ABC to increase use of Indigenous Place Names across News and Current Affairs programming

The ABC has confirmed details of a plan to increase the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation names throughout its programming including in news and current affairs content.

The strategy is part of a broader initiative at the ABC designed to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to tell and share their own stories.

As part of the plan, the ABC will be increasing the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation names through supers in video programming, news reporting and in social media and TV and commissioned screen content. 

ABC News has begun incorporating Acknowledgment of Country on State and Territory 7pm television bulletins in the ACT, Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, with Western Australia and NSW bulletins to come.

In Queensland and Victoria, Indigenous place names will be included in viewer-sourced photographs in weather reports within the 7pm bulletins.

Additionally, the 7.30 program with Leigh Sales will start including Indigenous place names in coming weeks.

Phillipa McDermott, ABC Indigenous Lead, said:

“Indigenous languages and place names are not just a means of simple Identification, they express knowledge about everything we know: Family, clan, law, geography, history, relationships, philosophy, religion, anatomy, country, everything.

“So, when we invite our audience to listen to and practise these words and languages, we are not only maintaining our culture but we are passing it on to new generations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who now live on this land.

“We hope it will ignite their imaginations to think about what the word means or what the place where they might live, work or travel to means, and the deep spiritual significance of that name or place.

The ABC is an industry leader in this space and while we are already working with many other organisations, we really encourage all our industry colleagues to do the same.”

Other strategies being adopted by the ABC include:

• The recent Australia Talks TV special incorporated Indigenous place names throughout the program.
• Gardening Australia has been showing Indigenous place names on their map of Australia since 2020.
• ABC Radio Melbourne broadcasts a Welcome to Country each morning.
• ABC Radio Darwin uses a Larrakia Welcome to Country, as well as broadcasting a Friday news headlines segment in Creole.
• ABC Sport broadcast an Acknowledgment of Country for all games in recent Indigenous rounds.
• ABC Radio has introduced 130 Indigenous language station idents across its Capital City and Regional radio networks.
• All major events and live concert broadcast on the ABC’s national music networks feature an Acknowledgement of Country.
• Presenters across triple j, Double J, triple j Unearthed, ABC Classic and ABC Country use Indigenous place names as a matter of course, when talking about where artists or listeners are from.
• triple j also asks its audience if they can name the place they’re calling from and recently launched the Blak Out First Nations music program.
• An Acknowledgement of Country is featured daily on all ABC Children’s services, including ABC Kids, ABC ME and ABC Kids listen.  ABC Kids listen also includes different Indigenous words every day, across 11 different Indigenous Australian languages.
• On ABC Kids, Little J & Big Cuz features multiple Indigenous words and languages, including Noongar and Warlpiri. Play School incorporates Indigenous languages and words in episodes, scripts and songs.
• On ABC ME, Good Game Spawn Point presenters use Indigenous place names when describing the locations they are reporting from.
• Radio National’s Word Up (broadcast as a segment in Awaye! and available online) introduces listeners to the diverse languages of Indigenous Australia one word at a time.
• ABC Factual & Culture requires external producers to reference Indigenous place names in documentary series, where relevant. Indigenous consultants advise on the appropriate use of such place names in this content. ABC factual and documentary programs also include an Acknowledgement of Country in the credits.
• The ABC has collaborated with First Languages Australia to develop and publish a new version of the Gambay Indigenous language map on the ABC Indigenous website, to enable audiences to click on any part of Australia to see and listen to the language of that place.
• The publicly accessible ABC Pronunciation Guide incorporates guidance on pronunciations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names, places and concepts.