The national broadcaster is losing quality journalists because they can't afford to live off their wages, a high-profile ABC host says, as staff continue a 24-hour strike.
ABC employees across Australia walked off the job at 11am AEDT on Wednesday in protest over pay and conditions, including a deal offering a below-inflation increase and fears about job security.
The ABC's main news channel switched to BBC World News at 11am after presenters addressed the strike on air.
Journalists, camera operators, technicians and other staff rallied outside more than 60 ABC offices, including in Melbourne and Sydney, as the strike began.
ABC Radio journalist Fran Kelly addressed the crowd in Sydney and said staff were striking because they were committed to public broadcasting.
"I've seen too many sensational journalists, committed journalists, sensational producers, leave, not because they want to, but because they had to ... it's not acceptable to get stuck on a pay level that is not enough to live on in Sydney," she said.
The ABC has offered journalists a 10 per cent pay rise over three years, while staff have asked for 13.5 per cent.
But the unions are also protesting what they say is the ABC's widespread use of short-term contracts.
"Quality jobs represent quality news and content," ABC media union division president Michael Slezak said.
"We won't let the ABC be run into the ground by ideological corporate managers who refuse to listen to staff."
Hundreds of workers walked out of the Ultimo office in central Sydney holding signs including some that read "fair pay, it's as easy as ABC".
A repeat of Australian Story will replace the 7pm news bulletin on the broadcaster's main channel, while an old Hard Quiz episode will replace flagship current-affairs program 7.30.
In Melbourne, more than 200 workers walked out of ABC's Southbank office to cheers from supporters.
"We don't do it lightly. We didn't choose to do this, but we do this so that we can get a better outcome," ABC journalist and union delegate Dan Ziffer told the crowd.
The media union's equity vice-president, Nadine Garner, said ABC workers worked tirelessly to uphold the values of a free and just society.
On-air presenters, including those set to strike, used their platform on Wednesday morning to inform viewers about the industrial action.
The airwaves were then filled with Boy Meets Girl's 1988 hit Waiting for a Star to Fall.
In a shot showing mostly empty desks, ABC24 host Gemma Veness reminded viewers about the strike and its impact at 10.58am.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks said he had broadened the definition of emergency broadcasting from only applying to fires, floods or other natural events.
"It's important, if there is a matter of national or international importance that happens while you know the staff are on strike, that we're able to call staff in," he told ABC Sydney.
When asked if management could invoke it for the growing fuel crisis, Mr Marks said it depended on how those matters progressed.
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, a former ABC journalist turned critic of the broadcaster, told her former colleagues to accept a "pretty good deal" while attacking presenters for "hijacking" news programs to explain the strike to listeners.
It is the broadcaster's first major strike since 2006, with a smaller strike in 2023 including only staff who were CPSU members.
More than 4400 people work at the ABC, including 2000 in news, the largest division.
