Events
Wednesday 4 December 2024
ABCFriends members Chris Regan, Judy Gonda and Natalie Leader attended a community awards event to see ABC Friends SA/NT President Daryl Regan accept an award for service to ABC Friends .
The award was organised by the Federal Member for Boothby Louise Miller- Frost MHR and attended by a large number of community organisation and award recipients.
It was a great opportunity to meet other volunteers and have the work of ABC Friends recognised by the community of Boothby which is located within the Southern suburbs of Adelaide.
Wednesday 20 November 2024
Food Bank: ABC Friends were invited to the Grosvenor hotel to help publicise the event amongst our members. I attended with ABC Friends members and supporters and many members listened to the broadcast.
Congratulations to the ABC and Foodbank on a great event that has achieved a substantial amount of money for Foodbank and highlighted the wonderful work of the volunteers at Foodbank
ABC Friends are a National Organisation which is independent of the ABC but advocates for the continuing development of the ABC as required under it’s Charter to the Australian community.
Photo: Daryl, Jules and Sonya (ABC)
Wednesday 6 November 2024
Peter and Sue Vandeleur attended the keynote address at the Flinders University's International Symposium on Leadership in the Arts, Culture and Creative Industries at the Adelaide festival Centre.
The address was given by Kim Williams, Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
As Chair of Australia's national broadcaster Kim Williams holds a significant leadership role in the shaping of our cultural identity.
Kim opened the symposium with an insightful speech providing his insights on key issues impacting all Australians sharing cultural values and described how his classical music training has shaped his leadership style.
The value and importance of the ABC gained a large profile during the course of this lecture.
Tuesday 5 November, 2024
ABC Friends received an invitation from the ALP Kingston Federal Electoral Committee to give a presentation at their November meeting. Kingston is a Federal seat held by the Federal Social Services Minister Hon Amanda Rishworth and covers the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
The presentation by Daryl Regan ABC Friends SA/NT President emphasised the we need a strong, independent and fully funded ABC and news services and investigative journalism that we can trust.
Sunday 3 November, 2024
ABC Friends SA/NT President Daryl Regan met the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Penny Wong at a function on Sunday 3rd November in Adelaide.
ABC Friends will be active participants in the 2025 Federal Election and will be contacting all candidates to get their support for the ABC which under the 1983 ABC charter is required to provide innovative and comprehensive broadcasting and digital services of a high standard.
Sunday 27 October, 2024
ABC Friends had a stall at the Coast FM Open day at the Glandore Community Centre.
Coast FM is a community broadcaster that operates 24/7 with volunteer presenters.
ABC members at the Open Day enjoyed live music, food, drink and a very large crowd was in attendance.
Members on our stall were kept busy handing out our bookmarks and pamphlets.
ABC Friends are members of Coast FM and support community organisations with like values.
Thursday 25 September, 2024
ABC Friends SA Treasurer, Peter Vandeleur, was welcomed at the ABC studio Broken Hill. The staff were not aware of, but very interested to hear about the activities of ABC Friends.
Tuesday 23 September, 2024
The Premier of SA, Peter Malinauskas, hosted a morning tea for ABC Friends. Fifty people attended and the Premier spoke very supportively about the importance of the ABC and very eloquently about the contribution South Australia has made to Australian democracy.
Monday 16th September
ABC Friends members Lily NG and Daryl Regan attended a meeting of the Hindmarsh Branch of the Greens at the Alberton Hotel
The meeting was very well attended and wholeheartedly supported the ABC and ABC Friends
ABC Friends will be canvassing candidates in the coming Federal election on their level of support for the ABC. Hindmarsh is a Federal electorate in South Australia
Thursday September 12, 2024: Meeting with SA Parliamentary Friends at Parliament House organised by Tammy Franks MLA and also included Ben Hood MLC and Lucy Hood MP.. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet with a number of MPs and their staff who all expressed support for the ABC and the effort the ABC Friends is putting in to help restore funding and maintain independence.
Friday August 30: Daryl Regan and Peter Vandeleur met with The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health.
Mark is very supportive of the ABC, especially because several members of his family have worked for the ABC over a number of years.
Monday August 26: ABC Friends SA/NT were invited to the ALP Adelaide sub branch meeting and President Daryl Regan gave a presentation followed by questions from the audience of 27
In attendance was the Hon Lucy Hood MP who is the State member for the seat of Adelaide. Lucy is also a member of the South Australian Parliamentary Friends of the ABC.
Sub branch members were very supportive of the ABC and ABC Friends
Of particular note in our photo is the person on Lucy’s right shoulder who is the Hon Anne Levy AO who is a member of ABC Friends and was a Cabinet Minister in the Don Dunstan and John Bannon Governments and was also President of the South Australian Legislative Council .Many thanks to the Adelaide Sub branch for the invitation.
Below Annual General Meeting & Forum August 25, 2025
Sunday August 25:
Fourty two members attended our AGM. Congratulations to our committee and thanks to the team of helpers for the fantastic and energised forum, Q & A and our AGM. We enjoyed enlightening and entertaining presentations from Dr Victoria Fielding and our patron, Peter Goers OAM. A warm welcome to our newest committee members.
Wednesday 14th August: at Blackwood
The Brass Monkeys Cafe at Blackwood is a supporter of ABC Friends and the photo is the Chef/Owner Diwas kc with ABC Friends member Chris Regan .The support of small businesses like the Brass Monkeys Cafe is very much appreciated .
Tuesday 6th August: ABC Friends members attended a community forum organised by the South Australian Government, led by the Premier Hon Peter Malinauskas and Government Ministers. Attended by 176 people, the forum was an excellent opportunity for ABCF members to meet the public and the leaders of the 3 tiers of government in SA.
Daryl our president is with with the Hon Tom Koutsantonis, SA Minister for Energy and Louise Miller-Frost, MP Federal member for Boothby. Also, ABC Friends members Chris Regan and Councillor Jane Bange with the Mayor of Mitcham, Heather Holmes-Ross who is wearing the ABC Friends T Shirt !!
Tuesday 25 June, 2024: ABC Friends were invited by the State PM Sarah Andrews member for
Gibson which is a bayside electorate to attend their sub branch meeting
Daryl Regan ABC SA/NT President gave a presentation on the aims and objectives of ABC Friends
The presentation was followed by questions
Photo of Daryl,.Members and Sarah Andrews MP
Wednesday 29th May: University of Adelaide. Members of ABC Friends SA/NT met with Belinda MacQueen, Alumni Relations Coordinator, to discuss opportunities for ABC Friends to connect with Alumni members.
The meeting continues ABC Friends engagement with the Faculty of Arts, Business,Law and Economics , Media Students Association , University internships and the Media Department.
The response from the University has been very positive which is much appreciated
Photo: Belinda MacQueen who is holding the University’s publication Lumen ’ Peter Vandeleur ABC Friends SA/NT Vice President
Wednesday May 22, 2024:As part of National Volunteers Week, Dr Judy Gonda (Secretary) and Ms Yi Li (Committee member) attended the 2024 State Volunteering Conference on 22nd May to represent ABCFriends SA/NT. The conference discussed the trends in Australian volunteering, new initiatives to improve volunteering uptake and practical approaches to enhancing the volunteer experience and align it with UN Sustainable Development Goals. A concerns is that evidence shows that volunteering is on the decline in Australia and particularly amongst young people. The conference was opened by the CEO Volunteering SA/NT Mr Hamilton Calder and launched by a panel of experts lead by Hon Nat Cook MP.
Thursday May 9, 2024: The Hawke Centre at University of SA hosted 'The Conversation', presenting a very interesting panel discussion titled Democracy in Peril. It focused on the state of democracies around the world and the prevelance of mis-information and dis-information.
There were three excellent speakers moderated by Misha Ketchell (editor of The Conversation);
Monica Attard (University of Technology Sydney) who spoke about the recent Russian election delivering Putin an 87% vote!
Dr Emma Shortis (Australia Institure) who spoke elequently about the state of democracy and the upcoming election in the USA.
Associate Professor Pryia Chacko (Adelaide University) who spoke about the current election in India .
This was a very enlightening event and served to support the critical role the ABC plays in preserving the Australian democracy.
We understand it will be available on line next week from the Hawke Centre.
Wednesday May 8, 2024: Peter and Daryl attended an informal get together organised by The Conversation editorial staff for supporters and interested parties .
The presenters from The Conversation were Editor Misha Ketchell, Arts and Culture Editor Jane Howard and deputy Environment and Energy editor Clare Peddie who has previously worked at The Advertiser
They mentioned that The Conversation has a simple mission “ we work with academic experts to make knowledge more accessible and to empower people with the information they need to make better decisions in their lives “
Combating mis-information, dis-information and and biased reporting a top priority.
20 people in attendance and ABC Friends very welcomed as The Conversation send news articles to the ABC
We will keep in contact with The Conversation
Photo: L to R Supporters of both ABC Friends and The Conversation Penny and Tim,Peter Vandeleur Vice President ABC Friends SA/NT,Editor The Conversation Misha Ketchell
Monday 29, April 2024: Meeting with Dr Victoria Feilding at the University of Adelaide. Victoria is a lecturer in Strategic Communications. We beleive there are a number of opportunities which can flow from this meeting. More to follow. See also the article below.
Thursday 17th: April Streaky Bay Eyre Peninsula South Australia
Presentation by ABC Friends Executive Committee member to the Streaky Bay Probus Club
Nick highlighted the ABC Charter and mentioned in particular the Emergency Services provided by the ABC to Regional areas in Australia
Victoria Fielding
Wednesday 10th April: Daryl attended a community event and met Dr Victoria Fielding PH a Lecturer in Strategic Communication Department of Media ( see below) University of Adelaide
The result of that meeting is Daryl, Peter and Judy are meeting Victoria on the 29th April to follow up her suggestion that ABC Friends maybe wish to host her presentation on the “The role of the Murdoch media in Australian media and particularly how this relates to the ABC and journalism more broadly.”
It looks like a great opportunity to engage with a renowned writer on the media but also to engage with Adelaide University and pursue opportunities for the New Gen project .
Also engage with other experts in the Department on the various types of communication such as Social media. We will let you know the outcome of our meeting but I am really excited as Dr Fielding approached ABC Friends and is keen to meet us.
click link to: See more about Dr Victoria Fielding here.
Friday 12th April: ABC Friends linking with our community is a important objective and we are very pleased to commence our association with the Blackwood Recreation Centre (BRC) in Adelaide .BRC have a very diverse range of fitness programs including the very popular Strength for Life
4500 people use the facilities at BRC every week.
Thank you to the Blackwood Recreation Centre for supporting ABC Friends.
Thursday 11th April:
ABC Friends SA/NT are a Corporate ( Not for profit) member of Coast FM which is a community radio station serving the needs of Adelaide’s South West.
ABC Friends will receive regular acknowledgement on air and and be included on the Coast FM web site.
Daryl Regan President SA/NT met Coast FM Breakfast presenter Bruce Hartley at the Coast FM studio at Glandore. Coast FM is on air 24/7
Thursday 11th April:
ABC Friends SA/NT are a Corporate ( Not for profit) member of Coast FM which is a community radio station serving the needs of Adelaide’s South West.
ABC Friends will receive regular acknowledgement on air and and be included on the Coast FM web site.
Daryl Regan President SA/NT met Coast FM Breakfast presenter Bruce Hartley at the Coast FM studio at Glandore. Coast FM is on air 24/7
Wednesday 10th April:
ABC Friends attended a community event “Politics in the Pub”at the Warradale Hotel in Adelaide organised by Louise Miller Frost MHR member for Boothby
The guest speaker was Tanya Plibersek MHR Federal Minister for the Environment and Water
Tanya supported the ABC reporting on environmental issues and commended ABC Friends for supporting the ABC
Tuesday 9th April: Professor Rick Sarre of the University of South Australia was the principal presenter at a seminar organised by the University and met Daryl Regan President ABC Friends SA/NT.
The seminar was attended by 130 People and Rick who is an ABC Friends member mentioned ABC Friends during his presentation.
Further contact by ABC Friends will be initiated with the Schools of Communication and Journalism at the University of South Australia following todays event
with the University.
Thursday 4th April: Following the invitation from the Hon Tammy Franks Co Leader of the South Australian
Greens Daryl Regan President,Peter Vandeleur Vice President and Judy Gonda Secretary met Tammy at Parliament House and discussed a range of topics pertaining to the ABC Charter in particular the the vital role of the ABC in providing for emergency broadcasting and the independent advocacy role of ABC Friends in support of the ABC .
SA Greens support the ABC and ABC Friends and more meetings are planned.
Thursday 28th March: ABC Friends gave a presentation to members of the Labor Davenport Sub branch at Aberfoyle Park a suburb of Adelaide .ABC Friends were invited to the meeting by the Davenport Member of State parliament Erin Thompson MLA
The presentation was well received with many questions .
Support for the ABC was evident and there were many questions about the work of ABC Friends.
Brochures were car stickers were distributed along with a supply of brochures for the electoral office.
On Sunday 17th March: At a community event Daryl Regan ABC Friends President SA/NT met the SA Premier Peter Malinauskas and Treasurer Stephen Mullighan Both are supportive of the ABC and ABC Friends
The Premier will provide regular information to ABC Friends through the Premiers Community Engagement Adviser
Caitlin Munyard and wishes to be kept informed of our activities
This offer is greatly appreciated by ABC Friends
The SA Government annually contribute $5 million to the ABC and SAFilm Corporation in SA
The Premier also advised that he had met the incoming ABC Chair Kim Williams who was in Adelaide last week
March 2 to 7 2024
Working in conjunction with ABC Friends Victoria, ABC Friends SA/NT had a very successful presence at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2024.
By our observation it atttracted the largest attendance yet with many interstate and international visitors.
We had the authority to establish an identity by being nominated as sponsors of sessions involving ABC personalities and by handing out 3,000 specially printed ABC Friends Writers’ Week book marks. In addition we maintained a small army of ‘friends’ wearing the current ABC Friends T-Shirts. This attracted positive comment from many visitors.
We would like to thank Louise Adler, the Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week for her suppport.
Also, we would like to acknowledge and thank our ABCF Victorian colleagues and in particular Sarah Stephen, for initiating the contact and facilitiating negotiations. We look forward to further developing our relationship with Adelaide Writers Week management and our desire to repeat the program in 2025.
View PICTURE GALLERY Writers Week 2024
March 5, 2024
On Tuesday 5th March the South Australian Jockey Club (SAJC)held a track side breakfast for members to watch the track work of horses engaged in the Adelaide Cup which is the Premier race in SA .ABC Friends SA/NT President Daryl Regan and Chair of the SAJC Judith Jones are pictured with the Adelaide Cup which will presented to the winning owners on Monday 11th March
February 21, 2024: Zofia Li, one of our newest ABC Friends is pictured with fellow students.
Thank you Yi for spending time promoting ABC Friends and the ABC. Following is Yi's report
During O Week at the University of Adelaide, ABC Friends had the pleasure of engaging with students on two occasions: February 19th and 21st. Yi, as one of the newest did some promotion of ABC Friends at Career Hub and Business School. With overwhelming positive response, Yi made new friends at O week and shared newest plans and ideas of ABC Friends with them. Most of them became interested in these ideas and were willing to explore more interesting things at ABC Friends website. Besides, they thought about joining to ABC Friends in the future as well. It is so glad the ABC enlarged its impact among young generations. If you are interested in ABC Friends and want to join us, welcome to enquire.
email: sa@abcfriends.net.au or join here: Link to membership page
February 20, 2024
On Tuesday 20th February the South Australian Greens organised a Public Forum on Education which was attended by Daryl Regan President ABC Friends SA/NT .Daryl met the guest speakers Senator Penny Allman-Payne Greens QLD and Robert Simms Greens Member of the SA Legislative Council.
Both expressed strong support for the ABC and ABC Friends.
L to R : Robert Simms Penny Allman -Payne Daryl Regan
January 2024: At the end of January we received supplies of our long planned printed materials. Click the image to view details.
Using our new brochures, car stickers, and business cards we have started an 'Awareness Campaign' distributing this material to parliamentarians, libraries, book shops, book clubs, organisations, local government councillors and offices, commercial organisations (where they are willing), ABC offices and ABC individuals.
Please enquire if you feel you may be able to help develop our Awareness Campaign.
email: sa@abcfriends.net.au
Louise Miller Frost, Julie Collins, Daryl Regan, Peter Callinan
January 29, 2024: ABC members attended a “ Politics in the Pub” organised by the Federal member for Boothby Louise Miller - Frost MHR with guest speaker Julie Collins Federal Minister for Housing and Small Business .The function was held on Monday 29th January at the Astor Hotel in Adelaide .The function was well attended with 68 people of which 10 were ABC Friend members and supporters
The Minister was pleased to hear that the appointment of Kim Williams as the New ABC Chair had been well received by our members and both Julie and Louise spoke in support of the ABC and were pleased to have the opportunity to have a photo taken.
December 9-10 2023: ABC Friends National Committee
Cassandra Parkinson
National President of ABC Friends .
In October 2023, Daryl Regan and Peter Vandeleur attended ABC Friends National Committee conference as representatives for South Australia. The meeting, held in Sydney, was attended by representatives from all ABC state Friends organisations. At the national level, ABC Friends develops policy and strategy, advocates to government and the ABC, coordinates national campaigns and fundraising, communicates with our members, supporters and general public as well as provideing support services to our members.
The National Committee of ABC Friends meet by Zoom every two months and hold one ‘in-person’ meeting each year.
The meeting agreed to a strategic plan which complements plans developed by State Friends organisations that prioritises five key areas of activity. They are:
1.Advocacy and Campaign
2.Members and Supporters
3 Communication and engagement
4.Advance ABC Friends’ effectiveness as a not-for-profit volunteer organisation.
5 Governance and accountability
November 17, 2023: Judy Gonda (Secretary, ABC Friends SA/NT) attended the ABC Friends Victoria annual dinner as the representative of the SA/NT branch.
Judy found her attendance to be very useful from several perspectives. Firstly, it provided the opportunity for her to network and meet face to face members from many of the regions of Victoria. These members were very keen to hear about what we were doing in our branch, such as our collaboration with Victoria on Writer’s Week and NewGen, our meetings with various politicians, the social media and websites we have set up and our connections with the SA/NT ABC Alumni.
Judy was placed on a table with David Anderson (Managing Director of ABC), Cassandra Parkinson (National President of ABC Friends), Michael Henry (President Vic branch), Bill Condon (Treasurer Vic branch) and various employees of the ABC. All were very welcoming and engaging.
There were 2 presentations at the dinner. The first was a power point presentation about the New Gen project which Judy will try to get a copy of to circulate to the Committee, and then a speech by David Anderson essentially about the forward direction of the ABC. Judy found this to be very informative and reassuring.
Judy felt that our investment in this activity was very worthwhile, particularly form the perspective of building our partnership with Victoria.
November 17, 2023: Daryl Regan President ABC Friends SA/NT attended a luncheon and the guest speaker was the Lord Mayor of Adelaide Hon Jane Lomax -Smith .
Daryl asked the Lord Mayor about truth in political reporting and in particular the negative newspaper articles that had been appearing in the Adelaide press. She replied that it went with the job to have such articles appear that were negative about the Council and it’s operations but it was a concern that misinformation had become much more prevalent in the past 2 years .
November 06, 2023: Daryl Regan President ABC Friends SA/NT gave a presentation to the Sturt ALP Federal Electorate Council meeting on Monday 6 th November.
The meeting was well attended and many in the audience were ABC Friends members.
The main theme of the presentation was the role of ABC Friends in representing the interests of the community in defending and promoting the vital role of the ABC as a national public broadcaster / media organisation .
The audience were concerned that the recent Referendum had produced many news items from various sources that were found to be wrongly reported and felt this was the reason an independent public broadcaster such as the ABC was essential for a healthy democracy.
Many questions were about the ABC 5 year plan and the role of digital communications in the future operations of the ABC.
A very successful occasion and new membership information was sought by some of the audience.
October 12-13, 2023: National Committee Meeting in Sydney. The President, Daryl Regan and Vice President and National Treasurer Peter Vandeleur attended.
Monday 18th September: Three committee members (Peter Vandeleur, Judy Gonda and Lachlan White visited Rebekha Sharkie the federal member for Mayo. Rebeka is the co-convenor of the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC and is s strong supporter of the ABC. Rebekha was generous with her time to discuss the key issues of independence and secure funding. Parliamentary Friends of the ABC has approximately 15 members and it is a formal organisation figned off by the speaker of the house.
Friday August 18, 2023 Peter Vandeleur met with Alex Barwick (Acting Manager) ABC Alice Springs (in Alice Springs).
Wednesday 12th July: Waite ALP Sub branch at Belair Hotel. Peter Vandeleur (Vice-President SA/NT Branch) and Judy Gonda (Secretary SA/NT Branch) gave a presentation about ABC Friends to about 25 members (they have about 125 members in total). The invitation came as a result of the Hagar Luncheon presentation. Waite has the largest ALP membership in the Boothby electorate.
Wednesday night 5th July: A community forum of 156 people was held at Belair Hotel with guest speakers, the Premier Peter Malinauskas and the Treasurer Stephen Mulligan. During question time ABC Friends SA/NT was given the opportunity to address the Premier about the Premier’s open letter to the ABC. The audience was strongly in support of the letter. The Premier wishes to have further contact with ABC Friends and we have been given access to the Premier through the Adviser of Community Engagement in the Office of the Premier.
Friday 16 June Hagar Luncheon Groupwho meet once a month. The membership is currently 78 and members include 3 current ALP members of the Federal Parliament, 4 Current ALP members of SA State Parliament, 3 former Ministers in the Hawke and Keating Governments, (the highest ranked being John Dawkins, Former Treasurer), members who were in Unions or long-term members of the ALP, and the current Lord Mayor of Adelaide. The Luncheon was held days after the ABC 5- year plan was released and the position of Political Editor was abolished. There was lively debate and concern expressed for the future of the ABC which all members present (32) connected with.
Wednesday 21st Jun3 ALP Boothby Federal Electorate Council which also meets monthly and as luck would have it, it was also the same day the Premier sent an open letter to the ABC Chair and Managing Director lamenting the loss of SA Sunday night news. There was strong support for the retention of local news and for the open letter from the Premier. There was also good support also from the 50 members of ABC Friends SA/NT present.
Friday February 3, 2023: Meeting with Phoebe Bowden, Press Secretary to Senator Penny Wong. Good support. Advised she would brief Penny on our meeting.
Tuesday February 28, 2023: Meeting with Senator Simon Birmingham Daryl Regan, Peter Vandeleur, Judy Gonda
Tuesday January 24, 2023: Meeting with Louise Miller-Frost, the Federal member for Boothby. Daryl Regar, Peter Vandeleur and Judy Gonda. Louise is a strong supporter of the ABC