A well-funded, independent public broadcaster is essential for a healthy democracy, the Australian Greens say.

“At a time when trust in politics and public institutions is so low, the ABC’s reputation as the most trusted news source must be protected and enhanced,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“I would like to thank Michelle Guthrie for her honesty and commitment to the ABC’s special place in the hearts and minds of Australians during her time as General Manager.

Media diversity in Australia has taken a hit today following the announcement of the Nine/Fairfax merger, The Greens say.

“This merger paints a sad reality of the media landscape in Australia. It is a dark day for public interest journalism,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“In this era of little faith in politics, and the rise in fake news, we need greater diversity and stronger public interest journalism. It is greatly disappointing to see our media diversity continue to be watered down.

The Australian Greens have announced today (Friday) they will introduce legislation to ban the import and sale of fake Aboriginal art, to overhaul the way Aboriginal art is marketed and sold, ensure its authenticity and protect the artists who produce it.

“For too long, Aboriginal artists have been ripped off and consumers have been duped by souvenirs imported to Australia from places like Indonesia and China where it is cheap to produce,” Greens arts and trade spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

A Greens’ motion congratulating the SBS for taking over television World Cup matches to Australian soccer fans has passed the Senate.

“The Liberals may put us all to sleep on their ramblings on letting the private sector provide services to Australians – but thankfully the SBS was there to wake soccer fans up from the nightmare that was Optus’s screening of World Cup matches,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Wednesday, 20th June 2018

After a week of national service outages, Telstra have announced they will be cutting a quarter of their Australian workforce in a bid to improve customer service, a move labelled by the Greens as “nonsense”.

Australian Greens Telecommunications spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said today’s announcement from Telstra was the inevitable result of the company’s privatisation over the last two decades.

The Liberal Party Council has exposed Malcolm Turnbull’s secret plan to sell off the ABC, the Australian Greens say.

“Malcolm Turnbull’s secret plan to privatise the ABC has been revealed. First it was doing a secret deal with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to ‘whack off’ money from the ABC’s budget, now this,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“Selling off the ABC is electorally toxic. The Liberal Party has shown today it is completely out-of-touch with the Australian people.

The Liberal Government has refused to rule out further cuts to the ABC and does not know the name of the Indigenous nation it is planning to place yet another memorial to Captain James Cook on, it was revealed in senate estimates today.

Australian Greens communications and arts spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked Minister Mitch Fifield and his department what Indigenous nation the monument would be erected upon during Senate estimates this morning.

Malcolm Turnbull’s 2018 Budget is the latest episode in this Government’s relentless assault on the ABC.

"The ABC’s funding has been cut by a quarter of a billion dollars since the Coalition won the 2013 election promising “no cuts to the ABC”," Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The ABC gets a funding cut while News Corp gets a tax cut.

"Pauline Hanson has demanded a cut, and Malcolm Turnbull has delivered. Pauline Hanson and One Nation are writing the Turnbull Government’s media policy.

“While the Greens support digital innovation and regulation, we’re never going to support throwing creative artists under the bus,” Greens arts spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“Our message to creative artists is unequivocal. We’re here to ensure the law empowers you, enables you, enhances you and emboldens you. The law should never impoverish you. Laws that hurt you hurt us, and we’ll fight them with you, shoulder to shoulder, day in, day out,” she said.

NBN Co is selling WA down the river with its worst technology - Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) – whilst Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the architect of this disastrous rollout, enlists taxpayer money and Departmental intervention to ensure his mansion gets 100mb per second speeds.

Australian Greens NBN spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said today, in light of figures released during estimates showing more than 60 per cent of West Australian’s would be stuck with the existing, ageing copper network, that WA deserved better.