From Invasion Day to the Hottest 100: what does the Coalition really want from the ABC?

‘The government … would really like for Aunty to be Aunt Sally: a target for sticks and stones that never dodges or fights back but stands, fixed in place, smiling and silent.’ Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

In early February the federal Coalition government announced it would end its three-year freeze on the indexation of funding for the ABC. Having reduced ABC funding by a total of $84m since 2019, the decision was a barely disguised effort to neutralise the public broadcaster as an issue ahead of the imminent election.

Given its record of overt hostility towards the national broadcaster over the past nine years, it is important to ask what does the Morrison government really want for the ABC if it is re-elected?