I have in this thread and others spoken of my view Tony Abbott has misread his mandate, in fact he can claim in my view only this.
Australia wanted to dump the ALP.

Labor must confront it too, for some,are using thinking like that, to avoid considering the views of all voters.
Only a very few even think covering up our faults is a plan.
Bill Shorten is brilliant.
But Howes lead by far in the last month .
If Labor is to win the next election it must present views and policy,s voters want, not white washed wrongs about to be relieved if we help or not.
Only the best should serve.
12 months ago a threat to free speech/the ABC was unheard of, we by our own mistakes empowered An Abbott victory.
It is far past time we looked at our selves

Dear Belly,

Good Morning, and Happy Valentine's Day - to you and yours!

I'm back, and have been reading some of the illogical
and irrational comments on this thread.

My husband, who's spent many years working as an architect
and project manager finds a great deal of fault in much
of what he hears in the political environment. He doesn't
believe in any political party but like me prefers to
analyse what each party has to offer.

He finds fault with them all but is at present very disappointed
with the current government. In his opinion the current government
is doing considerable damage to the nation under the leadership
of Mr Abbott.

As far as the ABC is concerned - Martin Flanagan had an interesting
article in The Saturday Age, February 8th, 2014. Flanagan pointed
out that - "for the past month The Australian has had article
after article attacking the ABC."

It claimed that "the ABC pushes a left/green agenda. And that's
the politics at play here as News Corp would have us see them,
the ABC, the greens and the left on one side - and the mass
of ordinary decent Australians on the other."

Sound familiar?

You betcha!

Flanagan tells us - "that argument is fake. Phoney. BS.
Polls show that the mass of ordinary decent Australians have
consistently shown regard for the ABC. Australians have believed
that it was indeed "our ABC."

Barnaby Joyce confirmed this on "Q and A" recently - just how much
rural Australians relied on the ABC. However as Flanagan points
out, "it may not be for much longer." Flanagan expects the
ABC "to be destroyed in all but name within a few years."
Who's going to stand up for it? Malcolm Turnbull?
Hardly.

cont'

cont'd ...

Dear Belly,

Flanagan tells us that "Rupert Murdoch is the most
successful right-wing radical of his era. His media
outlets - and that means most newspapers in Australia
give direct expression to his will. And Mr Murdoch
as with the BBC, is ideologically opposed to the very
existence of the ABC... The ABC and the BBC Also
occupy areas in the media market that Murdoch feels
they have no right to and into which he wants to expand."

Flanagan tells us that "the current basis for the attack on
the ABC, is its coverage of the asylum seeker issue.
That matter was well dealt with by Paul Barry on "Media Watch"
this week."

And as Flanagan argues, "Media Watch is just one example
of something the ABC does well." Flanagan asks the question,
"What is News Corp's equivalent in terms of public scrutiny
of its organisation? The Levenson Inquiry?"

Foxy welcome back. Well said yet again. Its indeed our ABC, and its Murdoch's News Corp, end of story. Concentrate all the media into the hand of a Rupert Murdoch and it would be 'A Brave New World' for us all, I dread the day it comes to pass.
p/s Totally unrelated. My partner and I have been invited to our first legal 'Gay Marriage' by 2 friends of our. The wedding is to take place in Aotearoa in June. My partner is very excited and fells honored that she has been asked as a Maori elder to perform the Powhiri (Maori welcome, which is always always done by a woman).

Foxy,

The authorities on which you rely are your claimed spouse and a footy journalist.

Disregarding your sorry choice of 'experts', what other people or private companies do is irrelevant to discussion of the raison d'etre for the ABC and holding it accountable, and publicly accountable it must be because it is funded by the taxpayer.

While it is a usual ploy for those who are in need of a defence to point the finger elsewhere, that is only a diversion and is never a counter to the criticisms before them. More 'pub' and 'Bingo' emotional rhetoric, never a logical argument.

The question "What business case can be made for the ABC?" has been put on many threads, yet no-one can answer it. It is about governance and expenditure priorities for government too. Maybe you can try, with or without the assistance of your spouse's lips moving in keeping with your fingers.

otb,

You are irrational and illogical.

If you were
rational and logical you would see the reality of the
situation.

Unfortunately you, like our current Prime Minister, have the
off-putting habit of blurting out highly inappropriate
egregiously offensive, inadvertently revealing, utterly
idiotic comments. In all, always showing us
a negative short-sightedness, from a petty, small-minded
man. Your opinion here is neither wanted,
nor respected - and usually is, and should be, ignored.
You are decidedly unequal to the task of intelligent debate.
Go pollute elsewhere.