At noon on 31 January 2017 the ABC switched off short wave radio transmission of Radio Australia, reportedly because the technology is out of date.

http://nick.nxtmps.org.au/media/releases/axing-abc-shortwave-radio-will-hit-thousands/

The switch off occurred suddenly without debate.
Surely that switch off is in breach of ABC Charter.

Replacement of short wave with ABC claimed 'modern' FM and AM broadcasting is absurd because those signals will not reach remote regions.

News of movement of likely desperate and dangerous criminals and illegal 'immigrants' and also news of spread of human and animal disease is now limited.

Loss of news about Tsunami and cyclones may now not be heard and resulting loss of life and property seems inevitable.

Radio New Zealand and China Radio International short wave can still be heard sometimes but Radio Australia short wave was the strongest and most reliable source of Australian news and weather throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Every ocean voyager has at some time gained information via ABC short wave.

I feel that loss of Radio Australia short wave involves loss of influence and respect for Australia. I have just returned from the Pacific Islands. Australia has virtually vacated remote regions.

Senator Nick Xenophon is this week is in need of bi partisan support in the Senate to have that short wave turned back on.

Can anyone here on OLO urgently phone or write their local MP to help Sen Xenophon get that bi partisan support?

Yes. I can't understand the 'it's old technology' excuse. It is old technology, but were is the new technology to replace it? As far as I am aware, there are places that only short wave can reach. Is there something we don't know about yet?

Sounds like an important service has been discontinued.

I saw another disgrace today which made me sick.
Australia Post; I honestly think it's time to boycott them.

http://abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/australia-post-senior-executive-salaries-revealed/8249728

I consider it contempt towards Aussie taxpayers when a public servant claims the public do not have a right to know how much taxpayer dollars they've decided to pay themselves (when many are being paid more than our Prime Minister).

AC
You sound like George Soros the world destroyer . But Auspost is profit driven and neither you or George have a leg to stand on.

Nick,

The whole of Australia is profit driven and it has to have leadership.

Besides the post office was developed by taxpayers.

Hey nicknamenick,
Boycotting Australia Post; yes it does feel like I'm now willing to go to war on myself a little.
I didn't feel good writing it but what else can I do?
I certainly cannot support what they're doing so my only option is to oppose it.

The letter business isn't profitable, and I see it as an unnecessary government expense all the paper and mail when we now have email.
Dear government 'Don't you dare talk to me about the climate change or recycling or any of that environmentalist feel-good crap'.

Understand this point Nick, public servants work for us, we don't work for them, and that is why the person representing Aussie Post who said Aussies don't have a right to know how much they pay themselves should be publicly bitch-slapped and then fired immediately.
(preferably from a cannon)

I imagine we could give full time jobs to at least 200 people for the same money we spend on just the 4 or 5 people mentioned in that article.

Up to a point , the travel expenses and party donations are a sort of profit. The military have "assets" not equipment and probably have "customers" not enemy troops. So when they detect enemy transmissions the army and navy can send service emails and say "enjoy the rest of your day , is there anything else I can help you with?"

I cannot see what Australia Post has to do with the cessation of a short wave radio service. But, now that it has been mentioned, AP profitability might be improved if they reduced the CEO's $5 million p.a. salary package.

No mere public servant is worth that much money. Anybody worth that much is working in his own business, generating enough profit to pay himself that much or, he is working in a large private company ensuring high profits for a company prepared to pay that much with its own money, NOT THAT OF TAXPAYERS.

This character who apparently is not good enough for the privates sector also receives bonuses, irrespective of how well the organisation he is SUPPOSED to be managing is performing.

Just what does he do to receive a $5 million package from TAXPAYERS?

Maccas and KFC both sell chicken and the ABC shops may move into stamps, parcels and bill payments as Auspost sells books and toys.
Dept of Education may sell car licences to Yr 9 and run its own trains / bus connections with special rates for MPs at New Year and the footie.

Ttbn.

I think there is similarity between switch off of Radio Australia short wave, and the huge Aus Post salary.
Both are unjustified and senseless.

When you get way out back there you do need HF radio.
There are digital HF radio systems available but not many receivers.
The modern car is rather pathetic as far as its antenna is concerned
and so is very poor on the MW (Medium Wave) broadcast band.

I did a trip up through the west of NSW and Queensland to the NT.
Came back through Alice Springs etc.
The broadcast band in daytime was next to useless away from towns.
I used the ABC SW HF radio service and was able to use it all day.
I used ABC and New Zealand radio as well as the BBC in the afternoon.
The BBC was not much good in the morning.
The Voice of America was still on air at that time.
The ABC had a number of stations in the 6 Mhz band radiated from a
number of different locations so they were always available.

I suspect that the reason for closure is the electricity price.
These transmitter are quite high powered. I know that some were 50KW
although the ones for the outback service may have been lower perhaps 10KW.
I remember a joke about Radio Australia in Darwin, the town could
tell when it was on as it dimmed the lights.

"The ABC said shortwave technology was out of date and it would save $1.9 million by cutting the service, "

" Radio Australia's audiences.. The move will save an estimated $2.8 million dollars a year "..

1.9 , 2.8, 5.6
yep , exactly the amount of Auspost top job. Thank goodness we're square.

Farmers and agricultural industry are big losers from ABC shutdown of the seventy years of short wave broadcasting.

Australian presence in the remote Asia Pacific region is now greatly reduced. Australia is not there anymore. Rice from Australia is being replaced with rice from Asian countries and Australia is doing nothing in public relations except cutting Australia off further.

The Australian ABC has shot itself in the foot if electricity cost is anything to do with reason for shutting down the short wave.

It has been the ABC that has pushed and pushed with the emissions trading hoax that has caused electricity cost to unnecessarily increase.

This is not just about NT people losing remote communication on the road and while camping. How an campers carry a $600 satellite dish to receive broadcast.

This is about loss of communication for all remote and travelling Australians and others throughout the Asia Pacific region.

What does Prime Minister Turnbull say face to camera, about this loss and whether or not the switch off justified?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-20/abc-defends-shortwave-axe-radio-nt-emergency/8134690