I’m really glad that Senator Richard Alston is retiring from the frontbench. Richard Alston has been the worst Minister for Communications probably ever in Australia’s history. He privatised the National Transmission Network, which in the long-run has cost the government millions of dollars every year.

Alstons's taken funding away from the ABC and the ABC itself has had to bear part of the cost of the privatisation of the National Transmission Network. Alston’s tried to stack the ABC’s Board, and he’s tried to pressure the ABC to make itself biased in favour of the Howard Government.

Alston is the minister who presided over the privatisation of the first half of Telstra, and he’s tried to privatise the rest. That’s completely against the public interest. And he’s tried to take away the cross-media ownership laws, and in the process hand over almost complete control of Australia’s media to Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer.

So I say good riddance to Richard Goebbels Alston.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2003

Answers

Poor old Tom. Fairies at the bottom of the garden again! I hope I'm not accused of being a Williams staffer now!!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2003

I bet youre a member of the Liberal Party

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2003

Wrong again Tom! You just can't win!

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2003

Good on you Tom. Kate is just another heartless conservative who only cares about "the bottom line". Kate, run off with your fascist leader, Alston, and maybe you guys can start the "I want to screw the ABC as much as we can" Party. You could even have a big 'Let's get the Reds from under our Beds' celebration with a cake, each candle marking each of the atrocious decisions that incompetant oaf Alston has made to bugger up Australia even further. Should I remind Kate of the disastrous datacasting episode, the inability for people to uptake digital services in this country, getting rid of ABC Fly and KidsTv as a result of budget cuts, the whole schmozzle that is the cross media ownership laws, as being just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Alston idiocy. So long, loser!

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2003

Golly gosh --, scratch a raving lefty and they squeal like a cut pig! Never ceases to amaze me how the Howard haters at the FOABSC think that the taxpayer funded ABC is their own little domain. Despite being funded by all taxpayers and according to the ratings published in the Australian every Thursday, enjoyed by some 12-14% of the population. Of course Darce and Tom will reply with twisted logic and distorted interpretations of polls but me, I'll rely on the published ratings. Everyone else does!

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2003

Kate, you must be stupid or something. The ratings published in The Australian are entitled "Audience Share". That does not mean the percentage of the population who watch each televsion network. It means the percentage of people watching each televion network as a proportion of the total viewing audience at any one time. For most people that would be quite easy to understand. The fact that you can't means that you are stupid, and probably explains why you support the Howard Government.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2003

Your peurile response Tom, just proves my point.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2003

Unfortunately, Kate, Tom has it right once again. It is not 12-14% of the Australian population, but 12-14% of the entire AUDIENCE (that is, those who are watching tv in a particular week). Which usually only equates to 5-7 million people, or approximately one quarter to one third of the Australian population. Remember, too, Kate, that the ABC does not and should not try to replicate what the commercial networks are making. It is not in their charter to do so, which is a document you have obviously never read. If they did so, then we would have an homogenous television industry (look up "homogenous" in the dictionary, Kate), whereby you would not be able to distinguish one channel from another because they all had the same old crap on. From your argument, Kate, I can only summise that you would welcome the ABC having "renovation" style shows or "holiday/Getaway" programming on the ABC. Vacuous, supercilious, reactionary crap. Kate, the reason the ABC exists should be to provide those who want a deeper and more insightful analysis of Australian and World culture than the superficiality, sensationalism and blandness of "A Current Affair" or "Today Tonight" delivers. And remember, Kate, where have all the famous commercial network journalists such as Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Richard Carlton, Paul Lyneham, et al come from? As well as most of our greatest actors and commedians including Andrew Denton, Gary Sweet, "The Panel" guys, Shaun Micallef, Merrick and Rosso, Mick Molloy, Tony Martin, David Wenham, Claudia Karvan, Sigrid Thornton, etc, etc, etc. That's right, Kate - the ABC. The other networks are profit driven, that's the nature of their business. The ABC isn't. They only have one motivation - quality.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2003

Golly "filmsdart", you sure use big words! I've always found lefty FOABSC hard to understand. Their twisted math, their broad assumptions. Tell me, if all those "names" were once a part of the "quality ABC" then why did they leave?

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2003

Well, to be truthful, Kate, they haven't left. You see they come back now and again to work on QUALITY stuff that the ABC produces. Do I need to point out Sigrid Thornton and "Sea Change", or the girls from "Kath and Kim", who came back from Channel 7 after doing "Big Girl's Blouse". (And, Kate, remember that Kath and Kim is THE highest rating comedy series ever in the history of Australian television. And guess where it's on, that's right, Kate, the ABC). And let's face it, Kate, most actors do there best work on the fantastic quality programming that the ABC produces. That's because they have the artistic freedom to excell that you don't have at a commercial network.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2003

Oh, and one other thing Kate. I know all this because I used to work for many years as an executive at one of these commercial networks. I resigned some years ago after coming to the realisation that the stuff we were making was all drivel. (Yes, I really did resign because of this). I have never worked at the ABC but I have been an avid watcher, and it shames me to think of the crap we would make in commercial television compared to the ABC. It heartens me to think that so many people at the ABC are so committed to their jobs and to the production of excellent television. Good on them. And good on the ABC!

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2003

Kate kate kate

Are you really that worried about the political impact of a small group like this that you have to keep reading and replying with propergander of the right. Have you nothing better to do than stick with flawed arguemtments and repeat them over and over.

Kate this type of thing mey be in the republican tool book on spin and push polling but you have to be kidding. This is a forum hardly used by any body. It is small p politics and you seam to have a small pea brain

Kate get a life

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2003

Doh! At least I can spell!! Silly old me, I thought the ABSC and the FOABSC were not supposed to be political!

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2003