The ABC is Breaking the Law... and Thumbing its Nose at Australians

The ABC is out of control. It is no longer a serious national broadcaster, but a taxpayer-funded propaganda machine for leftist ideology.

Take the ABC's latest act of contempt toward the Australian public as it openly thumbs its nose at its statutory obligations.

On X (formerly Twitter), ABC News has 2.6 million followers. Yet despite having more than a billion dollars in taxpayer-funded resources, this was the number of news stories it posted to X over recent days:

• 14 May: 2 stories
• 15 May: 2 stories
• 16 May: 2 stories
• 17 May: none
• 18 May: 2 stories
• 19 May: 3 stories
• 20 May: none

And on 16 May, ABC explained this, bizarrely posting:

"Not seeing as many ABC News updates here as you used to? Find us on BlueSky."

BlueSky is the fringe far-left imitation of X, an ideological bubble populated largely by activists and a known haven for paedophiles.  Last week, the ABC had fewer than 1,000 followers on BlueSky, compared to 2.6 million on X.

Even the eSafety Commissioner admitted BlueSky was so irrelevant that it did not warrant serious attention under the proposed under-16 social media ban because only "a very small number" of "probably 50,000 Australians" use it. By comparison, Australia has an estimated 5 million active X users. One hundred times more than BlueSky. So while ABC News posted just 11 times in seven days to its 2.6 million followers on X, over on BlueSky it pumped out:

• 19 May: 90 posts
• 20 May: 94 posts
• 21 May: 96 posts

This is not an accident. The ABC has openly admitted it is deliberately reducing its activity on X while diverting resources to BlueSky, in full knowledge that its posts will have less than 1/100^th of the exposure on BlueSky. The proof is there on BlueSky itself, where pathetically, with such a tiny following, the ABC is lucky to receive even a handful of likes or shares on many of its posts.

Why?

Because the ABC's activist class despises Elon Musk, despises free speech, despises political diversity, and despises the ordinary Australians who actually use X. And in doing so, the ABC is deliberately reducing the number of Australians who see its content.

If anyone in a commercial organisation made such a decision, they would be sacked immediately. If a company director indulged in a personal vanity project that knowingly sacrificed shareholder value by deliberately reducing the company's reach to its customers, they would be shown the door and escorted off the premises before they had time to clean out their desk. Yet the ABC has been allowed to get away with this conduct, despite openly flouting its legal obligations under the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983.

Section 8(1) of that Act requires the ABC Board to ensure the corporation performs its functions "efficiently" and delivers the "maximum benefit to the people of Australia". Creating social media content for either platform takes the same time, effort, and taxpayer resources. Yet the ABC chooses to post content heavily on a tiny fringe platform while deliberately boycotting X. This is not mere inefficiency, it is wilful waste and a direct breach of the ABC's legal obligations.

Quite simply, the ABC has chosen to waste taxpayers' money pandering to a tiny clique of left-wing activists on a failing platform. And it is plainly contrary to providing the "maximum benefit to the people of Australia" for the ABC to prioritise posting on an obscure ideological echo chamber with less than one-hundredth of the reach they have on X.

Yet despite these clear statutory obligations, we have heard nothing from the ABC Board; only silence in the face of an arrogant and deliberate betrayal of its duty. The ABC Board should be ashamed of itself. It has failed in its legal duty. Failed in its governance duty. Failed the Australian public.

Enough is enough. The ABC is beyond reform. The rot is terminal. It is beyond saving. And it is not incompetence. It is ideological sabotage by a captured organisation that holds ordinary Australians in open contempt. It is an arrogant, activist institution consumed by ideological obsession and protected by a weak and complicit board that refuses to do its job. The ABC Board and management do not care about their legal obligations. They are actively thumbing their nose at Parliament, taxpayers, and the Australian public, giving Australians the middle finger because they know the Albanese Government will shield them from any consequences while they pick up their paychecks.

No Australian taxpayer should be forced to subsidise this propaganda machine any longer. If the ABC wants to operate like a propaganda outfit, then let it survive on subscribers alone and post wherever its dwindling clique of followers wants. But while it takes a single cent of public money, it has a legal and moral duty to serve all Australians, not just its ideological masters.

The rot inside the ABC has metastasised so deeply that reform is impossible. This latest breach of its obligations is merely the newest entry on a very long list. The ABC is well past its use-by date, and it is past time for it to be defunded. No Australian taxpayer should be forced to subsidise this level of blatant bias, political activism, and contempt.

If we had a half-decent Communications Minister, she would be demanding the immediate resignation of the entire ABC Board. Instead, we have Anika Wells; a weak and hopeless minister more interested in parties and junkets than accountability.

Never has Australia had a worse government. But thankfully, there is hope on the horizon. One Nation has committed to defund the ABC... for the sake of our democracy, that can't come fast enough.  

“The ABC is our enemies talking to our friends.”
– Graham Morris, chief of staff to former Prime Minister John Howard