Features to be significantly changed. Decommissioning of 360documentaries, Hindsight, Encounter, Into the Music and Poetica… One possible redundancy with the merging of Books and Arts Daily and the Weekend Arts teams… By Design and RN First Bite to be axed."
—The Guardian lists some of the casualties of the ABC funding cuts.
As our government literally decimates the national broadcaster, I'm even more conscious of the need for the ongoing telling of Australian stories in whichever way we can.
We take a lot of pride in where we come from. As Melburnians we're constitutionally required to be parochial. Once every 18 months or so I travel to New York City and I marvel at its inhabitants' parochialism. They put us to shame. I've travelled to Austin, which has the unique position of being a parochial enclave inside of Texas, itself probably the most parochial place in the world.
I'm speaking about parochialism as a virtue, which opposes my personal economic beliefs for globalisation. But the two concepts can and should co-exist. Continue reading