Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Last Wednesday the member for Reid and I, along with your good self, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, Senator Scott Ludlam and Senator Nick Xenophon, launched the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC group. It was a privilege to hear from the ABC's managing director, Mark Scott, and chairman Jim Spigelman, as well as from the Minister for Communications and the shadow minister.

Contrary to the view held by some that the ABC is the province of the far Left, the launch was a great success, with a high attendance of members and senators of every political affiliation, which is what you would expect considering the integral and essential role of the ABC in Australian life.

The ABC delivers a diverse range of services that are unique to the national broadcaster, from high-quality commercial-free children's entertainment and Australian drama to nation-leading news and current affairs, as well as the critical task of providing comprehensive emergency services broadcasts.

The ABC is especially treasured by Australians living in rural and regional Australia. As I remarked at the launch, the Parliamentary Friends of the ABC is intended to provide genuine friendship. That does not mean uncritical friendship and it certainly does not mean fair-weather friendship. But it does mean supporting the ABC to be its best, which, quite frankly, represents Australia at its best.

I encourage our fellow parliamentarians to join the group in order to engage more closely with the role and challenges of our ABC. The national broadcaster has shaped and informed our identity, strengthened the development of our democracy and forged our understanding of the wider world since it came into being in 1932. It must be enabled and supported to continue beating strongly at the heart of our civic and community culture.

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