Australia Wide

Australia Wide
Company type	Television program
Industry	Broadcasting
Founded	2003
Headquarters	Sydney, Australia
Products	Television news program
Website	www.abc.net.au/australiawide/

Australia Wide was a half-hour soft news program with a focus on rural issues, produced by the ABC based in Sydney. Up until mid-2007, its production was handled by the New Media and Digital Services division located in Brisbane. The show was broadcast on weekdays via the digital-only channel ABC2 at 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and 7:30 am, and was also accessible through ABC Online.

Each weekday episode centered around a specific theme. On Mondays, Earth Works addressed environmental topics; Tuesdays featured Gen Next, aimed at engaging young audiences, particularly those in rural communities; Wednesdays presented video diaries created by winners of the 2005 "Video Lives" competition; Thursdays highlighted regional and rural Australian arts through Arts About; while Fridays’ segment, Outta Here, focused on sports and recreational activities.

The content was sourced from a variety of outlets including state and territory ABC News bulletins, programs broadcast on the Australia Network, and contributions from ABC Local Radio hosts. During summer months, Australia Wide Summertime offered a 10-minute segment of news and weather updates complemented by short documentaries exclusively aired on ABC2.

History

The origins of Australia Wide trace back to the Radio Pictures initiative by ABC Local Radio, which provided video equipment and training to local radio presenters in rural Western Australia for producing local stories. This initiative culminated in a four-part television series on ABC in 1998. Although a pilot episode for a regular series was developed in 2000, it did not proceed to full commissioning.

Subsequent expansions saw additional Local Radio studios equipped with video technology and support, leading to further short series under Radio Pictures and online video content. By 2003, this concept had evolved into the weekday "Australia Wide," a 15-minute program available on ABC Online and produced by Brisbane’s New Media and Digital Services division, incorporating reports from ABC News.

With the introduction of ABC2 in March 2005, Australia Wide gained access to a wider viewership. In late 2005, the "Video Lives" competition was launched to discover emerging documentary filmmakers. Following an ABC restructure in 2007, production responsibilities shifted from Brisbane to Sydney under the supervision of the News and Current Affairs unit.

Throughout its run, presenters included Kerrin Binnie and Emma Renwick. On 6 August 2016, Yassmin Abdel-Magied began hosting the program and continued until its cancellation was announced in May 2017 as part of an ABC restructure. The final broadcast took place on 1 July 2017.

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