[Forum] In response to R. Hall’s letter to the editor that appeared in edition 250, it is Tory policy to cripple the ABC for refusing to toe the conservative line.
It is inevitably either the death by a thousand cuts, or by forcing them to compromise their integrity by accepting commercial advertising, so don’t expect Lucy Wicks to go against her own party.
What other facility has the means to conduct emergency broadcasts during bushfires etc?
What other facility is not afraid to question authorities, lest they upset their sponsors?
And what other facility could provide cyclone warnings to the Pacific Islands until Radio Australia got shut down in 2017?
Internet access is all very well, but it tends to require electricity (a somewhat scarce commodity during a typhoon);
a battery-powered short-wave receiver will do the job quite nicely, and it is even possible to buy a clockwork-driven radio so even batteries are not required.
I hesitate to use the term ‘The Lucky Country’ as those who do have invariably not actually read the book, but why must we be technologically backward in a country so full of potential?
Email, Jul 13, 2020 Dave Horsfall, North Gosford