Veteran ABC presenter Quentin Dempster expects a "lot more blood to flow" following the announcement that more than 400 jobs will be cut at the public broadcaster.
The frontman for 7.30 NSW, which is to be axed, described the timing as a bit of "bastardry from Tony Abbott".
"I feel very sorry that when we get the long white envelope it looks as though we won't be there for the 2015 (NSW) state election," he said.
"The devastation is in the 300 immediate redundancies. I think there's a fair bit more blood to flow that we don't know about."
Mr Dempster, who has worked with the ABC for more than 30 years, said management hasn't told staff of the specific cuts yet.
"We're only four weeks out of Christmas," his 7.30 NSW colleague and reporter Adam Harvey said.
"Everyone feels for their colleagues."
Mr Dempster said cuts to regional and rural production meant the ABC would have less diversity in local news.
"At least it's highlighted a fact that we've already bloody well known, that ABC is Sydney-centric," he said.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) Federal Secretary Chris Warren said outsourcing more content would undermine editorial independence and local voices would be lost.
"Regionalism, localism, is such a key part of the ABC. It's not just a national voice," he said.
Community and Public Sector Union President Michael Tull said there'd been no real consultation until Monday.
"They've had this axe hanging over their head for months," he said.
"It's good in one way, to finally get the news and details, but that doesn't soften the blow."
Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles has urged ABC managing director Mark Scott to reconsider axing 7.30 NT as a "special case".
He said the current affairs program was vital, and makes a "crucial and unique contribution to public debate" in a small news market.
Mr Giles praised ABC's NT coverage as unparalleled in a region with a sparse population spread out across a sixth of the country's land mass.
"While my government receives its fair share of scrutiny from the program, I stand by 7.30 NT as an important source of balanced and considered information on important stories right across the territory," he said.
