More than 400 people, or 10 per cent of the organisation’s workforce face potential redundancy in the coming months.

Funding to the ABC will also be cut by the Federal Government from July 2015 by more than $200 million over four years.

It will also be closing five of its smallest regional radio stations, including one based in Nowra.

A new Regional Division has been proposed, which will deliver what ABC managing director Mark Scott says is a ‘co-ordinated and focused approach to rural and regional content for audiences across the nation. It will bring together regional radio and news staff, and be led by a manager living outside Sydney or Melbourne.’ Member for Goulburn Pru Goward told the Post there were much better ways for the ABC to manage their finances.

“The ABC needs to rebuild its audience base and it won’t do that by cutting regional programming, where traditionally they have strong audiences,” Ms Goward said.

“I worked for the ABC for 19 years, and saw a multitude of opportunities for more efficient use of tax payers’ dollars and have been embarrassed by the comparisons between the ABC’s operating costs and those of their commercial competitors.

“The ABC could be a lot more cost efficient without hurting programming, and I would be delighted to share my ideas with their management.

“It’s time they had an independent review of their operating costs to see where they could perform better, and they shouldn’t have done this by taking the lazy way out.”

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor told the Post that if the ABC cuts programming aimed at regional Australia, then it would be a purely politically motivated and unnecessary move.

“Programs that provide important information and entertainment to those of us who live in country areas, do not need to be at the frontline of ABC budget efficiencies,” Mr Taylor said.

“I grew up on a diet of ABC radio and ABC TV.

“There was no other broadcaster we listened to. We are still hooked on the ABC in our house, as are many, many regional families.

But it can hardly be said that most of the content is sympathetic to the issues of regional Australia and the values most of us share.

“Even Quentin Dempster has confirmed that the ABC’s current focus is Sydney-centric, and that the growth of digital is not being used to provide more locally focused content.

“Indeed, the magic of digital is that it should support customisation of content to many different audiences. In asking taxpayer funded organisations to find savings, the Government is trying to fix Labor’s budget mess.

“For many years the rest of government has needed to deliver efficiencies, and so should the ABC.

“A large organisation like the ABC can do things more efficiently without reducing services delivered.

“The best way the ABC and SBS can reduce their costs is to modernise their businesses, learning from other broadcasters’ practices in streamlining back office functions.”

LABOR candidate for Goulburn Ursula Stephens says job and funding cuts to the ABC are “offensive”.

“I think the ABC is a national institution, and as such is treasured by most Australians,” Dr Stephens said.

“These cuts have been very deliberately targeted at rural and regional communities, which I think is offensive.

“Also programs such as Australian Story (on ABC television), and programs such as the ‘Bush Telegraph’ on Radio National are programs which many farmers and people in rural and regional communities are listening to and contributing their ideas and thoughts to.

“This government is supposed to be about creating job opportunities, not cutting them. These cuts to the ABC, and even the recent cuts to Fairfax, will in turn de-skill the media industry, and therefore create second-rate journalism.

“Most rural people rely purely on the ABC for their news and television viewing, and people such as Rupert Murdoch and others are driving people to rely only on satellite services - it’s a pretty poor show in my opinion.”