Do your care if they cut Aunty?

It seems everything is on the line in this budget of all budgets, and loudly so.  The most publicly fought though appears to be cuts to our public broadcast budget, primarily, the ABC.  The discord about a cut to the ABC’s budget is being felt on all sides of politics, with the Nationals wanting to secure confidence that regional coverage and reach will not be affected by any cuts.  In addition to this, the friends of the ABC have come out and said that any cuts to the ABC’s funding would brand Abbott a liar.  But does it really matter to you?  In this day of commercial TV, how much do you depend on our national broadcaster for entertainment and information…?

In the lead up to his election, Mr Abbott pledged that there would be no cuts to the ABC.  The Abbott election promise clearly stated “No cuts to the ABC and SBS”.

But that pledge may prove to be history with reports in the media over the weekend stating the Coalition Government planned to cut funding to the ABC and remove its international broadcasting service.  They said that Abbott and his team are looking at any way they can reduce the budget for the broadcaster.

The friends of the ABC are taking the claims very seriously indeed.

“Some politicians may be sensitive to the scrutiny of an independent broadcaster and prefer to keep the public in the dark. But the vast majority of Australians appreciate and support the ABC’s critical role as an unbiased and intelligent national public broadcaster,”  said Glenys Stradijot, campaign manager of the Friends of the ABC in Victoria.

“Should this government break its promise and cut the ABC in any way, they can expect a huge backlash that will be sustained until the next election.”

But we aren’t really all that interested in the political posturing.  What we want to know today is how a cut to the ABC would affect you?

Do you watch ABC programming?  Are you a supporter of the ABC?  And do you feel it is an essential public service?  Have your say…