Communication Minister Paul Fletcher’s claim that the Morrison government “has provided strong and consistent support to the ABC” has been labelled “a breathtakingly misleading statement” by four academics who have studied the ABC’s funding in detail. In an article first published in The Conversation (28 April 2022), they say the government’s own figures show that ABC’s real funding has declined and will continue to do so over the next three years, if the Coalition is returned to power. Michael...

Governments of all persuasions have never much liked the ABC, and cuts to its budget have occurred with monotonous regularity. With defunding since 2014 now severely affecting programming capacity, ABC Alumni is agitating for a return to proper funding and a commitment to protecting the ABC’s independence. The Alumni, of course, are former members of staff. But in the 1970s, the ABC’s serving staff engaged in almost three years of industrial action against the Fraser government’s budget cuts, w...