Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The previous speaker, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, is a country member, and he knows how very important the ABC is in country areas. He should know better than to come in here and justify and defend $83.7 million of cuts to the ABC, because it's regional communities that are particularly hard hit by these cuts.

The Leader of the Opposition was being a little bit nostalgic about the wonders of the ABC, and it caused me to be a little bit nostalgic as well. I was remembering my childhood, watching Countdown, watching Doctor Who, watching The Goodies. I remember my dad would come home from work and he'd be there in his overalls; he'd sit down in his chair, exhausted, to watch the ABC news, and I'd climb onto his lap, and I'd fall asleep, safe in my father's arms, listening to the ABC news music come up at the beginning of the program.

So there's a lot of nostalgia for a lot of us over here, I think, when we think about the ABC—and no more nostalgic memory than that of leather-jacket-wearing Malcolm Turnbull on Q&A! Do you remember the days when Malcolm Turnbull actually believed in the ABC and said he'd support and defend the ABC, back in the good old days when we thought Malcolm Turnbull had a spine, had some principles, had some guts, and was committed to having a public broadcaster that held the government, and the opposition, to account? Well, gone are those days.

The now Prime Minister, when he was communications minister, cut $254 million over five years, in that horror 2014 budget, then cut a further $28 million from the enhanced news-gathering service that Labor had set up in 2016. Now we see a further $83.7 million cut in this most recent budget, under the stewardship of the Prime Minister, who, once upon a time, used to be a defender of the ABC.

What are the effects of these cuts? Since 2014, we've seen about a thousand ABC staff lose their jobs. The Australia Network—such an important and powerful projection of Australian soft power; such an important projection about Australian democratic values and our way of life into our region—has been cut. Short-wave radio—as the member for Lingiari was pointing out—has been cut. The number of hours of ABC factual programming has dropped by 60 per cent, and drama by 20 per cent. Documentaries have dropped by 13.5 per cent. Managing Director of the ABC Michelle Guthrie has said that the budget cuts just announced will mean more job losses, diminished content and reduced services.

How can it be that the once-upon-a-time leather-jacket-wearing Malcolm Turnbull, member for Wentworth, would put up with this? The only possible explanation for this change of heart is that this Prime Minister knows that the biggest threat to his Prime Ministership is a news organisation that does its job and holds this government to account. That's why we've seen the pattern of frequent complaints from this government to the ABC, with the Prime Minister, in particular, complaining about reporting on the big business tax cuts—the big business tax cuts that only the government and the Business Council of Australia, whose own members will stand to benefit most from the tax cuts, think are a good idea! Everybody else has picked the lie of trickle-down economics that this government is trying to peddle when it comes to those tax cuts.

But it's not just the tax cuts. We've had complaints about the Hottest 100 being moved. We've had the tax cut complaints in February. In March, there was the Tonightly show comedy sketch complaint. In April, another comedy sketch copped it—Black Comedy, broadcast on Facebook—and in May it was poor old Emma Alberici again. This government is doing what governments around the world try to do when they are seeking to shut down scrutiny of their own decision-making, which is: undermine the most trusted news organisation in Australia.

I've got to say I don't always like what the ABC says about me. I'm not always happy with the way they report about me or my ideas or the proposals I'm putting forward. I tell you what I'm always happy about. What I'm always happy about is having a news organisation in this country that will speak truth to power—that will stand up against the bullying. And the reason this government is cutting it, again, is because they don't want that. They don't want democracy and they don't want debate.

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