Well done keeping Aunty (the abc) in the public domains.
It’s our abc. Keep it that way

We need our ABC to maintain some semblance of Democracy. We have the Murdoch press owning the press and television and without the ABC and The Guardian and The Saturday Paper it is the only way we can get a more reliable way of hearing the news and making decisions. We need transparency that is sadly lacking in modern politics.

30 years of appalling political attacks must cease and our ABC must be restored and be free to enlighten our future

Our democracy demands that we have an independent ABC.

Please don’t change or sell the ABC.
I grew up listening to the ABC and when I was a kid in far northern Wester Australian town of Wyndhan, we only had radio Australia! A vital link to the rest of Australia for these remote places and even in the city, we all love Aunty!!! Please please don’t take away our heritage broadcaster!!

The abc represents the best of those who can’t be bought. If we want news that is more than the press barons want us to read we need to support the ABC with funds and with letters to our reps.. start writing, start digging deep…

In an era where fake news is rife, elected governments are showing all the hallmarks of authoritarian regimes we desperately need the ABC. Not many other media organisations in Australia are as committed to delivering high quality journalism and holding themselves to account in the way the ABC does. In an era of rampant globalisation it’s vital that Australian stories continue to be told and who better than the ABC to do that. The ABC has been such a vital part of my life and I shuddered to think what I’d do without it.

The ABC is an essential national service to the people of Australia. It is under attack from political dumb think and right wing trolls who do not appreciate or understand intelligent, neutral discourse. The ABC is intelligent not left wing – generally staffed by really hard working intelligent professionals .We need the ABC. It is our applied university of ideas, of democratic thought and Australian identity, We are all share holders in the ABC. Don’t let the propaganda cancer spread!

Everyone needs a body we can depend upon for an unbiased view of what is happening in the country. The only reason politicians don’t is because the less the public is aware, the more they can get away with, Leave the ABC alone.

Its all been said already but the ABC has been under attack from both sides of politics for decades. This has to be a sign that
it is not biased against either side, it just attempts to give us, the taxpayers, information about the country and the world that
we cannot get from many other sources. It does not peddle fake news and rarely gives opinion without making it clear to the audience that the opinion is from trusted sources. (This of course excludes the talk back and listener comment programs which are full of opinion). I too will go to war to defend my ABC.

The ABC is a foundation of democracy. If there is no independence from government for funding and the Lib/Nats can hold the ABC to ransom by threats of reduced funding they are effectively eroding press freedom. I believe funding should be structured to be party independent and a fixed rate. Those in power fear the truth lest their bad deeds be exposed. This is a mighty dangerous situation for the future of freedom in this country.

One good thing to come out of this lib suggestion is that they are shooting themselves in their electoral foot

The ABC is honest and not biased. In a world full of rubbish we need someone we can count on to hold strong and tell the truth and to have programs that educate. Leave our ABC alone.

Stop attacking the abc. Could you please listen to us tax payer, we do not want the ABC to be privatised. Is the liberal party try to privatise the abc because they get challenging and intelligents questions from the ABC journalist? Instead of wasting your time and money on the ABC, use this time and money to tackle real issues, like climate change, provide more funding to essential services, such as tafe and other community program, women refuges, homelessness, centrelink, refuges. Provide proper re education for the older (over 50yr) who lost their job of no fautes of their but are unable to find work as they are too old. This is what the tax payer want the liberal party to do. We are getting tired to hear each party criticizing, blaming each other and wasting time and money on issues or organisintion such as the abc which does not need to be changed

How about we put the future of the ABC to a referendum and finish this silly notion of selling it to an end once and for all. The Australian public would vote overwhelmingly to keep the ABC in public hands and to stop the attacks of a small self interest group.

MrTurnbull and the Liberal Party MUST understand the ABC is not the Liberal Party’s private property, the ABC is not theirs to sell. The ABC is funded by the PUBLIC purse (we, the Taxpayers) and as such it must remain in public hands…No ifs, no buts!

the ABC is ‘by the people, for the people’! the Liberal party is not, they are all for themselves. Please sell the Liberal party!

By attacking the ABC the Turnbull government is attacking the public, the voting public. The ABC is a public institution, funded by the public, not an asset to be sold off or exploited. What kind of twisted logic allows Turnbull to think he and his cabal can denigrate and destroy a vital public service?

This is insanity

I’m appalled by the bastard behaviour of Turnbull and his thugs !! This is an attack on our source of balanced creative non commercial news art politics global and local.ABC is not a bunch of leftist mugs.!! ABC in fact is a balanced organization.. Something Turnbull can’t see due to his far right blindness.

Totally support Barrie Frieden-Collins comment as well. I’m very worried about where this government is heading. They are sounding more and more like an authoritarian regime that will not tolerate alternative viewpoints. Nice photo by the way Barrie

Couldn’t agree more with Rhona’s comment. Sums up exactly how I feel about the way this government is attacking the ABC. They must be stopped

I’m very annoyed at the constant attacks on the ABC by just one faction of government, this is bias, not judgement or qualitative criticism. To suggest that a ‘remedy’ for perceived bias in the ABC’s broadcasts is to break it up and distribute the wreckage among commercial companies is an outrage. Its the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships, not democracies, ours is a democracy, no leader or party or commercial enterprise has the right, I emphasise RIGHT, to break up a PUBLIC institution.
The current Australian incumbent party is the most corrupt in history and is dragging the parliament and other parties down with it.
Its important that we have an independent public news organisation to keep us informed about the integrity of our government and other institutions, like our banks. Commercial news orgs just don’t do it because they are beholden to their advertisers.
Public institutions belong to and serve the people, not commercial enterprises.

It is imperative to a democratic Nation to have an independent, public broadcaster which provides factual unbiased reporting without fear or favour, which is essential to debunk the inevitable government propaganda . Without this independence in broadcasting/media, we will indeed be subjected to the lies and propaganda which is a very dangerous road to travel. Since the advent of Abbott taking office, we have seen a gradual culling of our highly professional ethical ABC journalists, only to be replaced with those from the Murdoch media and the like, who have a totally different approach to fact and unbiased reporting. We have seen members of the Institute of Public Affairs being appointed into high positions within the Government and the public service, which then gives power to erode our rights and our independence and our voice to hold this Government to account. For those who are unaware, Senator Mitch Fifield, Communications Minister, is a member of the infamous IPA, which has as one of its desired policies for the Government, to break up and sell off the ABV and SBS. Conflict of interest Indeed. Added to this we have government interference at a level never before experienced, complaining of being . held to account !
Both the defunding and interference are undemocratic, and contrary to the Charter of Independence.The destruction of good programming and the multitude of repeats defeats the purpose of our ABC which then gives the Government excuses to say that people are turning away as ABC is nolonger necessary. We must stand firm and we must fight this attack, as without our ABC (we have lost the concept of ‘Aunty’ and we want it back) we risk becoming an authoritarian state.

Let,s keep the ABC , it has good programmes , and unbiased news coverage Please read comments

Public polling has routinely identified the ABC as Australians’ most trusted news source. It is staggering beyond belief that the current Turnbull Coalition government, which had previous promised no cuts to the ABC, should now be promoting its sale to the commercial broadcasting sector. This is certainly NOT in the public interest. It serves the vested interests of the commercial television sector which has already benefited from the public purse through cuts to the licence fee without any conditions for increased local content. It’s a bald betrayal of the Australian public, but also in ending the mixed-economic model of Australian broadcasting which benefited both the commercial and public broadcasters through cross pollination – with the commercials tending to pick up the sometimes unexpected successes of less risk averse public media (shows such as Kath and Kim) –it spells the doom of the entire sector because clearly public broadcasters are not the problem besetting commercial television. We all know it’s the host of new players and services online. As many have said, news is where the public will most miss the ABC – foreign correspondents and a better calibre of journalism born of a public service ethic. With the legacy media dying due to the impact of the web on newspaper revenues, news gathering is now an unaffordable business. It needs to be subsidised because journalism plays a critical role in democracy – holding power to account and informing voters on important issues. Public service broadcasting is now more important and more relevant than ever before.

Our ABC is a blue chip investment barometer of the human condition

ABC is critical to our democracy. There is so much biased reporting from the commercial profit driven media and we need the ABC to provide an alternative balanced viewpoint

The ABC is currently under serious threat..stemmimg from a range of reasons..support of the private networks..even as a response/ deal to appease Pauline Hansen and her loud criticism of the ABC but funding cuts have been and are massive. I have been a passionate supporter of the ABC for over 5 decades and believe it is outstanding. If you feel similarly tune in to whatever social media you follow and see what you can do. If nothing else let your federal member know what a poorer nation we will be if the ABC is further reduced in funding.