We just need a licence fee for the ABC like the Brits have for the BBC. That way all the anti-ABC whingers can opt out of paying the licence fee, as long as they never watch the ABC. That would sort those who like to whine loudly and often because they don't like absolutely everything the ABC has to offer (news flash: nobody likes everything the ABC has to offer. Most of those 'talking head' programs you guys like to watch so that you can complain about them bore me to tears.) from those who really are dead-set against paying for a service they don't use.

And I bet you that if we did that, most of the whingers would still pay their licence fee so they could watch ABC. If they didn't, what would they have to whine about?

Toni,

I would call your bluff, and advocate that the ABC was funded by an optional license fee. The ABC would be gone in a year.

//I would call your bluff, and advocate that the ABC was funded by an optional license fee. The ABC would be gone in a year.//

I'm not sure you understand the nature of the licence fee, SM. It's not something you pay or don't pay depending on whether or not you feel like it; if you want to opt out you need to be able to satisfy the requirement that you don't use any of the services the licence fee pays for.

So no sneaky ticking the 'no licence fee' box because you're a crusty old Tory conditioned by the Murdoch press to hate public broadcasting, and then putting 'Play School' on for the grandkids when they come round, or tuning into Q&A because they've got Germaine on the panel and you want to see the fireworks. In the UK they can, and do, actually police it - the detector vans don't really work, they're just a deterrent to evaders. They just send people round to your house to check up on you.

Is there really nothing at all you tune into the ABC for?

And while we're discussing the unfairness of being forced to pay for services we don't use, what about the commercial channels? They're paid for by ads, and the people paying for those adds pass the cost onto us. My weekly shop - the weekly shop of struggling pensioners - wouldn't cost as much if businesses weren't paying hefty sums of money to prop up commercial networks filled with wall-to-wall crap, in order to have their ads broadcast in the breaks of programs that I don't watch because of their crapness.

And the only way I can avoid paying for that crap is to not buy anything, in which case I will die. Now there's a rort that needs sorting out. We should the ban the commercial channels from advertising so that businesses stop passing those costs onto consumers, then anyone who wants to watch commercial TV can pay a subscription fee, Netflix style. That way it's only user pays for commercial channels.

Shadow Minister,

As stated earlier - it would be difficult to agree with
every view expressed on the programs given on the ABC -
but it would be equally difficult to disagree with them
all. And it would be impossible to criticise any of them
as irrational or biased. The loudest voices in the
dominant outlets play a major part in shaping the views
which are expressed in news polls. Founding principles
and philosophy have disappeared as significant forces in
policy formation.

In these circumstances it is more important than ever to
have an outlet which is rational and principled, without
being biased to any social or political position.
That is why the ABC matters and why we should support it.
It is also why the Coalition government and conservatives
want to see it cut.

Tony,

A subscription with a paywall is easy enough to put in place.

Foxy,

There are many, many clear examples of bias in the ABC, and more than a few of publication of unverified information or outright fabrication.

The ABC is no longer considered the gold standard in journalistic ethics and would struggle to reach the level of Newscorp.

Shadow Minister,

Four Corners, Media Watch, Q&A, just to name a few -
lead by a mile
on anything NewsCorp has to offer.