Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. As Mr Coward says:

… spending of $1.1 billion on the ABC represents a comparatively minuscule amount of just over one-quarter of one per cent of Commonwealth revenues, and it's worth it. Who in the commercial world, with all free-to-air stations complaining of declining revenues, is going to produce quality programs like Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, 7.30, Insiders, Australian Story, Q&A, Gruen, Catalyst, The Drum, The Business, You Can't Ask That, Landline, Back Roads, Home Delivery, Matter of Fact and many other quality programs, including the regular news? Are commercial stations going to welcome another entrant into the commercial scene, further diluting the revenue to each station?

Mr Coward thinks not. Further reducing the ABC's budget, or even a partial sell-off—do it at your electoral peril. That's the message to the government from my electorate.

The public institutions matter, and the Public Service matters. It's about the quality that is delivered to Australian citizens, and we are not going to stop fighting for them.

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