Showing posts with label right wing politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right wing politics. Show all posts
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Council for Civil Liberties condemns regulations allowing for bans on public gatherings on public land
Excerpt from New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties post, 20 June 2018:
NSW Civil Liberties
Council (CCL) is appalled to learn that in 12 days, the NSW State Government
will have incredibly wide powers to disperse or ban protests, rallies, and
virtually any public gathering across about half of all land across the state.
On 16 March this year,
the NSW State Government published the Crown
Land Management Regulation 2018(NSW). Included was a provision which provided
that public officials would have broad power to “direct a person” to stop
“Taking part in any gathering, meeting or assembly”. The only exception
provided for is “in the case of a cemetery, for the purpose of a religious or
other ceremony of burial or commemoration”. Alternatively, public officials
have broad discretion to affix a conspicuous sign prohibiting any gathering,
meeting or assembly – again, unless the public gathering was a funeral.
Police, Local Council
officials, and even so-far unspecified categories of people or government
employees could soon have the power to ban people from holding public
gatherings on public land. The territory where these incredibly broad powers
would apply are called Crown Land - land owned by the State Government. This
includes town squares, parks, roads, beaches, community halls and more.
These powers will come
into effect from 1 July. If these regulations are allowed to stand, the effect
will not just be that protests, rallies and demonstrations can only occur at
the sufferance of police and other officials. It will be that virtually all public
events will only occur with the tolerance of public officials. Our right to
assemble on public land will become something less than a license. That right
may temporarily be granted by public officials, but it may just as easily be
withdrawn, at any time, for any reason. The penalty for defying such a ban or
order to stop meeting in public could be up to $11 000……
The time to speak out
against these regulations is now. CCL objects to these regulations in the
strongest possible terms, and urges their immediate and unconditional repeal……
Excerpts from
Crown Land
Management Regulation 2018 under the Crown Land Management Act 2016:
9 Conduct prohibited in
dedicated or reserved Crown land
(1) A person must not do
any of the following on dedicated or reserved Crown land:
(e) remain in or on the land or any part of the
land or any structure or enclosure in or on the land when reasonably requested
to leave by an authorised person,
Maximum penalty: 50
penalty units.
13 Activities that can
be prohibited on Crown land by direction or notice under Part 9 of Act (1) Each
of the activities specified in the following Table is prescribed for the
purposes of sections 9.4 (1) (b), 9.5 (1) (b) and 9.5 (2) of the Act:
3 Holding a meeting or performance or conducting
entertainment for money or consideration of any kind, or in a manner likely to
cause a nuisance to any person
4 Taking part in any gathering, meeting or assembly
(except, in the case of a cemetery, for the purpose of a religious or other
ceremony of burial or commemoration)
6 Displaying or causing any sign or notice to be
displayed
7 Distributing any circular,
Excerpt from Crown
Land Management Act 2016 No 58:
1.7 Definition
of “Crown land”
Subject to this
Division, each of the following is Crown land for the purposes of
this Act:
(a) land that
was Crown land as defined in the Crown Lands Act
1989 immediately before the Act’s repeal,
(b) land that
becomes Crown land because of the operation of a provision of this Act or a
declaration made under section 4.4,
(c) land
vested, on and from the repeal of the Crown Lands Act
1989, in the Crown (including when it is vested in the name of the State).
Note.
Clause
6 of Schedule 7 provides for certain land under Acts repealed by Schedule 8 to
become Crown land under this Act. Section 1.10 then provides for this land to
be vested in the Crown.
Land that will become Crown land under
this Act includes land vested in the Crown that is dedicated for a public
purpose. This land was previously excluded from
the definition of Crown land in the Crown Lands Act
1989. See also section 1.8 (2).
Monday 25 June 2018
Hands off! The ABC pays its own way, says ABC boss
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
19 June 2018:
ABC boss Michelle
Guthrie has dramatically hit back at the Liberal Party over its call to
privatise the public broadcaster, vowing the ABC will not be a "punching
bag" for political and vested interests, and labelling the attacks as
cynical, misplaced and ignorant.
In a provocative speech
intended to "call out" the ABC's critics, Ms Guthrie also presented
new data showing the broadcaster generates as much annual economic activity as
it receives from taxpayers.
And she declared the
public views the ABC as a "priceless asset" that should not be sold,
no matter how much a commercial buyer might be prepared to fork out.
"[Australians]
regard the ABC as one of the great national institutions [and] deeply resent it
being used as a punching bag by narrow political, commercial or ideological
interests", Ms Guthrie said.
"Inherent in the
drive against the independent public broadcaster is a belief that it can be
pushed and prodded into different shapes to suit the prevailing climate. It
can't. Nor should it be."
Ms Guthrie said she
wanted to respond specifically to the motion passed by the Liberal Party
federal council at the weekend calling for the ABC to be sold off, "even
if others are keen to downplay it".
For those who prefer an
abacus-type approach to this debate, I have some fresh information. How do you
put a price on the value of the ABC? In pursuit of that answer, the ABC has
commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to do some research. Their report is still
being compiled and will be released next month. The early findings are
interesting. They show that the ABC contributed more than $1 billion to the
Australian economy in the last financial year - on a par with the public
investment in the organisation. Far from being a drain on the public
purse, the audience, community and economic value stemming from ABC activity is
a real and tangible benefit.....
Deloitte calculates that
the ABC is helping to sustain more than 6000 full-time equivalent jobs across
the economy. It means that for every 3 full-time equivalent jobs created by the
ABC, there are another 2 supported in our supply chain – local artists,
writers, technicians, transport workers and many more. In hard figures, the
research shows that the ABC helps to sustain 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs in
addition to the 4000 women and men who are directly employed by the public
broadcaster.
The Turnbull
Government and the Liberal Party are well aware that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) generates income
and the government is a beneficiary.
The 2016-17 annual report, which like all the public broadcaster's annual reports is tabled in parliament, shows the ABC received $1.03 billion in federal government funding.
It also received $70.4 million in own-source revenue (sale goods/rendering services etc.) and recorded a total of $1.03 billion in own-source income.
It also received $70.4 million in own-source revenue (sale goods/rendering services etc.) and recorded a total of $1.03 billion in own-source income.
In addition, that same financial year the ABC paid the Turnbull
Federal Government a one-off dividend of $14 million.
But then again, the repeated funding cuts have never been about the ABC living within its means or paying its own way,
The Liberal and Nationals only ever seem to want to privatise government agencies which return money to treasury - after all their silvertail mates are not interested in cheaply buying businesses that aren't capable of being turned into private enterprise cash cows.
The Liberal and Nationals only ever seem to want to privatise government agencies which return money to treasury - after all their silvertail mates are not interested in cheaply buying businesses that aren't capable of being turned into private enterprise cash cows.
Friday 22 June 2018
Liberals continue to behave badly in 2018 - Part Four
FIGHTING
There’s been a fight at a Liberal Party branch meeting in Arncliffe tonight. Allegations elderly women were abused and a man assaulted. Democracy at work guys. @9NewsSyd #auspol pic.twitter.com/P77ptrLCse— Chris O'Keefe (@cokeefe9) June 18, 2018
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
18 June 2018:
Police said they were
called to Naji's Charcoal Chicken & Kebabs eatery on Firth Street in
Arncliffe just after seven o'clock on Monday night, following reports of a
"brawl". The roast chook shop is owned by Michael Nagi, a Liberal
councillor for Bayside Council.
The meeting is
understood to have turned ugly after an attempt by the moderate faction, which
includes Nagi, to allow into the Bayside branch a nearby area, Earlwood, which
is controlled by the moderates and has never been a part of the Bayside branch.
This would have
constituted what those on the right of the party would class as a "hostile
takeover" of their factional control, but a resolution was never reached
because the disagreement turned violent.
Police said a man
believed to be aged in his forties was taken to St George Hospital and treated
for minor injuries.
"Police are now
attempting to piece together exactly what happened and how many people were
involved," a statement read.
"They are appealing
for anyone who may have vision of the incident to come forward."
The Liberal Party said
it would "fully cooperate" with police, as well as make their own
inquiries.
"An internal
investigation will also be undertaken and disciplinary action taken against
those responsible," the party said.
ABC
News, 19 June
2018:
One witness, who did not
want to be identified, described the situation as an attempted "hostile
takeover" of the branch.
"Just before the
meeting started, there was an altercation where some people were intimidating
and swearing and pushing and shoving of the others who belonged to the
meeting," he said.
"Others outside
were blocked from entering the meeting."
The man said an elderly
lady inside the cafe was "trampled on", and a man who tried to
intervene was "ganged up on".
"They started
bashing him … they took him outside and started kicking him.
"To be honest I
thought he was going to die."
The man also said some
people tried to film the incident, but their phones were taken and smashed.
COMPLAINTS, DEBTS AND WORKING THE SYSTEM
COMPLAINTS, DEBTS AND WORKING THE SYSTEM
“Two hundred thousand Australian dollars.….that’s
not a lot of money” [Liberal Sen. Lucy Gichuhi speaking about here Australian parliamentary salary
package on Kenyan television in January 2018]
Daily
Mail, 20 June
2018:
Embattled Liberal
senator Lucy Gichuhi was taken to court seven times for failing to pay $8,359
worth of council rates and $1,372 in water bills.
Court documents obtained
exclusively by Daily Mail Australia show the Kenyan-born federal MP faced legal
action from City of Port Adelaide Enfield
council, Whyalla City Council and the South Australian Water Corporation in
2013, 2014 and 2017.
The Turnbull Government
senator, who is on a $203,000 salary, was ordered by local court magistrates to
pay $9,731 in seven unpaid bills, related to two investment properties in
Adelaide and one in regional Whyalla.
One unpaid council bill
went to court just three weeks before she was sworn in last year as a senator,
and another bill was taken to a magistrate four months after she became a
member of Parliament.
The backbencher, who
owns four houses in South Australia with her husband William, had failed to pay
$8,359 worth council rates and $1,372 in water bills.
On her pecuniary
interest register, Senator Gichuhi declares she is the owner of investment
properties in the Adelaide suburbs of Dernancourt and Gilles Plains, along with
another home in the steelworks city of Whyalla.
The senator and
mother-of-three, who moved to Australia from Kenya in 1999, received five
arrears from the Port of Adelaide Enfield Council and one from Whyalla City
Council, in areas where she owns three investment properties.
According to
her Statement
of Registerable Interests the senator in partnership with her
husband owns 6 residential properties in South Australia and 3 properties in
Kenya.
She appears
to receive rental income on a number of these properties.
The Advertiser, 21 June 2018, p.6:
Senator Gichuhi, already
under pressure after spending thousands of taxpayer dollars flying her family
to Canberra, was provided with staff, office space, a car, driver and
entertainment by one of Kenya’s richest men. The SA senator spoke at events
organised by Equity Bank and its wealthy chief executive James Mwangi.
Disclosure documents
lodged earlier this year show Dr Mwangi provided Senator Gichuhi with “a car
and a driver … to attend various events and functions”.
“Dr Mwangi also provided
office facilities, refreshments and access to his staff to enable me to prepare
speeches for Nairobi University and other functions,” the document reads.
Dr Mwangi, who is worth
$230 million, invited Senator Gichuhi to speak at Equity Bank events including
on January 4, where she addressed the bank’s Wings To Fly scholars….
Disclosures show Senator
Gichuhi received free accommodation from another wealthy Kenyan businessman,
Linus Gitahi, who she described as her “long-term friend”.
The Advertiser, 19 June 2018, p.5:
South Australian
senator Lucy Gichuhi billed taxpayers more than $4500 to fly six
family travellers to Canberra during the week she was sworn into Federal
Parliament prompting calls for a tightening of expenses.
According to
parliamentary records, Senator Gichuhi claimed three return flights from
Adelaide, two from Darwin and a one-way flight from Sydney taken during the
second week of May last year.
She has previously
defended her decision to accept free accommodation from the High Commission of
Kenya in Canberra for her family to attend her swearing-in on May 9 last year
2017, because they struggled to find accommodation.
Junkee,
19 June 2018:
Gichuhi billed
taxpayers $2139 for two return flights from Darwin to Adelaide, which were used
to fly family members to her birthday party in October last year. She has since
agreed to pay that cost back in full, saying it was “an administrative error
involving misunderstanding of travel rules”.
And while we’re on the
point of corrections, it wasn’t even her 50th birthday party — Gichuhi is 55.
She actually titled the birthday party her “50 plus GST” birthday, the omitted
5 years being the GST. In the speech she gave at the event, which is
inexplicably available on her
website, she told guests that “I have now also taught you to deduct
10 percent off your own age — if you want to!”….
Gichuhi has also come
under fire for billing taxpayers around $12,000 for a number of trips to Sydney, which
she listed as “electorate business”, despite her electorate actually being in
South Australia.
Sunday 17 June 2018
Political bully boy exposed
The Guardian, 15
June 2018:
An advertising executive
and commentator is refusing to delete a social media post mocking the
Queensland opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie,
despite being referred to the powerful ethics committee.
Dee Madigan last
month posted
a gif of Bleijie ripping up a piece of paper in state parliament with the
comment “Your taxes at work. A toddler tantrum for @JarrodBleijieMP”.
Bleijie had at the time
been arguing against a motion to speed up debate on the Labor government’s
vegetation management laws so parliament could adjourn at its new “family
friendly” time and avoid sitting into the night.
After seeing the tweet,
Bleijie complained to the speaker, Curtis Pitt, who referred Madigan to the
ethics committee, because under parliamentary rules vision from the floor of
the house can’t be used for “satire or ridicule”.
Pitt said his office
also attempted to have the Twitter post removed.
Madigan previously
refused to remove the tweet when contacted by the clerk of parliament, and on
Friday again tweeted she would be leaving the post up.
“If this is upheld it
means no one on [social media] can retweet or share with a comment any parli
footage, even if it has been on the news or streamed live or shared by
pollies,” Madigan wrote. “The precedent on free speech is extraordinary. It is
bullshit.”
No Fibs, 15 June 2018:
Not long after, the
Clerk of the Queensland Parliament, Neil Laurie, contacted Ms Madigan asking
her to delete her comment after a complaint had been received. He labeled her,
“a contracted campaigner of the Labor Party, Queensland Division”. Mr Laurie went
on to cite, in its entirety, section 50 of the Parliament of Queensland
Act 2001 including that footage of proceedings in the Queensland
parliament should not be subject to such things as ridicule, satire or
political advertising. In his view, the Tweet breached, “the terms and
conditions and is a prima facie contempt”….
Ms Madigan pointed out
that she was not contracted to the Labor Party in either Queensland or
elsewhere, that she was a private citizen, entitled to retweet people and would
not be removing the Tweet. She also pointed out that multiple members of the
LNP had used parliamentary footage over time to express political opinions and
to ridicule.
Thirty-six year old former lawyer and former Attorney-General Jarrod Pieter Bleijie has been a sitting Liberal National Party member in the
Queensland Parliament since 21 March 2009.
However nine years in politics has not given him any claim to wisdom.
However nine years in politics has not given him any claim to wisdom.
Why he saw
fit to take his objection to this tweet as far as he has is not known1.
What was
predictable is that now he has, this tweet below will likely live on as a footnote in
Queensland political history and, he
will be forever remembered as a pompous and thin skinned individual.
FootnoteYour taxes at work. A toddler tantrum for @JarrodBleijieMP https://t.co/bSjhGRCyIz— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) May 10, 2018
1. PARLIAMENT OF QUEENSLAND ACT 2001
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF QUEENSLAND CODE OF ETHICAL STANDARDS
THE ETHICS COMMITTEE
The Ethics Committee of the 56th Parliament was established on 15 February 2018.
The
committee’s areas of responsibility as set out in section 104B of the Parliament
of Queensland Act 2001 are as follows:
* dealing with complaints
about the ethical conduct of particular members
* dealing with alleged
breaches of parliamentary privilege by members of the Assembly and other
persons.
Further
to this, section 104C of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 provides:
The committee’s area of responsibility about dealing with complaints about the ethical conduct of particular members is to—
The committee’s area of responsibility about dealing with complaints about the ethical conduct of particular members is to—
* consider complaints
referred to the committee about particular members failing to register
particular interests; and
* consider complaints
against particular members for failing to comply with the code of ethical
conduct for members, report on complaints to the Assembly and recommend action
by the Assembly.
* A complaint about a member
not complying with the code of ethical conduct for members may be considered
only by the Assembly or the committee.
* Subsection (2) has effect
despite any other law, but the subsection does not apply to a court, tribunal
or other entity if the entity may, under a law, consider an issue and the issue
that is considered involves the commission, or claimed or suspected commission,
of a criminal offence.
* Subsection (3) does not
limit or otherwise affect the powers, rights and immunities of the Assembly and
its committees and members.
Friday 15 June 2018
The gall of this disgraced former NSW Nationals politician takes my breath away
Feigning ignorance Steven Rhett Cansdell seeks to re-enter politics.....
The Daily Examiner, 14 June 2018. p.1:
Former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell’s
return to public life began with an apology.
“Firstly I want to nip
things in the bud,” Mr Cansdell began when he spoke yesterday at the Grafton
Hotel to reveal why he would stand for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
at the 2019 NSW Election.
“Seven years ago I
stuffed up through ignorance, but ignorance is not an excuse,” he said.
“I had to resign. It was
the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, to resign from parliament, and the
people I served and expected things from me, to let them down.
“To them I apologise.”
Mr Cansdell resigned
from Parliament in September 2011 after he revealed he had illegally signed a
statutory declaration six years earlier to avoid a speeding ticket and loss of
his driver’s licence.....
The Shooters Fishers and
Farmers party MLC Robert Brown said the party had recruited Mr Cansdell about
two months ago.
“Somebody who knows him
knew he was thinking of having another crack,” Mr Brown said.
“So they put him in
touch with us.
“We met with him in
Sydney two months ago then we danced around it a bit because I don’t think he’d
made up his mind yet and we hadn’t made up our mind.
“As we got to know him
we decided if we’re going to have a go in the Clarence, this is the sort of
bloke we’d campaign for and we think he has a shot.”
Saturday 9 June 2018
Quotes of the Week
‘A progressive tax system “discriminates against Australians by
income….Other forms of discrimination, such as by skin colour, race,
or ethnicity, are rightly abhorred, yet the income tax system openly
discriminates against people by income”’ [Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)
quoted by Sam Longford in Junkee, 5 June 2018]
quoted by Sam Longford in Junkee, 5 June 2018]
“just because he quacks like his misogynist homophobic predecessor while
unequivocally cosying up to a deranged and ableist racist doesn't make him the
milkshake duck of prime ministers cheesh fair go” [Academic Ingrid Matthews on the subject of Australian
Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull and the Ramsey Centre for Western Civilisation’s
attempt to fund a BA university course, Twitter,
7 June 2018]
Labels:
education,
lobby groups,
right wing politics
Wednesday 30 May 2018
Berejiklian Government stacks the deck ahead of next NSW state election
Echo
NetDaily, 29
May 2018:
Nationals MLC Ben
Franklin has defended new political donation laws after being accused by the
Greens of ramming it through last Thursday night and providing only a week for
the opposition to digest.
The new rules, say the
Greens, will see ‘third party’ groups like unions, GetUp, Sea Shepherd and
World Wildlife Fund see their spending caps halved to $500,000.
Additionally the new
laws apply to local councils, where some will be able to spend more per voter
than others, the party says.
Yet the Electoral
Funding Bill 2018 ‘includes some positive measures’, including ‘the definition
of prohibited donors, increased transparency and some spending caps in local
government election’.
Ballina Greens MP Tamara
Smith described the new laws as ‘the most undemocratic ever seen in the state’.
‘Community groups like
GetUp, Sea Shepherd, World Wildlife Fund and Marriage Equality have had their
funding caps slashed while the old parties have given themselves a massive
windfall in both money to run elections and money received after elections,’ Ms
Smith told The Echo.
‘The Greens have led the
charge when it comes to supporting caps on electoral expenditure but we say
that if third party environmental and social justice groups have had their
spending halved why haven’t political parties?’ she added.
The
Guardian, 23
May 2018:
The legislation would
cap campaign spending by an advocacy group at $500,000 during the lead-up to an
election, down from the current limit of up to $1.288m, which applies to both
major political parties and third-party groups.
Major parties would keep
the higher cap on communications spending. The caps operate from 1 October in
the year before an election until election day.
The 22 Liberal, Nationals, Shooters,
Fishers and Farmers and Christian Democratic
party members
of the NSW Legislative Council
voting for NSW Electoral Funding Bill 2018 on 23 May 2018 were as follows:
Amato,
L
|
Blair,
N
|
Borsak,
R
|
Brown,
R
|
Clarke,
D
|
Colless,
R
|
Cusack,
C
|
Fang,
W
|
Farlow,
S
|
Franklin,
B
|
Green,
P
|
Harwin,
D
|
Khan,
T
|
MacDonald,
S
|
Maclaren-Jones,
N
|
Mallard,
S
|
Martin,
T
|
Mason-Cox,
M
|
Mitchell,
|
Nile,
F
|
Phelps,
P
|
Ward,
P
|
Which resulted in the bill officially passing in both houses of the NSW Parliament on 24 May 2018.
Sunday 20 May 2018
A call to arms in support of Our ABC
The announcement in last
week’s budget that the ABC’s funding indexation will be frozen for three years from July 2019
is the latest in a series of extraordinary attacks by a government that
displays an unprecedented level of hostility to the national
broadcaster. It represents a real cut to the broadcaster’s operating costs
of $84m.
Added to the $254m cut over five years announced by
then-communications minister Malcolm Turnbull in November 2014, and a $28m cut to the enhanced newsgathering
service in the 2016 budget, this brings the money taken out of our national
broadcaster since the election of the Coalition government to over a quarter of
a billion dollars.
Contrast this with the
former Labor government’s approach. In 2009, when I worked in the office of
communications minister Stephen Conroy, the ABC was awarded the largest funding increase since its incorporation in 1983,
with $136.4m in new money to fund the creation of the ABC Kids’ channel and 90
hours of new Australian drama. Four years later, the ABC was given $89.4m to set up the newsgathering
service and enhance the digital delivery of ABC programs.
In addition to record
funding boosts, Conroy, arguably the best friend in government the ABC has ever
had, also ensured the ABC charters were amended to specifically require them to
deliver digital services; overhauled the board appointment process to put it at
arm’s length from the government of the day; and, in a move that enraged the
Murdoch empire, created legislation that specified that any international
broadcasting service funded by the government could only be delivered by the
ABC. This came after the government’s refusal to award carriage of the
Australia Network to News Corp in 2011, a decision that was regarded both at
home and internationally as common sense by everyone other than the owners of
Sky News.
All this is now under
attack. The Turnbull government seems determined not only to undo every measure
of financial and legislative support implemented by the last Labor government,
but to undermine the ABC’s operations so thoroughly that its ability to provide
the services its charter requires will likely be devastated.
The legislation passed
in early 2013 prevented the incoming Coalition government from reopening the
tender process to award the Australia Network to Sky – so they shut it down
entirely instead.
Five years later, the
Lowy Institute laments that “[o]nce a significant
player in what the British Council calls the Great Game of the Airwaves, the
ABC’s purpose-designed, multiplatform international services have suffered
near-terminal decline”.
"We must rise up against
this concerted campaign of funding cuts and attempts to limit the activities of
our national broadcasters"
As far as the board
appointment process goes, Turnbull as prime minister and his communications
minister Mitch Fifield are doing their best to ignore it: two recent appointees,
Minerals Council boss Vanessa Guthrie and Sydney Institute
Director Joseph Gersh, were not recommended for appointment
by the independent selection panel. Fifield is relying on clauses in the
legislation governing the appointment process that allow the minister to
appoint from outside the recommended list in exceptional circumstances, but has
publicly offered no reason why these candidates were more urgently required on
the ABC board than those recommended as more qualified by the selection panel.
It’s also impossible to
discover whether the minister has tabled the statement to parliament giving his
reasons for ignoring the advice of the selection panel, as required by the
legislation. If he has, perhaps those statements explain why Guthrie and Gersh
are the most qualified candidates to provide governance of our most trusted source of news.
Despite the selection
criteria set out in Conroy’s legislation, the ABC board now includes no one
other than the staff-elected director and the managing director, Michelle
Guthrie, with media experience and, despite the full board having been
appointed by this government, they seem unable to make a case to maintain the
ABC’s funding.
But the biggest danger to
the ABC is the government’s agenda to reduce its digital services, and it’s
here where the ABC – and, in this case, SBS as well – face a truly existential
threat. The so-called “competitive neutrality inquiry” into the national
broadcasters, currently underway, has ostensibly been launched to satisfy Pauline Hanson’s demands for an
inquiry into the ABC in return for her support for last year’s appalling package of media “reforms”, which will
reduce diversity and local content across the commercial broadcast media.
Don’t believe it for a
second. While Hanson’s hatred of the ABC will assist any future government
moves to neuter the broadcaster’s digital activities, this inquiry is yet
another gift to News Corp and the commercial media organisations, who have been
baying for the ABC’s blood since it arrived on the airwaves more than
three-quarters of a century ago.
The $30m of government money given, apparently with few strings
attached, to Foxtel last year was really just “compensation” for the fact that
the commercial TV operators got a windfall gain with the abolition of their broadcast licence
fees and
replacement with spectrum fees. This saves the broadcasters around $90m per
year (money which is forgone government revenue, by the way) so, of course,
Foxtel had to be similarly rewarded for … running a commercial business in a
competitive market.
Read the full article here.
North Coast Voices, 12 May 2018,"Time to show support for the ABC"
The ABC provides vital local news services, as well as things like emergency and bushfire warnings. Every time the Liberals cut the ABC’s funding they hurt local communities.— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 18, 2018
SIGN THE PETITION ⬇️https://t.co/pNIFrLik2q
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