BY JAMES VASSILOPOULOS
CANBERRA — Ten thousand people marched to save the ABC on February 11, in an enormous show of the support the national broadcaster has among this city's population.
From the point when Canberrans began gathering at Regatta Point, by the shore of Lake Burley-Griffin, from 10 am, it was clear that this was going to be the largest rally about any issue in the city for a decade. Forty-two percent of the city's residents only listen to ABC Radio.
Protesters were largely middle-aged but there were significant numbers of young people present. Banners were carried by a range of unions, including the Community and Public Sector Union and the Australian Education Union, and by political parties from the Democratic Socialist Party to the Democrats.
While the march on Parliament House was more like a gentle stroll, the Friends of the ABC, which organised the rally, and the DSP sought to add punch by chanting "B1, B2, ABC for me and you" and "Save our ABC, reverse the cuts".
Comedian Rod Quantock chaired the rally at Parliament House, which heard from actor Ruth Cracknell, Stateline host Quentin Dempster, John Highfield from The World Today and Seachange actor John Howard. No politician responded to invitations to speak.
Quantock said it was right for the protest to be at Parliament House. "This is the parliament that gave you mandatory deaths in custody, mandatory detention for refugees, and they continue that same feeling of compassion and care into their dealings with the ABC itself."
In a passionate speech he said "Neither the ALP nor the Liberals give a bugger about the ABC".
Quantock dismissed criticism that the ABC was too left-wing, saying "The ABC couldn't balance the right wing — News Ltd, the Fairfax press and the Nine Network — even if it was run by Marx and Lenin."
Dempster said that the ABC's funding has been reduced by 34% in real terms over the past 15 years and he told the story of the demise of Radio Australia, whose transmitter was sold to Christian fundamentalists.
Cracknell said that unless trends are altered "we may say that in the year 2001 the ABC began an irreversible decline". Staff numbers have been cut to 4000, yet there are 55 more executive positions than a year ago. Cracknell said there are still 200 more sackings to come.
Protesters unanimously passed a resolution that called on the government to support an immediate increase in funding to the ABC, guarantee the independence of the ABC, set up a parliamentary committee to appoint board members and make funds available for digital technology.
The Bananas in Pyjamas, B1 and B2, were not allowed by management to attend the rally, so hundreds of bananas were given to protesters to make up for their absence.