Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to call out today the government's full-blown attack on the Australian broadcaster, the ABC. Just around the corner is an election and, like clockwork, we already see this government going after the ABC and attacking them in whichever way they can. And this is all happening while the public broadcaster is in negotiations with this government for its next round of funding. It's not enough that this government have cut $783 million since the time that Mr Abbott, when Leader of the Opposition, promised that there would be no cuts to the ABC. And now we see that every time Mr Morrison wants to create a distraction—every time!—he goes after the Australian people's broadcaster.

I know that as politicians we don't always like the stories that the media publish and we don't always like the way things are reported. But there's the sheer arrogance of the Morrison government in trying to interfere in the independent processes of the ABC as a quick, cheap political game, doing the bidding of the Murdoch press and right-wing media in this country. Australians are sick of it, and they are sick and tired that every time Mr Morrison has something he doesn't want to talk about he attacks the ABC.

We've seen over the last week a strategic move to undermine the sheer independence of the broadcaster, with an inquiry which would undermine its ability to look at its own processes. I urge members in this place not to let Mr Morrison off the hook.