NickXenophon

28 January at 20:47

TRUCKED OFF! Garry Williams is a long haul truckie based in SA with Gilberts Transport Service, a great family owned business. He is pretty “trucked off” that on the 31st of January, ABC management in Sydney will kill off its shortwave broadcast from the Northern Territory which will affect thousands, including truck drivers, remote area communities in the far north of SA, and large parts of the Territory. The $1.9 million that the ABC will save is peanuts compared to their billion dollar budget and is a kick in the guts to Australians living and working in remote parts of Australia. Garry made the point that, for a large part of his trip to Darwin, from Tuesday he will be able to pick up shortwave broadcasts in Mandarin and Japanese and other Asian languages, but not from Australia’s national broadcaster which is relied on for news and emergency announcements. Shame. Along with my colleagues, I’ll be putting up legislation in the parliament to mandate that the ABC reinstates this critical service.