Protect our ABC!
Before the 2013 Federal Election Tony Abbott said that there would be "no cuts to the ABC or SBS".

But this week the debate has fired up again. First Prime Minister Abbott went on the attack, blasting the ABC for taking "everyone's side but our own". Today the Government announced an "efficiency study" into the costs of the ABC and the SBS. This follows months of members of the Liberal Party and the IPA agitating for the Government to defund and commercialise Australia's favourite public broadcaster. Read More
Before the 2013 Federal Election Tony Abbott said that there would be "no cuts to the ABC or SBS".

But this week the debate has fired up again. First Prime Minister Abbott went on the attack, blasting the ABC for taking "everyone's side but our own". Today the Government announced an "efficiency study" into the costs of the ABC and the SBS. This follows months of members of the Liberal Party and the IPA agitating for the Government to defund and commercialise Australia's favourite public broadcaster.

We know what this is, they've pulled this move before. They're seeing how much they can get away with and the answer is clear; GetUp members have rallied together time and time again to demonstrate we won't allow defunding or the privatisation of our ABC. Let's do it again.

Stand up for the ABC and the sign the petition.

Right-wing think tanks like the IPA, who have the ear of Tony Abbott, made it clear that the ABC is firmly in their line of fire. But we'd like to keep our ABC free of ads, free for everyone, free to remain fair and balanced.

Sign the petition to show your support for Australia's public broadcasters.
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/media/save-the-abc--2/protect-our-abc--2

Peter Lewis, the commercial television executive who wrote the blueprint for cuts to the ABC, has been installed by the Abbott government to the public broadcaster’s board for a five-year term.

Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the appointment on Thursday, the day after the ABC board met to consider savings measures, including those suggested by Lewis in his efficiency review.

“He will be a valuable addition to the ABC board, bringing with him extensive and deep industry knowledge and experience,” Turnbull said.

Lewis was selected by a nomination panel which included two newly appointed members: the conservative commentator Janet Albrechtsen and the former Liberal politician Neil Brown.

Lewis’ addition to the ABC board comes at a crucial time for the future of the broadcaster which is currently deciding which programs and services will be cut as well as designing a major restructure of the organisation.

At risk is news and current affairs programming on radio and TV,including the local versions of 7:30 and Lateline.

On Thursday Turnbull refused again to outline when or by how much the ABC’s $1.1bn budget would be cut.

“Look, we are making cuts to the ABC and SBS budget, that is true,” he said on ABC Radio’s AM program. “And we are – my focus has been, ever since the election, to ensure that the savings made by the ABC and SBS are focused on removing back-office costs, excessive back-office costs and waste, and are not simply cancelling programs, cutting programs and reducing the resources available to programming.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/02/abc-efficiency-reviewer-peter-lewis-installed-board

Like letting the wolves in charge of the sheep station... This is utterly ridiculous. "Back-office costs and waste?" Any company even using the best work practices would have a few of those and I can vouch that the ABC is running on the smell of an oil rag for the work it outputs.

Not all of ABC is 100 per cent but NO-ONE in the whole wide word can operate at 100 per cent efficiency. This would be a way to kill staff from exhaustion and pressure.

Ah yes I see they want to replace the good old astute journos with young kids out of university who have no idea how the integrity of media works. Yes they will be able to be manipulated into the neo-fascist propaganda of a government led by a thief and a liar.

Abbott lied to get elected and his monkey Turnbull still lies about it. Abbott is a thief who when he got caught with his hand in the cookie-jar quickly reimbursed the public purse. By this I mean he went to private functions, including weddings, at the expense of the government and repaid them some years later when found out. He also charged the government for his expenses while PRIVATELY pedalling for charity. That's thieving. The end of the age of entitlements? These farting monkeys will try to rob you some more — as they're pissing in their pants with excitement of going to glorious war — to pay for their boom-booms..

Enough is enough. Leave the ABC alone, Malcolm. You are starting to smell like the little turd himself.

Last week Turnbull wrote a stinging blog post criticising ABC management for saying it might need to axe Lateline because of funding shortfalls.

“In 2013 the ABC was allocated $70m over three years to expand the depth and quality of its news and current affairs for the digital era,” Turnbull wrote. “ABC viewers and staff have the right to question management on where this investment has been made.”

In a response on The Drum on Monday, Torney said the additional funding had gone a long way towards expanding regional news, establishing a specialist national reporting team and creating 90 new jobs.

She reminded Turnbull and his Canberra colleagues that the public broadcaster also provided a platform for their message.

“The ABC’s new digital capabilities have provided more opportunities for politicians and key decision-makers to explain their work and their policies,” Torney wrote. “We are averaging 131 live television links per week, used across nine different programs and platforms, including News 24, 7pm news bulletins and our specialist business, political and sports programs.”

Despite Tony Abbott promising “no cuts to the ABC or SBS” before the election, the Coalition has slashed $43.5m over four years from ABC and the SBS budgets and is now demanding more, possibly as much as $200m.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/06/abcs-kate-torney-hits-back-at-malcolm-turnbull-over-digital-funding-criticism

Malcolm Turnbull is being urged to "grow a sense of humour" after the Communications Minister failed to see the funny side of a skit broadcast by the ABC, which ridiculed Prime Minister Tony Abbott's threat to shirt-front Vladimir Putin.

The segment took aim at Mr Abbott's aborted threat to shirtfront - a football term describing a front-on clash - the Russian President over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

It pitted the leaders' physical abilities against each other and mocked the pair's penchant for appearing before cameras in sporting and swimming gear.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirms the ABC's annual funding will be reduced by about 5 per cent, and says he will detail the budget cuts this week.

The ABC's Media Watch program reported the Government would cut the public broadcaster's funding by $50 million a year, on top of the $9 million cut announced in the May budget.

Sources have told the program the cuts will see state-based 7.30 editions axed, Lateline pared back, bureaus in Tokyo, Bangkok, New Delhi and New Zealand scaled back, $6 million sliced off radio budgets and TV production in South Australia shut down.

Speaking on the ABC's Q&A program, Mr Turnbull said the cuts would average at 5 per cent over five years.

"That includes the 1 per cent, it includes everything since the budget, including the budget," he said.

"It does not include the cancellation or termination of the Australia Network contact.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-17/turnball-says-cuts-to-the-abc-will-average-5-per-cent/5898200

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As Turnbullshit tries to explain the cuts to the ABC contrarily to election promises, he goes deeper into fake stupid rationalisation that smell of more rabid right wing shit... ABBOTT THE TURD AND TURNBULLSHIT LIED AND THIS IS ALL THERE IS TO IT. The conservative turds got voted in government under false pretence and should be BOOTED OUT under real kicks in the butt. They are immature, juvenile, humourless liars.

In an age of fear and terror Australia needed SBS as a countermeasure, he said, emphasising its importance for: "Delivering a sense of inclusion through multilingual services to our rapidly increasing migrant population including this country's 600,000 Muslims."

He went on: "Tony Abbott said unequivocally and unconditionally 'No cuts to the ABC or SBS'."

He described Malcolm Turnbull as "a bullshitter" because of statements he had made defending Tony Abbott's election comments that there would be no cuts to the ABC.