Our aim in this election was to get as many candidates as possible to complete a questionnaire which lists the six commitments on our national election platform and a seventh related to our Stronger ABC for Geelong campaign. Ideally we wanted to meet with them so we could explain the rationale for each commitment in detail.
Here’s a report on what happened and our rating of leading candidates’ support for a well-funded, independent ABC across the country with a stronger ABC presence in our area.
Our questionnaire allowed the candidates to answer Yes, No or Not sure. Those answers correspond to our green, red and amber “traffic light” ratings.
Libby Coker Labor Party
Libby is a former member of ABC Friends and great supporter of a stronger local ABC presence. She met us in November when our election platform was still being finalised, expressed her goodwill but warned that the budget is very tight and Labor was unlikely to promise any extra money during the campaign. Since the election has been called, her office has sent us a response to the questionnaire that doesn’t provide Yes or No answers except for an unequivocal commitment that the ABC will be kept in public ownership and free to access.
We ended up giving Libby and Labor amber ratings on the funding issues because they have increased funding across the board and may be open to further increases if the budget situation improves and/or the ABC Chairman and new MD make a strong case.
Darcy Dunstan Liberal Party
Darcy failed to respond to a series of emails, not even acknowledging that he had received them. In the end, his party’s campaign headquarters sent us an email on behalf of all the local Liberal candidates (in Corio, Corangamite and Wannon) that responded to the questions without directly addressing all our concerns and without ruling out future budget cuts. There was no mention of the enormous ABC funding cuts the Coalition made from 2014 on.
Our ratings are based on a combination of that email and known Liberal Party policy.
Kate LockHart Community independent
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Kate did sit down with us and fill out the questionnaire, agreeing to every commitment and adding her own suggestion that Geelong stories on the ABC be tagged to make them easier to find. She is very supportive of the Corporation and emphasises its importance to rural and regional Victorians as an independent and trusted source of information, particularly during emergencies.
Mitch Pope The Greens
Mitch also sat down with us and ticked all the Yes boxes on the questionnaire. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the ABC and his party’s platform includes explicit commitments to restore all the funding cut since 2014 and protect the independence of both the ABC and SBS.
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