia that the envy of the world. We will forge alliances across the globe, but of course we will not fear to stand our ground and speak up when something is not right.... when something is immoral. I'm talking about of course the occupied Australian territory of the Heard and McDonald Islands. We will regain control of our sovereign territory through diplomatic means. It is right and just. We will commit ourselves to seeing resolutions in conflicts across the globe notably in South Africa, Russia, Ukraine and we will work to help the Korean Government develop the former DPRK. We will build inseperable bonds with our Pacific neighbours and we will commit to the expansion of global trade.

I thank you all once again, for everyone who voted for Labor and for everyone who didn't, we will be a government that works for everyone. Thank you very much."

He would walk off the podium holding his wifes hand, waving to the crowd and walking into it.

"So there you have it, the Prime Minister's election victory speech. Stay tuned to the ABC for more election coverage coming right up."

 

[Owen]

STEVE IRWIN SWORN IN AS QUEENSLAND'S GOVERNOR

​

"Good Evening,

Today Steve Irwin was sworn in as the 24th Governor of Queensland. This was to much fan fair from the local Queensland public and has given a popularity boost to Premier Peter Beattie. His Excellency said him and his wife and their 2 year old daughter Bindi would be moving into Government House in Brisbane, colloquially known as Fernberg. Terri Irwin will now be formally addressed as Lady Irwin. Steve has said his conservationist projects and Australia Zoo will remain under the management of his best friend Wes, but will halt production of his television show for the duration of his term."

Royal Queensland Regiment guard of honour at Government House


Queensland Mounted Police procession leads Steve Irwin into Government House


Government House in Brisbane

John Williamson performs True Blue at Steve Irwin's swearing in​

 

[Owen]

"Good Morning I'm Ros Childs,

Well it was a momentous night in the Northern Territory last night where the Country Liberal Party swept to power after two terms in opposition. The Clare Martin Labor government was defeated in a landslide, losing a total of 5 seats with the Country Liberals picking up 7, including two from Independents. The biggest gains for the Country Liberals were in the Darwin and Palmerston metropolitan area, with all but 3 Labor seats remaining there, including Clare Martin's own. Labor still held on in many rural areas though notably in Stuart, Nhulunbuy and Arafura. The Country Liberals also gained one seat from Country Liberal turned Independent Loraine Braham in Alice Springs as well as taking the vast Central Australia electorate of MacDonnell which covers areas such as Uluru and towns surrounding Alice Springs. Clare Martin will visit the Administrator of the Northern Territory, Sally Thomas, this morning to formally hand in her resignation, followed by a swearing in ceremony for Terry Mills as the 6th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. This has sent shockwaves through the Federal Labor Government, with many worried about their chances in the Northern Territory at the next election particularly with the Australian Electoral Commission announcing that a redistribution will take place in the NT, splitting their once single electorate of the Northern Territory into two electorates: Solomon in the Darwin area and then Lingiari for the remainder of the Northern Territory."

​

 

[Owen]

​

"Good Evening, I'm Juanita Phillips,

Katy Gallagher and Labor have clinched power in the Australian Capital Territory tonight for the first time since 1995. Whilst not a majority, they are the largest party in the ACT's Legislative Assembly and the Greens, who had massive gains, have signalled their intention to form a Coalition government with the Labor Party. The Liberal Party were reduced to 5 seats whilst the Democrats had a good night, winning 2 seats. They have also signalled their intent to give confidence and supply to the Labor Government. This is the first time in Australian history that a woman has succeeded another woman as a head of government."

​

 

[Owen]

​

"Good evening, I'm Ros Childs,

The Labor Party has tonight had an emphatic victory in the State of Queensland. Peter Beattie managed to secure a massive majority in Queensland's unicameral parliament with a total of 60 seats. However the biggest surprise of the night was the complete collapse of the Coalition's vote mainly at the expense of the One Nation Party who are now the official opposition in Queensland. The Coalition has been left with all but 6 seats with One Nation now holding a total of 22, majority of which are in the Darling Downs, Wide Bay-Burnett region, Ipswich, Coastal North Queensland and the Sunshine Coast. Labor has won nearly every single seat, all but four, in the Brisbane and the Gold Coast metropolitan areas, as well as large numbers in Central and Inland North Queensland."

​

 

[Owen]

"We will now cross live to Canberra where Simon Crean, the Returning Officer for the parliamentary Labor caucus is now speaking."

​

"A short time ago a ballot was held for Leader and Deputy Leader of the federal parliamentary Labor caucus. I can now advise that the results are as follows.....

Julia Gillard, 61 votes.

Kim Beazley, 54 votes.

Julia Gillard has been elected Leader. The results for Deputy Leader are...

Kevin Rudd, 75 votes.

Jenny Macklin, 40 votes.

Kevin Rudd has been elected Deputy Leader."

A reporter would ask "Will the Prime Minister be making a statement shortly."

"The Prime Minister will be making a statement shortly from the press room before heading to Government House to put in his resignation and the incoming Prime Minister will then make a statement and make her way to Government House to be sworn in."

"Will the Prime Minister also be calling an election?"

"I'm not at liberty to determine what the Prime Minister will ask the Governor-General to do."

"Was there a recount given how close the results were?"

"We did conduct a recount and the results returned the same result."

"Is there any reason why Deputy Leader position was less close?"

"There is some precedence that members will vote for the Deputy Leader who has been chosen by the incoming Leader upon hearing the results of the Leader's election. This is nothing new."

​

Julia Gillard will make her way down the hallway where the press are, Parliamentary Security Officers will keep the press back some distance. The press will yell out questions as she continued to walk past.

"ARE YOU GOING TO BE CALLING AN ELECTION?"

"ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT HOW CLOSE THE RESULT WAS?"

 

[Owen]

"Welcome to this special edition of ABC News Tasmania, I'm Peter Gee....

Premier Jim Bacon has tonight announced that he has been diagnosed with an inoperable lung cancer and that he will step down from his role as Premier of Tasmania pending a ballot for the leadership by the Labor Party faithful. He has said it has been his great honour to serve the state of Tasmania for the past 6 years as Premier. Rumoured contenders for the leadership ballot include his Deputy Paul Lennon from the Labor Right faction and Lara Giddings from the Labor Left faction. Jim Bacon started off in politics 8 years ago as a member for Denison, originally from Melbourne and spending his university years at Monash being a Maoist student leader, he moved to Western Australia where he joined the Builders Labourers Federation who eventually sent him to become an organiser in Tasmania. He eventually made his way to the top job of the Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council. After spending many years in the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Australia, he moderated and joined the Labor Party in 1992. However his close ties with Communism, particularly Maoism, never really faltered as he seeked a close relationship between Tasmania and Fujian Province in China before the fall of Communism there."

​

 

[Owen]

​

​

ABC NEWS launches new look and features, welcomes back iconic news theme.​

ABC NEWS, Australia’s most trusted news source, will launch a new design, features and functionality for the ABC NEWS website for all audiences next Monday as well as unveiling a new on-air look.

The news will also sound different thanks to the return of the much-loved ABC TV News Theme composed by Peter Wall and Tony Ansell, which was in use from 1986 to 1995. Audiences have never forgotten it, and now it’s back in an updated arrangement and remix.

The new theme will make its on-air debut at 9.00am AEST Monday on the ABC NEWS Channel and be heard on every state and territory 7PM bulletin from Monday night. Monday’s News Breakfast will feature a live performance of the theme played by the SA Primary Schools String Orchestra.

"We’re delighted to introduce an updated look and experience for the public however and whenever they use ABC NEWS across any platform," said ABC Director, News Justin Stevens.

"Every week more than 40 per cent of Australians come to ABC NEWS across digital, TV and radio and we want to make sure we’re providing all of them the most impactful and contemporary experience, that matches the strength and excellence of our journalism."

"The new design is impactful and appealing for audiences and gives us a consistent look across all platforms. Our audience accesses our journalism across all platforms and mediums and the design needs to reflect that. The upgrade to the web and app improves the experience for users and adds features to let them personalise their news service."

"I’m thrilled to welcome back the iconic ABC NEWS theme. It captures the excitement and passion everyone in ABC NEWS has for news and current affairs."

 

[Owen]

"We're crossing live to Parliament House where the Prime Minister is about to give a press conference."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard would shuffle into a room in Parliament House followed by the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Tony Negus, the Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess, the Minister for Home Affairs, Bill Shorten and the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon.

​

"Good evening,

Can I please begin by offering my condolences and the condolences of the entirety of Australia to the government and the people of the United Kingdom at this time. This is an absolute tragedy and my heart grieves for those who have lost loved ones. At this point in time, we are unaware of any Australians that are victims to this tragedy at this stage. Can I reiterate, that is simply at this stage. As you may be aware, Westfield London is in the Shepherd's Bush area of London, an area which is highly populated with Australian expats, so we suspect that this may change as more information comes in. Westfield, being an Australian company, also has a certain brand recognition with Australians. If you are concerned about a loved one you can contact DFAT's Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 from within Australia or +61 2 6261 3305 from outside of Australia. We will continue to update you if there are any new developments in regards to Australian victims.

As many of you have probably now seen, al-Qaeda has taken responsibility for this attack. This was a heinous attack and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. At this point in time, we have no intelligence to suggest that there is any imminent attack of this nature against Australia or Australians. We, particularly the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, are working with our partner agencies across the globe to disrupt these terror threats. At this current point in time, the national terror threat level is at Probable. I can announce today that we are increasing the terror threat level to Expected. This is one below Certain. This means there is a greater than 70 per cent chance of an onshore attack or attack planning in the next twelve months. The last time that the threat level has been at Expected was during the war against Turkey and Saudi Arabia back in 2000. The National Security Committee has been coordinating with the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO about what response measures we will need to take.

I now pass onto Commissioner Negus to make some comments."

The Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police would take the stage.

"Thank you Prime Minister,

This morning we had a meeting of the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee with all state and territory police commissioners, the Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Director-General Burgess and the New Zealand Commissioner of Police. We discussed ASIO's National Threat Assessment Centre decision to increase the national terrorism threat level. We made the decision to stand up National Task Force Raptor. As the Prime Minister mentioned, the last time the threat level was at Expected was during Operation Accordion I and II in 1999 to 2000 when Australia participated in the defence of Israel and the invasion of Saudi Arabia. During this time we stood up National Task Force Trident, which was successful in deterring any onshore terrorism attacks against Australia at that time. The New Zealand Police will not be participating in this task force and they will conduct their own internal operation.

National Task Force Trident involved a massive surge in public police presence and this is what we will be replicating again. This involved general duties and armed police officers patrolling high-traffic public areas across Australia and notable landmarks such as Parliament House, Sydney Harbour, Federation Square, embassies, Jewish institutions and other sensitive sites as designated by the Australian Federal Police and the state and territory police. It also involved the setting up of random road checkpoints to disrupt the movement of any weaponry or goods which may be used to carry out an attack. Police will also be coordinating with public transport authorities and their own public transit sections to bolster presence on the public transport networks across the country.

I now invite the Director-General of ASIO, Mike Burgess to speak."

Mike Burgess would walk up to the stand.

"Thank you Commissioner Negus,

ASIO exists to keep Australians safe. If you seek to harm Australians, we will find you. We will disrupt you. And we will prosecute you. The threat that al-Qaeda poses to Australia and Australians is very real. ASIO will dedicate resources to disrupting al-Qaeda activities in Australia and abroad where that threat is against Australians. Surveillance of known or suspected sympathisers or operatives will be increased. This will be done with our partner agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Border Force and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. As you may appreciate, I cannot go into much detail about the work that ASIO does, but rest assured we are responding appropriately to this increased and very real threat. Thank you."

Mike Burgess would step away and the Prime Minister would go to the podium again.

"We will take some questions now." She would scan the room of journalists to see who wants to ask a question.

 

[Owen]

"We are crossing live to Perth now where the Western Australian Premier, Geoff Gallop is giving an unannounced press conference."

Geoff Gallop would begin his press conference with his wife and son by his side and the rest of the WA Cabinet behind him.

​

"It is my difficult duty to inform you today that I am currently being treated for depression. Living with depression is a very debilitating experience, which affects different people in different ways. It has certainly affected many aspects of my life. So much so, that I sought expert help last week. My doctors advised me that with treatment, time and rest this illness is very curable. However, I cannot be certain how long I will need. So in the interests of my health and my family I have decided to rethink my career.

My commitment to politics has always been 100 per cent plus. I now need that time to restore my health and wellbeing. Therefore I am announcing today my intention to resign as Premier of Western Australia and Member for Victoria Park in the state parliament. It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to serve this state and witness the wonderful progress that is being made. I would like to thank the WA public for bestowing on me the immense responsibility and thrill of leading this great state for just under five years; and my colleagues for giving me the honour of leading the WA Labor Party for the best part of 10 years.

I would particularly like to thank the residents of Victoria Park for the support they have given me for nearly 20 years. In fact, what has made this announcement all the more difficult today is that I love being premier, I love the work, I love the state and I love its people. In order to do the job, you need the support of your staff, the cabinet and your parliamentary colleagues. They have all been magnificent and I will always cherish the times I have spent with them working on ideas for a better future. Even though change of the sort I announce today will bring its challenges, and will be disruptive in the very short term, I am confident that the government will continue its excellent work.

The state parliamentary Labor Party at its earliest possible convenience will decide my successor. In the meantime, Eric Ripper has kindly cancelled his scheduled leave to continue to act as premier. I hope you will appreciate the pressure my current condition has placed on my family, who have been a tower of strength and a source of great support. I now need the space required to start the process of full recovery and for this reason I will not be taking questions, nor doing any further media interviews.

I thank you for your co-operation and I wish you all well for the future."