The CBF has responded to claims made by the NEMBC that its new governance and structural model will have a serious impact on ethnic community broadcasters, labelling the concerns  “speculative scaremongering”.
 
The Community Broadcasting Foundation earlier announced the finalisation of its new governance and structural model, despite opposition, with the release of its final report.
 
The NEMBC is worried ethnic stations will lose funding.

However, the CBF has assured funding for ethnic community broadcasting will continue to be used to support ethnic community broadcasting under the new model.
 
The NEMBC also claimed “The CBF’s consultation process was compromised because only a single model was proposed and there was no consideration of other viable models”.
 
The CBF says that claim is inaccurate and misleading.

“The CBF Review process allowed any interested party to put forward their ideas in relation to alternative structural and governance models. The NEMBC took up this opportunity to propose a hybrid model blending existing and new structural elements both within the review’s consultation processes and through the community broadcasting sector Roundtable meeting processes that fed into the CBF Review. The merits of the NEMBC’s proposed hybrid model were considered through both of these paths but not supported or adopted in either.”