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Annie Nielsen, Parramatta Friends of the ABC
The formatting of this submission may have been altered due to the processing required for publication on the Department's website.
The ABC is vital to give Australians unbiased information on all current affairs issues that affect Australia and also to inform people about what is happening overseas. The ABC also must give unbiased information about environmental issues.
To be able to do all that is required of it, the funding to the ABC must be increased. They function on a shoestring and more funding is essential. There has been a reduction in quality due to the funding not keeping up with inflation and in fact being cut.
Programs that should be restored are Eartbeat to inform us on current environmental issues, and the Natural History unit that provided quality programs on Australian nature. These programs can make a lot of money when they are sold overseas and inform people overseas of Australian culture and Australian flora, fauna and geological features.
The ABC is crucial to people in the country, some of whom can't access other media. They need the information provided by the ABC such as rural business advice, weather forecasting and just general keeping up to date.
Radio National keeps me informed of issues that are not heard on any other medium. Radio National shouldn't try to appeal to young people as they have JJJ and local radio. The programs that are due to be cut should be kept, especially the 8.30am programs. The current audience enjoys these programs and deserve to have them continue.
It is really important to keep the ABC without advertisements and independent. There is no equivalent radio and TV in the US and I believe many thousands of people access many of our good quality programs from the internet. If necessary I would pay a fee to keep the quality that we have.
SBS also has some excellent programs and when the ABC TV has a program that doesn't appeal to me I will switch to SBS or TVS to get other good quality programs.
Annie Nielsen