ABC axe to religion will starve national discussion, broadcaster John Cleary tells listeners Reverend Tim Costello laments there are too few places in the media left to explore faith and ethics. A veteran ABC broadcaster has used his Sunday night program to denounce the effect of budget cuts to the national broadcaster's coverage of religion, while Baptist minister Tim Costello has lamented there are too few places left in the Australian media to explore faith and ethics. And the host ABC's Offsiders television program, Gerard Whateley, told viewers on Sunday that the "wipeout" of television sport coverage caused by the budget cuts would "most drastically" affect women's sport. As ABC staff confront the impact of the $254 million in cuts over five years, they estimate the radio religion unit will lose about 40 per cent its staff and almost 70 per cent of its resources, leaving a big hole in the national discussion of a subject neglected by commercial media. A long-running flagship of the ABC's religious coverage, Encounter on Radio National, will be axed along with programs such as Bush Telegraph, Into the Music, Hindsight, 360 Documentaries and Poetica. "It is hard to see the remaining [religious] programs remaining long in their established format, when the bulk of the unit's resources are gone," ABC presenter John Cleary told listeners to his 10pm program on Sunday night, during which he members of religious communities were discussing climate change and churches. Cleary was the staff-elected director on the ABC board from 1988 to 1992 and since 2001 he has presented Sunday Nights with John Cleary, which addresses religion, spirituality, ethics and values. "It is difficult at a time when there is broad recognition of the increased significance of religion on both the local and global stage that such cuts seem necessary," Cleary said. "The irony," he said, "is that it's the knowledge-rich specialist units such as religion and science that have much to offer the ABC as the corporation moves out of the silos of radio and TV into a multi-platform world." Reverend Costello, the chief executive of World Vision Australia, told Fairfax Media: "In an increasingly multicultural society where relationships between faiths will be a critical issue in modern Australia, the role the ABC has in fostering understanding through its religious programming is critical. Informed debate about religious and ethical issues is critical to a well functioning democracy. ABC television's editorial head of religion, Rose Hesp, has been sacked, her position abolished, and a non-specialist commissioning editor will take control of the Compass program. On Offsiders on Sunday, Gerard Whateley and panellists discussed the ABC's decision to sell its outside broadcast vans, which had led to the announcement that it will stop televising the Women's National Basketball League and the women's W-League football at the end of this year. Fellow ABC broadcaster Francis Leach said it was devastating for "young girls who want to look for people to aspire to."