Protect our ABC
The ABC cannot survive another term of the Turnbull Government, that was made clear in the 2018 Federal Budget.
The Turnbull Government has continued its attacks on the ABC with the announcement that it will cut 83 million dollars from the ABC’s budget and subject the ABC to another so-called ‘efficiency review’.
These announcements come on top of the $254M budget cut in 2014 and in addition to the 2014 efficiency review which was a blueprint for many of the internal cuts to ABC staffing and programs made by the ABC since then.
Couple these with the Government’s proposed changes to ABC editorial standards, a competitive neutrality inquiry and the continuous stream of Ministerial abuse hurled at the ABC and its workers by the likes of Peter Dutton and even the Prime Minister himself.
For the ABC to survive, we must push back against these cuts and stand with ABC workers to protect our national broadcaster.
We need your help to ensure that public awareness of what Malcolm Turnbull has done to the ABC continues loud and strong, well beyond the current news cycle and all the way to the next federal election - when it counts most.
We have some big ideas on how we will achieve this, but we need your help. If enough of us chip in a few dollars, we will be able to run a powerful campaign to get the message out and gain community support to protect our national broadcaster and support ABC staff.
Australia need's an ABC that is editorially independent and funded to operate freely of commercial interest.
This campaign will be our opportunity to show the Turnbull government that Australia will not stand by and let these cuts continue.
Click here to donate and be a part of something big!
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Facebook TwitterSenator Fifield
I have written to you on a number of occasions to question the validity of the many changes and programme retirements on Radio National. You have always assured me that you, as the minister, have nothing to do with the day to day running of the ABC. A churlish response as the running of the ABC depends on the funds that your government provide which are not sufficient to maintain the high standards set over the years by this diverse and essential broadcaster. I may have expressed to you also that the appointments that you make to the ABC board are crucial to the health of the corporation. Whilst the management skills of Joseph Gersh may be of great interest to a rationalist, appointments of this kind do nothing for innovation and creativity in the organisation. It is clear that the ABC is suffering under the cosh of too many managers trying to ultimately meet the government’s agenda by crushing the creative resources of the content producers. They have been leaving or taking the (forced) redundancies in their droves and here we are at a pivotal point where the ABC is struggling to produce enough original content to justify its existence. Evidence? Endless epeats on TV and on Radio National the fine analysis and documentary programmes have been reduced to a fraction of the previous volume. There is no new content on RN between 1pm and 5pm weekdays. Programmes are repeated up to 5 times in a week. What’s the point of this large corporation in this case? And so this rhetorical question brings me to the Liberal Party Council resolution on the weekend. Be honest Minister, this is surely your party’s end game. Starve the org of funds so its enemies can justify their push for its destruction. Since you took government the ABC has been attacked and stripped of resources and of a balanced board membership. “The government has no plans to privatise the ABC” will be your answer. Listening to Eric Abetts dodging legitimate questions and being unable to justify his position this morning and remembering Tony Abbotts bare-faced lies about his election agenda shows us that the Liberal party does not want a commercial free broadcaster. I also believe that your government would rather not have the objective and fine journalism that the ABC is proud to display as its central function. I will be actively opposing your agenda in every way I can. I will vote Labor for the first time just to save the ABC’s funding. I will do anything to prevent you changing the sonic landscape of my culture. Prepare for battle.
Tony O