I feel prividleged to be quoted so often,perhaps I'm hitting a few raw nerves.

If people like Bob Carr knew something about business and economics ,perhaps NSW would not be in the mess it is in today.

I don't know about the likes of raving Bob Ellis, but, yes people like Andrew Ollie were magnificient,but also from a more disciplined era.

Too much leftism has made us too self indulgent.

In 1967 Graham Kennedy was 33 years old and was two years off his final IMT show, which first aired in 1957. In 1958 he won his first logie.

(http://www.theage.com.au/news/People/A-life-in-showbusiness/2005/05/25/1116950723374.html)

Thank God the ABC was around to offer him "unuseful, menial" employment so he could learn the ropes and be the success he eventually became, right Bob?

That one stood out to me as I read through the list so I checked, can only wonder how many of the rest shouldn't be there.

It's weird how you get some people whinging about overstaffing in organisations like the ABC because they are often the same people who then whinge about the unemployed not doing any work and living off taxpayers' dollars. Maybe they are unable to see the contradiction.

The ABC has made much of it's services to regional communities as a convenient hook at budget times but my recent experience is a real eye opener.

Property Rights Australia held a march in Brisbane on 12th August to protest against the destruction of some very fundamental civil rights under the Qld vegetation legislation. Rights enjoyed by drug dealers, paedophiles and murderers, like presumption of innocence, the right to remain silent, defence of innocent mistake of fact, defence of bona fide claim of rightetc, are not available to Qld farmers.

ABC Radio and TV were well aware of the march but made no mention of it in days prior, supposedly to avoid promoting political activity. But they did announce, as news, that students would be protesting changes to a hundred odd dollars in Student Union Fees, prior to their march a day earlier.

Neither ABC Radio nor TV carried any mention of the march by more than 200 farmers. Most had foregone an entire day off work to attend. They did include repeat cover of the student march, attended by only 50 students who could leave campus, do the march and be back for lectures within 2 hours. If the students had been faced with a 16 hour round trip then attendance would have been the big zippo.

The question is not whether the ABC is biased. The question is whether the ABC has totally abrogated it's democratic role as "media of record" for the rural minority. It is all very well to have the flagship "rural content" programs (read, smarmy bucolic voyerism for urban dilettants) but the real test of integrity is in the way delegated discretion over "newsworthyness" is exercised.

The ABC's capacity to avoid expert comment that might demolish blatant green propaganda is legendary. The resulting "balance" is invariably between a well prepared green "General" and an unwitting farming "Lance Corporal".

The quality of drama content does not bestow credibility to in-house news by association. The ABC obtains it's funding benefits by deception.

DavidJS, by your reasoning we can solve unemployment by giving everyone on the dole a job in government departments, any job, web surfer if need be. Or perhaps we could just make "welfare bludging" a legitimate profession, that would tidy up the figures wouldn't it?

You see people who work at the ABC _are_ living off taxpayers dollars, and are often not contributing to society sufficiently to justify their drain. They may as well be unemployed for all it matters to us "whingers", hence the criticism.

Very weird that you needed that explained.

I think you'll find the Federal Government has "tidied" up the figures in the way you just outlined. Not only that, they give people like Tony Abbott and Kay Patterson jobs.