Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to continue my campaign with the communities of Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory to save the Marngrook Footy Show. The outrageous decision by ABC Managing Director, Mark Scott, to cut the Marngrook Footy Show is a disgrace and he should reverse it. Mr Scott, who usually does a terrific job at the ABC, in this case has pulled the wrong lever. The Marngrook Footy Show is a terrific footy show which has received critical acclaim over many years. It has reinforced an important aspect of the AFL's activity, under the leadership of Andrew Demetriou, of working with Indigenous communities to improve the lot of many through football. It is a show that has been identified as culturally very important in the Indigenous community. The show was duck-shoved to ABC2 recently and the decision to cut it is a disgrace.

I note that last week, after writing to the managing director of the ABC, I received significant support and a lot of contact from the community, including re-tweeting on Twitter from people such as AFL legend Matthew Richardson, which was a great privilege, it must be said, even though he is a former Richmond player. This is an issue which the community cares deeply about, and I urge the managing director of the ABC to reverse his irresponsible decision.