ABC Friends Tasmania asked candidates in all five Tasmanian electorates about their support for the ABC.

We put the following questions to candidates:

Q1 - Do you support restoration of ABC funding by $140 million per year, to be phased in progressively over 3-years commencing in 2026, and will you push for this if you are elected?

Q2 – Will you support the introduction of a dedicated fund to fully fund the ABC's emergency services?

Q3 – Will you oppose the privatisation of the ABC and guarantee that it remains free-to-access for all Australians: no ads, no subscriptions and no downgrading of services?

Q4 – Do you support additional funding to ensure that high quality ABC services can be received by all Australians?

Q5 – If elected, will you push for specific legislative and other measures to protect the ABC's independence?

Q6 – Do you support a change the indexation formula for the ABC to cover the impact of real-world inflation, including the cost of content production?

Q7 – Please indicate your level of commitment to supporting an independent and well-funded ABC (where 5 is the strongest commitment)

Q8 – How important do you consider the ABC to be in addressing misinformation and disinformation in our society (where 5 indicates very important)?

We also invited candidates to make any additional comments, which we have included.

Responses

Candidates’ responses are recorded below. While some candidates responded personally to the survey questions, the campaign headquarters for the Labor, Liberal and Greens Parties responded on behalf of their candidates. These responses were not always specific to the questions asked. We’ve thus had to interpret responses’ relevance to some questions.

ABC Friends’ analysis of these parties’ responses is available here

• The Labor Party’s response is available here.
• The Coalition's response is available here.
• The Greens’ Response is available here.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots parties appear to be hostile to the existence of the ABC. We recommend that those who believe the ABC to be an important Australian institution take these parties' responses into account when deciding their preferences.

No candidates in Bass responded personally to the survey.  

Adam Martin was the only candidate in Braddon to respond personally to the survey and added: ‘I enjoy nuance and sometimes [ABC] programs fail to convey this.’ 

Janet Shelley and Andrew Wilkie were the only candidates in Clark to respond personally to the survey. 

Andrew Wilkie added: ‘The ABC should be less Sydney-centric, e.g. more regional presence and production. There should also be more Australian content.’ 

Because he is a dual citizen, Owen Fitzgerald has withdrawn from the election.  

Peter George did not respond to the survey. 

*NR = no response 

Angela Offord added: ‘I do have concerns around ABC reporting and the 2021 Election reporting policy as it concerns equally reporting on the two major parties as “they will form government.” The electorate understands that the two major party paradigm is changing with 30 % people not voting for a major party in the last federal election and the likelihood of minority government. Yet the policy exhibits bias to the two major parties. Local ABC presenters hold these views as well whereas community newsprint demonstrate a more contemporary grasp of the changing political landscape. This a is very disappointing as I have long held the ABC to the highest standards of quality journalism. 

During the YES campaign and in coverage of Donald Trump’s dishonest tweets on “Truth Social” unbiased reporting has become reporting what someone has said and not saying that it is dishonest or untrue. This also applies to coverage of state politicians in Tasmania. Much airtime is given to one politician because he “always agrees to come on the program and speak to something” whereas it has been reported for years that the Premier will not. The validity of what is said is rarely questioned or reported and airing anything someone says, particularly an elected representative who should be honest, transparent and accountable to the people who have chosen them to represent them, without questioning it gives too much credit to the person saying it and none to investigative or even just questioning journalism.’