oh btw steelie I think Bishop was probably a little nicer to the air stewards than the fould mouthed Rudd who was known to go off at the drop of the hat.

Foxy Quote "The various events and dinners were undoubtedly an attempt to garner support and publicity - so desperately needed."

** If they delivered what the public wanted they would not need to do what you suggest the money was used for, the public would be onto the politicians if they tried to de fund them. **

SteeleRedux Quote "Julie Bishop managed to rack up $1.2 million dollar expenses bill including movie premiers and polo matches over the same amount of time. That is just a single government minister.

Yet not a single bloody peep from you. It seems it is not the spend that matters to you but rather that you loathe our public broadcasters."

** Notice how SteeleRedux can't comment on the article but tries to divert the discussion**
** Show me the article and I will put it up. But why don't you do it instead of criticize others. **

Philip S.,

The public supports the ABC - read the link
I gave earlier. And, the government who defunded
the ABC - is currently fighting for its political
life.

Foxy,
Doesn't say much for the ABC to resort to vindictiveness because this Govt expects them to tighten their belts, does it ?

Foxy - You and your links.

Gee I wonder why you say Quote "The public supports the ABC - read the link I gave earlier."

** YEP that is going to be unbiased. **

Simple fact is they do not have the support of the public.
_________________________________
Under the heading "Who We Are"
The Friends of the ABC (NSW) Inc., now known as ABC Friends NSW & ACT was established in 1976 in response to the funding cuts put in place by the Fraser Coalition government. In April of the same year a similar group formed in Melbourne where they took the name 'Aunty's Nieces and Nephews'. Since then, the Friends has defended the ABC against threats from both Labor and Coalition governments to compromise its independence and reduce its funding.

ABC Friends is not aligned to any political party, but is a lobby group that works on behalf of listeners and viewers of ABC radio and television to support the ABC (Click here for things you can do to help).

All office holders (click here for a list) are unpaid volunteers. This allows us to use the funds collected through membership, donations and events for campaigning and activities for members.

ABC Friends organisations throughout Australia cooperate to achieve the common objectives of fighting for the ABC and for its editorial independence. We support national initiatives including letter writing campaigns and lobbying of individual members of parliament.

For a national perspective on the structure, aims and objectives of ABC Friends click here.

We do not slavishly support everything that the ABC does and it is our policy to criticise the ABC when we consider that it has strayed from its charter or acted in a way that could jeopardise its long term future.

** Could not find anywhere how many actual members they have, for all we know you may be the only one. **
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Watching Leigh sales a couple of nights ago interviewing the PM, I could hardly believe my ears how she tried to entrap him rather than listen to his explanations as should be the job of a reporter. Reporters are no longer reporting, they force their opinions !