We are not all in it together. The Chinese virus crisis has really brought out the hypocrisy and selfishness of 80% of Australians. We can never think of ourselves in the light of past myths again. All the pain is being borne by those least able to handle it.

i dont think sky news in the UK and Australia can be compared.

The UK channel is much, much better, probably representative of its centre-right commentators being far wiser and less inclined to rant.

Probably explains why British conservatives are more inclined to support climate change action.

again, i apologise to the Sky Australia day time crew which are much better.

Oh please and for heaven's sake! First, stop with critiquing the ABC because you hate their very non-partisan and unbiased accurate reporting!

Second, the is no versus here! We are all in this together and we are one and from all the lands on earth, we come!

And in either context, united and speaking with one voice as we ( THAT'S US, ALLOF US) fight our combined common enemy!

Grow up and stop with the patently partisan shite stirring! It doesn't kill a single virus, genius! AND HELPS NOTHING AND NOBODY! The divide and rule, business as usual, from the extreme right serves nobody and nothing!

Stop it or you'll go blind!
Alan B.

Reported this morning: the 49 case outbreak of the Chinese virus in Tasmania has been traced back to an "illegal" dinner of MEDICAL WORKERS.

Oh Alan B, I read it and didn't go blind... Perhaps your the one with the blinkered, convenient truth on the world!. Well written Dr Essery, it about time we stopped pussy footing around with the ABC, … and as for Ms Butrosee ….(Emperor Mal's mate form Potts Point), she to busy working out who can fly their personal jet to New York for Mal's earthshattering, worst selling blockbuster flop book!...

Best think about his impending book launch, its probably made his publishers to gag him, to prevent him torpedoing the book launch, which will of course have to be 'physically distanced'.

As for Sky news UK... Chris Smith, really?, its so left-wing and biased towards BOJO, it makes the 'Their ABC" look tame!

Alison Jane,

yes, as I said, Sky UK is much different from Sky Australia.

Glad you noticed.

Funny how any view that disagrees with you is left wing.Still waiting to hear your views on Boris Johnson given he supports action to address global warming.

Just curious, is left wing a dirty phrase? Do left wingers not have anything decent to say.

great article but will take a man like Trump who has the courage to call out the lying liberal left media. I think that finally the tide is turning as people have seen how ugly, deceitful and nasty many of the abc 'groupthink' Marxist are and how much overpaid many of them are while claiming victim status.

ttbn,

You tell us "the 49 case outbreak of the Chinese virus in Tasmania has been traced back to an "illegal" dinner of MEDICAL WORKERS."

You don't by any chance know if they were eating Wuhan bat soup at the dinner?

really runner.

So you think people no longer will trust the ABC for its news?

Do you think everybody is going to switch to Sky after 6pm to get educated?

Keep dreaming.

well Chris they are far more likely to get educated through sky then being totally brainwashed by the Marxist on the abc. Certainly in the US people voted for Trump despite the overwhelming opposition from the lying left Marxist press. Hopefully here in Australia the quite Australians and deplorables will increase as they reject the putried Marxist agenda swallowed only by the naïve whom the 'elite' love to use.

Oh God, this bloke never stops.

Terms like 'deep state', 'George Soros' and then this “Your resistance to 'their ABC' demands over Christmas Island has saved Australia from a far more severe impact.”

No it didn't. All of the two hundred people from Wuhan detained on Christmas Island flew out after their two week quarantine without a single case of Coronavirus having been detected among them. Whatever your stance on Christmas island gilding the lily with such verbose infatuation for Scomo is par for the course for this author.

Well never let a fact get in the way of a half baked conspiracy.

What a lowball effort.

Four references on the theme that we really are altogether re the all-the-way-down-the-line-effects of the coronavirus pandemic

The Impossible Has Already Happened by the ever marvelous Rebecca Solnit

The Coronation by the visionary thinker Charles Eisenstein

Two essays by Patrick Lawrence featured on the truth-telling Consortium News website:
Our Post Pandemic Future, and The US Defies Common Humanity During the Pandemic.

runner, it is a pity that Australia does not have a source of media that is balanced.

What we have is the ABC and Sky, where bias is evident on both sides.

maybe that is as a good as it gets in our liberal democracy, but i would like to think we can be better one day.

i like how it was on PBS Newshour with Shields and Brooks.

man to man debate with top class thinkers over bias any day.

Chris,

ABC bias is the result of its preponderance of and association with intellectuals as opposed to the commercial media outlets that are traditionally associated with meatheads.

'What we have is the ABC and Sky, where bias is evident on both sides.'

Yes Chris and the abc receives over a billion a year from you and me to demonstrate their bias while Sky raises their own money. Big difference.

I take it back, we're not all in this together the same right-wing loony tunes think that this is yet another opportunity to smash honest unbias reporting and fact-checking!

No names no pack drill. But I know you all know who you are!
Alan B.

Bemusing if you support Chris Lewis on something he writes you’re his best mate, but he is obviously a lefty, per chance a troll like ‘steel-rednuts’ et al, because if you support ideas that he hates, like Essery’s ‘opinion’ your deemed inferior and he tries to twist the facts around bojo. If bojo is foolish enough (or has too much vested interest in CCC, as the UK government does) then that’s his choice. He was elected. Just because I disagree with UK CCC policy (as many do), doesn’t mean he is and will not make a good pm….. its not a Marxist dominated world or ‘1984 utopian’…in Australia, UK, USA ,,,yet!

Funny how come he likes pre-6pm Sky but deplores post-6pm. First, most of us work during day, so don’t see it and must slum it with post 6pm trash….. hmmm seems like Chris Lewis et al have a cushy permanent or lucrative consulting job that allows him to watch daytime tv… hope he isn’t driving and watching sky in daytime! That would br naughty!

Chris Lewis has told us that he is a cleaner, AJ. Nothing cushy about that. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder about everything. He deems anyone who doesn't think the way he does to be a bully and a right wing thug. Waste of space, really. Best ignored.

ttbn,

I bet Chris has more chance of getting into Heaven than you and your Pells Angels have.

Depends upon whether you want the truth or Alan Jone`s version.

Less tit for tat.. Can all you lovers of " their ABC" answer the points made re "their ABC"'s behaviour, specifically as the author states :-

"Objecting to the PM's Christmas Island strategy including accusing the Australian Government of racism and discrimination against Chinese nationals.

Dr 'Stormin' Norman Swan has become their alternative chief medical officer, issuing contradictory advice to the official Australian Government Chief Medical Officer who has displayed true professionalism and stability.

'their ABC'has daily issued challenges to the Government advice/actions. Eg their demands for school closures have been classic campaigning against the incompetent "Scotty from Marketing".

Having caused this alternative view confusion, 'their ABC' then blamed the Government for its confusing mixed message that they had generated themselves!"

I await some intelligent, non-bitchy replies old chappies!

I saw on the news this morning that Soot 'Beam up me Scotty' Morrison is starting to dictate to the States that they should open up all of their schools and get children back into classrooms NOW.

One critic responded saying that Soot should lead by example opening up Parliament and filling all the benches with MPs and all the offices with staffers, etc.

And why not, Soot? Lead by example. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Come on Soot! Lead by example. Remember how you jumped into action and handled things during the 2019-20 bushfire crisis?

Come on Mr Opinion, sounding like a broken record, we know you hate the " Soot" - please explain the meaning ( I have heard Scomo, but " soot/")

We not address the authors contect and in particular
"Objecting to the PM's Christmas Island strategy including accusing the Australian Government of racism and discrimination against Chinese nationals.

Dr 'Stormin' Norman Swan has become their alternative chief medical officer, issuing contradictory advice to the official Australian Government Chief Medical Officer who has displayed true professionalism and stability.

'their ABC'has daily issued challenges to the Government advice/actions. Eg their demands for school closures have been classic campaigning against the incompetent "Scotty from Marketing".

Having caused this alternative view confusion, 'their ABC' then blamed the Government for its confusing mixed message that they had generated themselves!"

Is he correct?, and is it "their ABC" or "our ABC". If its "their ABC" let them raise the funding from the luvies and Friends of ABC, not taxpayer handouts and the over bloated salaries, eg Insiders, Drum, Q&A, 7.30 report, Mediawatch……

Oh and who was the greatest confusion of the bushfires by blaming it on climate change rather that the 10-15 years of fuel load build-up caused by CCC and green meanies? Yup 'their ABC", not the PM.

I wonder how long it'll be before one of the smarter people finds that COVID-19 was first diagnosed in China but didn't eventuate there ?

runner,

I agree with your point about ABC getting $1 billion public money.

I agree ABC should not rely on public money. there should be less money given and more reliance on its own funds. People will still watch ABC if it has the right shows.

After all, SBS is doing well with advertising, and PBS in USA relies largely on private donors and sponsors.

So Chris agrees that ABC should fund it sel. Great. As Essery said why not SBS 2.0? and let ABC find funding form the billionaires from Potts Point, Vaucloose, Toorak.... etal.

But Chris whats your opinion about the 4 points critical to the 'their ABC mentioned in the article and restated by me twice... What the matter, can't you state they are wrong, and hence agree that they are an issue that needs to be addressed before the next crisis opportunity comes along, and there will be many before this damn virus crisis is over.

All of us hate how money from taxes are going towards ideologies we disagree with whether it be gender bender garbage, gw religion or any religion for that matter. The worse thing to come from this virus is that Government who has stopped people making money will now be seen as the saviour in handing out borrowed money. Governments often create more problems with money than they solve especially when its been hijacked by ideologies. Let the abc continue to demonise innocent men, promote their gw garbage, demonise wll white males with any courage and allow the 300000 plus paid feminist to claim victimhood. Just don't use my money for it.

runner,
The dilemma we face is that a Degree holder is automatically deemed worthy of higher than award wages pay, not on merit & performance.
If an incompetent Tradie doesn't perform he's out the factory gate in a flash, whereas a Degree flasher can be as useless as a two-Bob watch & still receives "Award salary".
It doesn't seem to matter to Govt that their swamp is putrid to the extent of literally millions of Dollars spent on nothing tenable !
Hopefully the COVID-19 saga will make Govt look at this dreadful situation & bring some of these utterly unwarranted salaries down to where they match the earner's performance !

Alison Jane,

You said above "we know you hate the " Soot"."

Well, how would you feel if you got a letter saying:

"Mr Opinion. I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! Signed your bestest friend, Soot."

Alison Jane,

I have long thought that the ABC is far too biased. I too notice aspects mentioned in the article and by others.

i feel the Swan emphasis only faded as the Morrison govt's strategy proved successful and got the credit it deserved.

But none of this surprises me. of course there is strong sentiment within the ABC that opposes what the centre-right government does.

but I see the same bias on sky too.

I am happy watching some of both, but i reiterate my belief that public money need not fund the ABC.

As i have suggested before, the ABC has enough popular support to attract considerable advertising revenue and still be recognised and assisted on a smaller scale as Australia's public broadcaster.

Individual,

now i don't want to talk myself up, but i did get quite a few academic articles published, including two that defended the Howard government even though i was then a Labor voter.

When my work at ANU dropped, I actually wrote to many universities indicating i would work for a much cheaper rate as a research assistant.

but the system is entrenched and all job applications go before a panel and get compensated the same way.

i love the arts, but if i had my time again i would have done a different degree, one where I could prosper even if i tried to undercut the opposition in price just to get the work.

i believe in a decent minimum wage, but i always believed university work is overpaid. i often told my professor supervisor that.

Sorry mate but who is Soot? and if he said that then report him to the OLO editors! why is it so difficult to get you guys to focus on the articles rather than focus on bitchy fights of personality?

Dear Alison,

You aren't by any chance an engineer are you?

Chris Lewis,
I appreciate that you see where I'm coming from & yes, it is not fair to throw all of Academia in the same basket and, I assure you, I actually don't. The only way I can describe how I feel about Academia from personal experience is thus; The old saying "there is a bad apple in every crate" would apply to Academia in reverse as in "there is only one good apple in every crate".
Academia in my view actually brings it on itself by not having a clear distinction between someone who has graduated & is of no value to anyone & someone who has graduated & became a valued & responsible member in society !
The basic academically educated should not be called an Academic, they should have another description. I mean there are Scholars & Academics but what do you call the useless hangers-on with a Degree ? In the Public service for example it is now almost impossible to land a position without a Uni degree, yet many of these "educated" people are failures as is obvious by the state of affairs of various Departments.
How many times do we hear calls of "these incompetents in Govt" etc. How is it they're incompetent despite having above average education ?
Where is the stumbling block in the system ?

Individual, I have been in both camps ( Academia and Bluffocray) and industry.. yeh I am in my third trimester of life ( senile if I recall Aidan latest thrown stone). T

he answer is the senior culture of the bluffocray and nepotism. Until there is an independent body that vets and runs selection process and promotions, it will, as it is in the Rum-Corps state of NSW anyway, going to fill the Bluffocracy with sycophants and ass lickers with below average intelligent and values... Upstairs/downstairs" style."

i have long thought best way to reward scholarship is to pay by academic publication, with journals rated by a board from across political spectrum.

that is assuming society and govt want to reward humanities scholarship.

my two pieces defending the Howard govt were done in my own time, one based on my PhD.

in the end, probably not a good career move given I was described by one former supervisor as an anti-Labor government scholar.

don't think my Home Insulation or Building the Education critiques went down well either.

Individual,

as for APS, I think there should still be a heavy emphasis upon entrance exams rather than marks alone.

This would allow people to get in without going to university because they are simply smart and have specific skills.

some of the students who get great marks don't really know much about the real world, but do well because they specialize in one area.

i think a good humanities degree, assuming one vales it, should encompass a broad range of subjects, especially about political economy/economics.

Chris Lewis,
The whole show started wobbling when mere success in answering multiple choice questions was considered evidence of intelligence, above any Trade certification.
Many Tradesmen/women are in fact more intelligent, competent & responsible than the majority of "Intellectuals", particularly the pseudo-type !

Individual, I could hug you...So feckin correct, your ever patient, senile, bigoted old tart, Alison Jane. I started out at 12 making sausages in the summer holidays, and left academia as a career in 1992.. I still despair at the crap I see come before me with all the BSC/PHD/MBAS? affiliations and gongs...

I still remember him as the most intelligent and balanced man on the freezing wing of an aircraft we were riveting (inside a hanger, so bloody cold with no wind)... and I so wish there were more of him in my 40+ year career since then. Paper means nothing. its knowledge, experience and commonsense that matters... in my 'senile, bigoted old tart' days post 60!

individual,

that is true of some tradies. also smart labourers going around.

however, there are a lot of tradesmen that are dumb as dog ...

You smug elitist, do you wish you were born on the better side of the tracks and fed with a silver spoon... my word, and i have interviewed and had to work with Phd' who had more intelligence than a flea... just about!

Charles Essery, Thanks for your article. I have noticed that some of the comments posted seem to argue that you are a right wing nut job and hence cannot see the forrest for the trees. May I reassure you, you are not alone with your views and well reasoned post. The ABC is not Australia's ABC any more. It has transmogrified into a voracious entity devouring taxpayers money while pursuing a deadly left wing agenda that ignores its charter and responsibilities. At some point in the future the ABC will have to face justice; it cannot be too soon for me.

Dear Pliny of Perth,

Please show me where you think the ABC has been "pursuing a deadly left wing agenda that ignores its charter and responsibilities".

If you want to claim the the dive to the right in this country should have been better supported by the ABC then state your case but to claim the ABC has shifted markedly to the left in its conduct during the last 3 decades just doesn't hold water.