Perth Voice Interactive

A QUARTER OF A MILLION people have signed a petition calling on the Abbott government to not cut funding to the ABC.

The whopping document was dropped off simultaneously at 60 federal MPs’ offices around Australia, including Labor’s Alannah MacTiernan in Perth.

More than 1600 Perth electors signed the GetUp! petition.

“We want the ABC fully funded, free from ads, free for everyone, because it is has fair and balanced news reporting,” says lead Perth petitioner Bria Ryder, a Greens party member and Mt Lawley resident.

“The ABC is balanced, not biased towards the left-wing.”

“I got involved because I want to make sure my federal representative understands how important the ABC is to our community.’

Ms MacTiernan, currently somewhere in the Kimberley, says for every ABC broadcaster like Phillip Adams—an unashamed left-winger—there is a rightwinger like Amanda Vanstone, a former Howard government minister, to provide commentating balance.

“I think they have balanced up the Phillip Adams side with other broadcasters who are more right-leaning,” she says.

She notes there has been plenty of research into claims the ABC is biased towards the left. The Howard government even set up its own inquiry, which determined the broadcaster was completely balanced and fair.

“This is not a recent address, you can go way back to Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America,” Ms MacTiernan says.

“The ABC is balanced, not biased towards the left-wing.”

In a 2013 GetUp! survey, the protection of public broadcasters from cuts and privatisation ranked amongst Perth’s top four issues.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK