A decision by SBS radio in Australia to chop two of its four hours of weekly programmes in Maltese has not gone down well with Maltese-Australians.

Protesting the decision taken without consulting community leaders, the Maltese community has taken its complaint online, calling on the SBS management to reverse its decision.

Meanwhile, in a joint submission, the Maltese Community Councils of New South Wales and Victoria insisted with the management that its criteria for programme time should be based on specific community needs.

The Maltese community has a very high proportion of people aged over 65 who rely heavily on SBS Maltese radio broadcasts for information about care services and other entitlements by the Commonwealth and State Governments.

“It provides them with a sense of comfort and security and a quality of life that they would otherwise not enjoy... It appears heartless that they should be abandoned in this way at the time of their greatest needs,” the councils argued.

If the hours had to be trimmed, this had to come from a reduction of the “overgenerous allowance” for larger ethnic groups.

This appeal is a déjà-vu: in 2012, SBS slashed Maltese programming from nine to two hours. After protestations, the radio had restored two hours, with the intention of reviewing the situation two years later.

In anticipation, the councils sent a statement last year urging the management not to trim their programmes. However, SBS this month announced it was ceasing funding for two of the current four hours.

The online petition can be seen at https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/save-the-maltese-language-program-on-sbs-radio .