The unprecedented bushfires this summer has severely affected my local community and my school community. It saw many people that I know, including myself preparing to leave our homes and head towards safer ground. In those hard and unpredictable times, we turned to the emergency broadcasts from the ABC. So I find it, thoroughly, insulting, that the government, would have the nerve to pause funding to the national broadcaster and cause at least 250 jobs to be lost. After the incredible work they did to provide free and trustworthy information to those who need it most. After this terrible event that changed and impacted on the national psyche. COVID-19 caused the closure and lockdown of the nation. Once again we turned to the ABC for reliable and trustworthy information; we relied on their work for regular heath updates and how to flatten the curve. Every day I’d tune into the nightly bulletin to see what the national case numbers were, and what action the government was taking. I am severely disappointed that the government would even consider a funding freeze on the ABC, in a time when regional papers are ceasing print and reliable information in the media had never been so important. As a young boy, my parents couldn’t afford paid TV. We relied on the children channels that the ABC broadcasted, for both entertainment and education. Even now there is nothing that compares to the ABC’s passion and dedication to children’s entertainment and education. When I was in year six my class would watch BTN and talk about the news and current affairs. I am disappointed that the children of today and tomorrow will not be able to experience the joy that it brought me.

By signing this partition you are showing the government that you care about a well resourced and independent national broadcaster. #RefundMyABC