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

I rise today to contribute to this debate. The reason is that last week I became very concerned sitting here and listening to the contribution in this place by Senator McGrath. In an absolute spray and attack on our public broadcaster, it called for Triple J to be privatised and sold off. Senator McGrath called for it to be advertised and sold off on Gumtree. He called for ads on the ABC and made a number of other veiled attacks on our national broadcaster.

We know that this government has had the knives out for the public broadcaster from day dot, right back to when Tony Abbott promised no cuts to the ABC, only to, 12 months later, bring in massive cuts to the public broadcaster. It has never stopped since then. In the national Liberal Party room, only a couple of sitting weeks ago, we heard members of this government standing up and attacking the chairperson of the ABC and attacking the hardworking staff of our public broadcaster. Then, of course, there's Mr Kroger, former president of the Liberal Party, going on Sky News and demanding that Ita Buttrose, the chair of the ABC, go.

These attacks are absolutely unfounded. They are the stuff of a boys' locker room. They are petty. It sends a message to some of the knuckle draggers in the Liberal Party that they might want to hear, to beat up on the public broadcaster, to beat up another woman in charge, to beat up on facts, news and public interest journalism. But what we have now is members in this place, members of the government, senior members of the team in this Senate, calling for Triple J to be sold off. Is this the platform that the Morrison-Joyce government are going to be taking to this election? What does Mr Joyce think about selling off Triple J, putting ads on the ABC and this attack on the public broadcaster? Does Mr Barnaby Joyce, the new Deputy Prime Minister, think that regional Australia want to have ads on their ABC? I think not. What's next, paywalling iView? That's where this leads. What you've got from this government is cut after cut after cut, attack after attack after attack. Then, once the ABC is struggling, they say, 'We'll just sell it off, like everything else.'

There's going to be an election either at the end of this year or early next year, and the Morrison-Barnaby Joyce government are telling the electorate that they want to sell the ABC and fill it full of advertising, paywall ABC iView, flog off Triple J. I don't think Australians are going to be very happy about this at all. Australians love our national broadcaster. When they need trustworthy news and analysis, when they need information in times of crisis—what do they do? I'll tell you what: they don't turn on Sky News. They don't open up their Murdoch rag. They turn on the radio or they turn on the TV or they go to ABC online and they hear, directly, what they need to hear from the trusted source that is the national broadcaster.

We know that during the summer bushfires back in 2019-20 Australians relied so much on the information that was coming from the national broadcaster, in terms of those emergency warnings. What does this government want to do? In between a warning about a bushfire they're going to run an ad, probably from Harvey Norman. In the midst of this pandemic, who have the Australian people and the community turned to, to know what's really going on with COVID-19, the vaccine rollout, the safety information, the health information about this health pandemic? Thank goodness they weren't listening to members of the National Party or the Liberal Party, who don't even believe the science and the health advice, often. No, they've been turning to the ABC and listening to Dr Swan, because they trust the information that is coming from the public broadcaster.

As we move towards the election, let's be very clear. If you want to protect the public broadcaster, if you want to save the ABC, if you love Triple J, then you have to vote this mob out. The attacks are not even veiled anymore. They are blatant. They are unhinged. The personal vitriol thrown towards Ita Buttrose, as the chairperson of the ABC, from men in the Liberal-National Party is just appalling. Is there a strong woman in leadership that this government doesn't like—another woman to tear down, just like they did to Christine Holgate? Now they want to do it to Ita Buttrose. They can't stand strong women and they can't stand facts, information and the public broadcaster having the support that it does from the Australian community.

Is Barnaby Joyce, now having been elected as the Deputy Prime Minister, going to go around regional Australia spruiking this platform advocated by Senator McGrath—ads on the ABC, a paywall on ABC iview, the selling of ABC radio stations to the highest bidder and the filling of our emergency news with advertising? There is a reason this government doesn't like the ABC. It's because it doesn't like scrutiny. There is a reason the government doesn't like the public broadcaster. It's because it doesn't like being asked tough questions. We know because every time the Prime Minister gets a tough question from somebody in the press gallery or from a journalist out in regional Australia, he attacks them and dismisses the question: 'Oh, that's just the Canberra bubble.' No, it's a question about your ability as a leader of this country, Prime Minister. It's your responsibility, if you want the top job, to answer the tough questions. Rather than being upfront, rather than telling the Australian people what he really wants to do and rather than being accountable and transparent, the Prime Minister lets the attack dogs in the Liberal and National parties run riot about the ABC.

If you want to protect the public broadcaster, if you love the ABC, if you think that regional news needs to be independent, if you love Australian music, if you love knowing what's really going on and if you want access to emergency services information instantly, when it's needed and at hand, then you've got to protect the ABC, and that means voting this mob out. It means making sure they can't get their claws into any more of our public broadcaster. The Liberal and National parties like to kick the ABC and use it as a punching bag. Thank God there is such a strong will within the Australian community to protect our public broadcaster, to protect news and to support and demand accountability, and thank goodness for Ita Buttrose, who is standing strong in the face of such disgusting vitriol from members of the Liberal Party and from members of the National Party—from members of Mr Morrison and Mr Joyce's team.

You might think the Liberal party bullyboys have got their way with Ita. I'll tell you what. She eats men like you for breakfast, mate, and she won't be cowering under your attacks on the ABC.