Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo for bringing this important motion opposing any efforts by this Liberal government towards the privatisation of the national broadcaster, our ABC, because that's a fight that I am very happy to take on. The ABC is very much a part of our social and cultural fabric here in Australia. Every day, it entertains, it informs and it enlightens. It tells our unique Australian stories and reflects our national identity. It shines a light on misdeeds and speaks truth to power. At times of crisis, during floods, droughts and fires, it's there to give us the information we need to stay safe and connected.

An astounding 71 per cent of Australians have viewed, read or heard some ABC content in the past week. Having secured the trust of 80 per cent of Australians, it is far and away the most trusted news source in our country. More than 60 per cent of Australians say it needs a boost in long-term funding.

But these views are not borne out by the actions of this deeply unrepresentative Liberal government, whose own federal council voted this year to privatise our national broadcaster. In fact, from day one, the Liberal government has gone after the ABC with a zeal that it usually reserves for climate change scientists. It has cut its funding. It has attacked its content. It has vilified its personnel. It has used it as a bargaining chip in its dirty deals with One Nation. And it has not finished yet. Make no mistake: the ABC is now in for the fight of its life—or, more accurately, the fight for its life.

Despite going to the 2013 election with an unequivocal promise not to cut the ABC, the Abbott government slashed $254 million in its first horror budget, in 2014. In 2015, it installed as minister Senator Mitch Fifield, a card-carrying member of the IPA, which has long argued that the ABC should be broken up and sold off. On this issue, the minister once said:

Conservatives have often floated the prospect of privatising the ABC and Australia Post. There is merit in such proposals.

In 2016 the Turnbull government slashed a further $28 million from the ABC budget. In 2017 the government used the ABC as a bargaining chip in a deal with Pauline Hanson, which the Financial Review described as 'the biggest assault on the ABC's independence in decades'. In return it promised no less than three bills to change the ABC Act and charter, as well as a so-called competitive neutrality inquiry, designed to undermine ABC Online.

Tragically, the government's relentless attacks are hitting their mark. Since 2014, 800 ABC staff have lost their jobs; the Australia Network has been axed; the shortwave radio has been shut down; and content has also suffered, with the number of hours of factual programming plummeting by 60 per cent, drama dropping by 20 per cent and documentary falling by 13.5 per cent. But none of this made a jot of difference to Treasurer Morrison, who went on to slash a further $84 million from the ABC budget in the 2018 budget. At the time, he tried to justify the cut by saying that everyone has to live within their means. The sheer hypocrisy of this statement is laid bare when you learn that this is the same man who gifted $30 million of taxpayers' money to global media giant News Corp's pay TV operation Foxtel. We still don't know how this money is being spent or why indeed a private company should be given millions of dollars of public funding in the first place.

But it's clear that it's now crunch time for the ABC. If we're going to save it, we're going to have to fight. But this isn't just nostalgia for a venerable cultural institution: the health of our very democracy is on the line. When you don't have a diversity of media voices, it's very hard for a multitude of views to get exposure and very easy for powerful players and vested interests to drown out other perspectives. Let's face it, life without Jack Irish, Mystery Road, Rake, Janet Kingand Black Comedy is a life unimaginable. Hands off our ABC, Mr Morrison!

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