Triple J should be privatised and sold “immediately,” according to a Liberal senator who has argued that the Government-funded national youth station is popular enough to stand on its own too feet.
Influential new Queensland Senator James McGrath made the demands for Triple J to be sold off to the commercial sector in his maiden speech to Parliament yesterday, in which the Liberal member called for the privatisation of the ABC if it failed to address criticisms of left-wing bias, as ABC News reports.
“Triple J, because of its demographic dominance and clear ability to stand on its own, should be immediately sold,” Senator McGrath, who was a former deputy federal director of the Liberal Party, told Parliament.
His address, which also called for GST increases and abolition of federal health and education departments, demanded a review of the ABC’s charter, claiming the public broadcaster solely represents “inner-city leftist views.”
“As someone who grew up in regional Queensland, I grew up with the ABC but the ABC has left people like me and my constituents behind,” McGrath said. “I want to support the ABC. I like the ABC. Yet while it continues to represent only inner-city leftist views, and funded by our taxes, it is in danger of losing its social licence to operate.”
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The senator, who successfully directed the Liberal National Party’s 2012 election campaigns in Queensland and the Northern Territory, says that if ABC fails to make “inroads to restore balance” from its perceived leftist leanings, it should be sold to the commercial sector and replaced by a “regional and rural broadcasting service.”
It’s not the first time that the Liberal Party has made noises about privatising ABC and the Triple J network. Just a few weeks ago the Lewis efficiency report, commissioned by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, caused a stir for recommending ABC dump Triple J’s Unearthed and Double J digital radio brands to cut costs.
