I should be relieved to hear that the simple obliteration of Abbott would cure all budget ills.

However the Treasury and others seem to believe it is more complicated than that. Doubtless the head of Treasury and other departmental heads don't believe that the ABC should be the sacred cow that always escapes savings either.

Lets see now, hospital beds or expensive talking heads on the ABC, I wonder what the electorate might choose? Your ABC or our kids killed on a narrow bridge on Australia's National Highway? A business case for the ABC please?

The ABC does not attempt to serve all Australians, yet believes it exists to buttress the myopic and narrow minded agendas of those who have seized its control.

Klaus, phone polls can easily be slanted. The trick is in how you write the question, and whom you target in your survey. As someone pointed out above, the majority of Australians would be unqualified to answer a poll on ABC bias in news and current affairs as they've long since opted to tune out.

While the ABC continues to give free broadcasts of the cricket, they can build enough goodwill to satisfy a phone poll. But find yourself outside of one of their lefty ideologies and you'll see there's no comeback. It's no longer cricket. They own the bat and the ball, and they'll bat for as long as they like.

Others above have pointed out the unnatural bias within the ABC regarding certain current topics. Yet I would like to point out another area from my experience. As an ordained minister working for many years within the Christian church, I find the atheistic slant within the confines of the ABC insidious and intolerable.

A large section of Australian society attend Bible believing churches every week, and more so this weekend; far more bums on seats than the AFL or NRL. Yet how is this reflected on the ABC? They'll again trot out more docos, and their resident 'experts' predictably spouting how it's all a con, a hoax, or some other negative insinuation.

The ABC has no concept of the meaning of the word 'balance'. Whenever I discuss this with ABC supporters, I offer them this challenge. If large sections of Australian society believe the Bible to be true and worthy of adherence, name one instance (even one, and it must be specific: name, date, etc.) when an evangelical, Bible believer was given the right to openly present the merits of that viewpoint? (They 'might' find something somewhere deep in the archives, but their atheistic bent far outweighs reality.)

The ABC is beyond reform. Ditch it or sell it.

Freedom of unregulated free speech, is arguably only left with the ABC, and some social media/blogphere, even though, political appointment, may have caused Aunty to swing further to the right, than is healthy for true representative democracy?
One of the first casualties of war is the truth, and there is little doubt that some media moguls are at war with the nation state and or the right to free expression, or just plain transparency/democracy?
People in power, regardless of the political persuasion or lack thereof, need to be held accountable, or made transparent by a truly free press.
And there will always be some who arguably want to remove or manipulate its last bastions or the crime commissions, who protect whistle blowers/investigative reporters?
There was a time, and before party political media moguls, when we could say a truly free press was true or apparent.
The patently political shock jocks and their, I believe, clearly confected outrage, or manufactured opinions and massaged public opinion, have changed all that.
As for bible believers, as opposed to thought control bible bashers?
Well fortunately, the latter are in a minority, with many Christians, yearning for a real return to the esoteric teachings of the original church, rather than the political establishments, and the pedophile priests/control freaks/thought police etc, I believe, that have replaced it?
Rhrosty

ABC-CHARTER

(1) The functions of the Corporation are:
(a) to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and community sectors and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to provide:
(i) broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community; and
(ii) broadcasting programs of an educational nature;
(b) to transmit to countries outside Australia broadcasting programs of news, current affairs, entertainment and cultural enrichment that will:
(i) encourage awareness of Australia and an international understanding of Australian attitudes on world affairs; and
(ii) enable Australian citizens living or travelling outside Australia to obtain information about Australian affairs and Australian attitudes on world affairs; and
(c) to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia.
(2) In the provision by the Corporation of its broadcasting services within Australia:
(a) the Corporation shall take account of:
(i) the broadcasting services provided by the commercial and community sectors of the Australian broadcasting system;
(ii) the standards from time to time determined by the ACMA in respect of broadcasting services;
(iii) the responsibility of the Corporation as the provider of an independent national broadcasting service to provide a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialized broadcasting programs;
(iv) the multicultural character of the Australian community; and
(v) in connection with the provision of broadcasting programs of an educational nature—the responsibilities of the States in relation to education; and
(b) the Corporation shall take all such measures, being measures consistent with the obligations of the Corporation under paragraph (a), as, in the opinion of the Board, will be conducive to the full development by the Corporation of suitable broadcasting programs.
(3) The functions of the Corporation under subsection (1) and the duties imposed on the Corporation under subsection (2) constitute the Charter of the Corporation.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be taken to impose on the Corporation a duty that is enforceable by proceedings in a court.

Hi all,

I just posted the Section 6 of the ABC Act 1983, exactly 350 words. If some of you believe that the ABC "violates" the Act you should demonstrate that. Just making ideological claims is not evidence of course. There has been a lot of research into such claims over the years, also under Howard, but the outcome has generally been that the ABC's performance was in line with the functions the Act, as section 6 prescribes. Of course I am a Friend of the ABC and of the excellent channel SBS as well. Suggesting a merger of these two channels while the number of ethnic groups in Australia is growing all the time is nonsensical. If Tony Abbott wants to get the voters even more offside than he already has he would be wise to fund the ABC properly, make sure is does not become dependent on advertising and forget about the mooted merger. Privatising the ABC would make no sense at all. We have several commercial channels already and most of them lean heavily to the right of the ideological spectre. If you must see broadcasting in that light thank heavens the ABC IS the balance.

Klaas Woldring

The truth lies in the middle. The ABC has always been the mouth piece of the Labor Party because they give them lots of money. The ABC do produce many excellent programmes but politically favour a left wing Govt control system.

The solution is an independent public election of the ABC Board instead of Govt control by either of our major political parties.