Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has accused ABC staff of “hijacking” the network to demand pay rises as thousands of workers walked off the job for the first time in 20 years.

Journalists began a 24-hour strike at 11am on Wednesday (AEDT), with staff including camera operators and technicians rallying outside more than 60 ABC offices.

Hundreds of workers outside the Ultimo office in central Sydney waved flags and held signs, including some that read “fair pay, it’s as easy as ABC”.

“Quality jobs represent quality news and content,” ABC journalist and media union division president Michael Slezak told the crowd.

“We won’t let the ABC be run into the ground by ideological corporate managers who refuse to listen to staff.”

Staff are protesting against short-term contracts and limited career progression, along with a lacklustre pay deal with a below-inflation increase, after voting down the national broadcaster’s latest pay offer.

The 24-hour stopwork has forced ABC’s flagship news programs off air. Its main news channel is leaning heavily on BBC World News, while a re-run of Australian Story will replace the 7pm news bulletin on the broadcaster’s main channel and a Hard Quiz re-run will replace flagship current-affairs program 7.30.

Many presenters read out prepared statements ahead of  the strike.

“The show will look a bit different tomorrow, we will be off air because my colleagues and I will be on strike,” they said.

“We’re asking ABC management to deliver secure, safe and sustainable jobs so we can deliver the news and content you deserve.

“But they are falling short of offering fair pay and conditions.”

Henderson, a former journalist, has lashed out at the strike. Photo: Mike Bowers

Henderson, the opposition’s communications spokeswoman and a former ABC journalist, said the strike was a “disgrace” and slammed presenters for “hijacking news programs to convey false information about this dispute”.

“There has never been a more important time in this country when we need ABC journalists and other content makers to be out in the field informing Australians,” she said on Wednesday.

“We have a fuel crisis, we have a cost-of-living crisis, and in the Northern Territory and Northern Queensland many communities have been hit by cyclones and floods.

“I’m also incredibly concerned that ABC presenters are hijacking news programs to convey false information about this dispute. This is completely unacceptable.

“ABC presenters are talking about the fact that this is not a fair deal and they are prosecuting their own case, hijacking news programs, which is a breach of their impartiality conditions.”

Management has warned it might call striking workers back in to cover the Middle East fuel crisis, with ABC managing director Hugh Marks saying 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, Marks said it “depends on how those matters progress”.

The Community and Public Sector Union and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance are representing staff taking action.

“We’ve been in bargaining for a long time now with the ABC and what we want to see is a pay off that reflects cost-of-living pressures and actually respects the really important work that the ABC do,” CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly said.

“ABC plays such an important role in our society and in Australian storytelling and it’s really important ABC management come to the table.”

We congratulate brave MEAA members at ABC today who have let listeners know about tomorrow’s planned industrial action, explaining why staff have voted to strike and what it means for audiences. #QualityNewsQualityJobs pic.twitter.com/ujZmbtqKO1

— MEAA (@withMEAA) March 24, 2026

About 60 per cent of ABC staff rejected management’s offer that included a 10 per cent pay rise across three years.

The unions also want greater night-shift penalty rates, reproductive health leave, and rules relating to artificial intelligence.

“Experienced journalists and media workers are being asked to do more with less – with fewer opportunities for pay progression, less certainty about their future, and growing workloads,” MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley said.

It is the organisation’s first major strike since 2006.

Marks defended the last rejected pay deal – 10 per cent across three years – as financially responsible and competitive for the industry.

“The average tenure of an ABC staff member is more than 10 years, which is three times the economy average … over 90 per cent of ABC staff are ongoing employees,” he said.

“The pay offer reflects the maximum level the ABC can sustainably provide and is balanced when looking across all the factors that we need to consider.”

More than 4400 people work at the ABC, including 2000 in news, the largest division.

-with AAP