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A Smarter Government for a Smarter Country

We all know that governments hate independent public broadcasters because one of the main responsibilities of the latter is to examine in depth the pronouncements, intentions and actions of the former. All governments, therefore, have a lesser or stronger desire to curb, cripple, control or abolish the national broadcaster.

It is currently also fashionable to privatise everything and so reduce the involvement of government in the economy, which makes it all the more difficult to justify the expenditure of $460 million on our national broadcaster, the ABC.

Yet there is another basic principle, which is that a country should build on its strengths - it should lever up, not level down. It is not sufficiently realised that we in Australia have in our ABC a priceless asset, a jewel of excellence which very few countries can match. Other countries have let their public broadcasters atrophy through starvation of funds, or allowed them to deteriorate through privatisation - which means commercialisation, which means goodbye to quality.

In Australia, we still have, in our ABC, a high quality organ providing a major function in our society in a manner vastly superior to that in most countries, though incomprehensible to many who have never known such cultural abundance, such depth of approach and breadth of appeal.

So is it really smart for governments to persist with their paranoia towards our ABC? To keep trying to starve it of funds, stack its board with their mates, and threaten it with commercialism - just to save 0.3% of the federal budget or to get rid of an irritant?

Or would it not be a lot smarter to recognise that here we have something of immense cultural value, built up over 67 years, which is the envy of many nations, and which should be given every encouragement to pursue its charter and do what it does best? That is, to produce programs which stimulate ideas rather than sell products; which educate, inform and entertain; which are rich in Australian content, providing incentive and employment to our own wealth of creative talent.

Just imagine the explosion of creativity such a positive approach could bring about! Recall what happened to our film industry when it received encouragement and financial support.

And would the government that adopted this approach not deserve considerable kudos - for having the courage to go against the world trend, for showing that it was big enough to tolerate an independent voice in the community, for refuting its critics by recognising the value of culture in our society and for showing that the bottom line is not the only yardstick of value.

Oh, for such an enlightened government!

PETER BURKE, St Ives, NSW

Missing news: the soon-to-go-missing posties

I was sitting with a friend in her tiny front garden in the city, in Adelaide, when her friendly postie popped his head around the gate and asked if he could post anything for us. 'You mightn't have the service much longer,' he said.

He was talking about government plans to contract out delivery services of Australia Post and the fact that he might lose his job. 'The Missing Postman' was no joke. What shocked me was that I had read nothing in the papers about this - and I am an avid newspaper reader. 'Well, you wouldn't,' he said. 'Murdoch is one of the groups pushing for the contracts.'

The Australian and The Advertiser obviously did not deem it newsworthy The worry about the power of the media owners is not how they twist the news but what they leave out in their own interests.

JO HARRISON, Eden Hills, SA

ED: Apparently the deregulating legislation is ready-to-go in the House of Reps but has been put on hold following the defeat of the Kennett government and the strength of resentment in the bush.