Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The government is going to rue the day it broke the election promise it made to the Australian people of 'no cuts to the ABC or SBS'. The Prime Minister made that election promise but is now making $252 million worth of cuts to the ABC—half a billion dollars of cuts in total when added to the cuts to SBS. The government will rue this day. Amongst the plethora of lies this government has told the Australian people, I believe this will be one of the ones the government will most regret.

The Australian people are not stupid. They can see a lie for what it is. They trust the ABC, but this government is attacking it and gutting it. It is destroying its capacity to remain the national broadcaster that Australians love and trust. It is not just an attack on the national broadcaster; it is an attack on the Australian stories, past and present, that the ABC tells in Australian homes. It is an attack on our Australian democracy.

Senator Abetz lectured the Senate about what the ABC ought to be, but it is the government that is gutting it so much that it will be prevented from being what it ought to be. It is forcing the ABC to make shocking cuts to deal with this loss of $252 million over five years. What is the result? It is resulting in the loss of 400 jobs, in the closure of the South Australian TV production unit, in the cancellation of five radio programs—and on and on it goes. Of course the government knew it would result in staff cuts. Of course the government knew it would impact on programming. How else would the ABC deal with such a devastating cut to its bottom line? That is the dishonesty being displayed by Senator Abetz. He knew very well that the ABC would not be able to continue to be what it ought to be—because of the government's savage ideological cuts.

That is exactly what this is all about. The coalition has an ideological bent against the ABC. They do not like the ABC. They do not want a national broadcaster. They do not want Australian stories being told. They do not want regional stories being told. Not even the National Party will stand up to fight these cuts. Not even Senator Nash is speaking out against the cuts to coverage of women's sport that will result. The ABC's coverage of local events and issues is vital to community life in Australia. This $252 million cut is going to rip the heart out of local communities.

There are two levels of hypocrisy in what the government has done. Most obviously, the government has simply lied to the Australian people. Prime Minister Abbott, on the eve of the election, said very clearly—and we can all watch it over and over on YouTube—that there would be 'no cuts to the ABC or SBS'. That was a lie. Now, on top of that, he has lied about the lie! It simply will not wash with Australian voters. Backbenchers within his own government now want him to come out and admit that he has lied. Today Fairfax reported that Liberal MP Craig Laundy spoke out at a party meeting, urging the Prime Minister to call a spade a spade and to stop denying that the government had broken its election promise. Australians want the government to stop its ideological attack on the ABC—it is coming from within its own ranks, it is coming from the hundreds of people who rallied outside the front of Parliament House. Leave our ABC alone—stop these cuts to the ABC.