QLD Senator Says Triple J Should Be Sold 'Immediately'

16 July 2014 | 7:18 pm | Staff Writer

The ABC vs the Government, Round 16

Queensland-bred Senator James McGrath has made an incendiary debut speech in Parliament, with the freshly minted representative today calling for ABC youth radio station triple j to be privatised "immediately" among a raft of cost-saving measures that includes an increased GST and abolishing the federal health and education departments.

"Triple j, because of its demographic dominance and clear ability to stand on its own, should be immediately sold," Senator McGrath, a former federal deputy director of the LNP, said.

As the ABC itself reports, Senator McGrath's speech paid special attention to the broadcaster's wider alleged left-wing bias — which he indicated was an exclusionary atmosphere for himself and constituents like him — going so far as to say that its "social licence to operate" was in peril as a result.

"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," Senator McGrath said.

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"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."

Senator McGrath's comments come after a prolonged, bitter stoush between the federal government and the national broadcaster, and less than a month after a review commissioned in January by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused a stir after its results insinuated that dismantling the national broadcaster's digital radio service — including the fledgling Double J and triple j Unearthed services — would be an effective way to further increase organisational efficiency