People need to discriminate between what they are arguing about
and why they are arguing.

I watched the Logies last night and saw former 7.30 Report
and Four Corners host Kerry O'Brien being given a standing ovation
as he was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.

I read Channel Nine's summary of the event this morning.
And it stated that the forthright O'Brien used his speech to call
for the ABC to be defended and for real reconciliation with
Australia's Indigenous people.

"The ABC is still forging its way through strong headwinds,
probably never threatened more than it is today by a combination
of forces - cash strapped in a
totally disrupted digitally-driven industry
and still confronting the same, sad ideological arguments,"
he said.

"My message to every person working in Aunty's embrace today is
simple, keep your heads held high and your eye firmly fixed on
delivering programs of relevance, quality and integrity for
people in every corner of Australia."

He also called on the Australian public to fight for the ABC,
citing the recent Australian Federal Police raids on the
broadcaster's Sydney headquarters.

"Don't ever again allow politicians to diminish the public
broadcaster. It is one of the most precious institutions we
have," he said.

O'Brien has worked for all commercial television stations and
the ABC, which he described as his natural home.

"The pursuit of excellence wasn't just permitted. It was expected," he said.

O'Brien has also won six Walkley Awards, one of them gold, and is
a member of the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

"Kerry doesn't need to be in this Hall of Fame but this Hall of
Fame needs him if it is going to be complete,
because it is for people like Kerry O'Brien
that Halls of Fame were invented,"
presenter Waleed Aly said.

This moment certainly hit the mark for me. It showed
the best of what we as Australians are capable of.

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

David Stratton's Stories of Australian Cinema
airs late on a Sunday night. Stratton discusses
the genre of Australian films and how many
depicted the "Ugly Australian," in the past.
He stressed that not much had changed over the
years mentioning the film, "Wolf Creek," which
he labelled as "horror." He warned of being
aware of the images that we present to other people
and our global reputation.

With that in mind we need to be aware of our own
words and postings on public forums such as this one.
Do we want to inspire people like Kerry O'Brien
obviously does, or do we we want to go down the path
of the character of "Wolf Creek?"

Best advice - think before you post and the effect it's
going to have on others.

""My message to every person working in Aunty's embrace today is
simple, keep your heads held high and your eye firmly fixed on
delivering programs of relevance, quality and integrity for
people in every corner of Australia.'

Let's hope the ABC hears this message.

Even ‘Crikey’ might be getting sick of every part of our lives getting politicised and something to fight about: On the left-wing website Crikey, Guy Rundle wrote how something could be done to stop the nonsense - by making institutions as neutral as possible.”Rugby Australia no more need a same-sex marriage plebiscite policy than Beaumaris Golf Club needs a Middle East peace plan”

ABC is my station, and as said here last night proved it remains Australia's
Fox/Sky fears it, wants it dead, so very much hey bought a government to try to achieve it