“I don’t want to imagine an Australia without the ABC.” -Benita Collings

Join the campaign!

From the GetUp team: Exciting news! More than 217,000 Australians have signed the GetUp “Save the ABC” petition and more than 6,000 GetUp ABC champions have already chipped in enough to run at least one high impact billboard in Tony Abbott’s electorate. It will run over the holiday period, turning up the public pressure to protect the ABC from cuts ahead of next year’s budget decisions. Read below for a message from Play School’s own Benita Collings ~

Hi NEVILLE,

Thanks for all that you’re doing to spread the word and protect the ABC.

It’s so important that as many people as possible support the campaign now, before budget decisions (and potentially cuts) are made.

The ABC is a treasured feature of the Australian mediascape for many reasons. It is the only station that is obligated by law to provide independent, balanced reporting, it’s free for all, it hosts uniquely Australian content and it provides kids with ad-free, educational programming.

I don’t want to imagine an Australia without the ABC and it’s clear from the polling and the momentum of this campaign that the majority of Australians feel the same.

If enough of us speak up now, we can demonstrate to our leaders that the ABC is here to stay.

https://www.getup.org.au/protect-our-abc

Let’s keep it going,

Benita Collings, formerly of Play School

—– Orignal email below —–

Since it’s nearly Christmas, everyone who chips in $5 or more will receive the exclusive “Protect Our ABC” bumper sticker delivered to them: https://www.getup.org.au/protect-our-abc

Dear NEVILLE,

It’s gone bananas.

In just 72 hours, the GetUp petition in response to the attack on the ABC was signed by nearly 215,000 Australians, and it’s still growing by the hour.

That’s incredible. And the campaign is just getting started.

Next move? Let’s put our message where it will have maximum impact.

Right now, we’re on the phones with media buyers to secure prominent, high traffic, attention-getting billboards inside the electorates of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. We’ll place them smack-bang on the roads where they, and the voters they answer to, live and work. Our message is clear: Australians want our ABC to remain free of ads, free from cuts, free to remain fair and balanced. They’ve secured some great last minute rates for us and are just waiting for the green light.

Will you chip in to make it happen? Click here to see where your billboard will run: https://www.getup.org.au/protect-our-abc

The recent government tirade against our ABC from inside the Coalition party room is not an isolated incident. Nor are the near daily slurs against the ABC published in hysterical columns of the Murdoch-owned press; or the motion passed just two weeks ago by the Victorian Liberal Party conference to sell off our nation’s public broadcaster. These attacks are simply the latest in the right wing’s long history of interference with the only broadcaster in our country that operates in the interest of the public, not profits.

Why? Conservative forces both inside and outside our government – which have Mr Abbott’s ear – are sowing the seeds for funding cuts, or worse, well ahead of budget decisions early next year. They want to see how the public reacts, gauge how much it’d cost them politically.

Let’s give them a taste. Will you donate to put up targeted billboards, run ads and facilitate a community visibility campaign over the Christmas break and months leading up to budget?

https://www.getup.org.au/protect-our-abc

Think this would never happen to such a widely popular public service? Think again.

When Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi called our ABC a “taxpayer-funded behemoth” and suggested that “we could perhaps cut the ABC budget and allow the commercial media operators to compete” – he was only picking up where many in the Howard Government left off. Howard famously stacked the board with right-wing cronies and climate deniers, and starved the broadcaster of funds until GetUp members rallied with one of our first big campaigns ever, back in 2006.

Now is the time to head-off the attack. As Mike Carlton wrote in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald:

“The next move is bleedin’ obvious. In due course, Abbott will instigate an ‘inquiry’ into the ABC, with a suitable stooge to run it and the result predetermined. It will recommend a reworking of the ABC charter to bring the place to heel and, most important of all, to kybosh any activities attracting audiences that Rupert sees as rightfully his. Then they’ll slash the funding. Bring on the Murdochracy.”

Not if we can help it.

We know the Australian public deeply values our ABC, and we’re prepared to remind any politician who forgets that they answer to us. Will you help turn up the pressure?

https://www.getup.org.au/protect-our-abc

For a free and fair independent media,

Sam Mclean, for the GetUp team

PS. Want to help take the message to the streets? Or your local shop window, car, computer or bike? We’re sending out awesome ABC bumper stickers now to every person who donates $5 or more to this campaign. Will you help B1