AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-2000
Vic: ABC supporters send Costello a Christmas message
MELBOURNE, Dec 24 AAP - A small band of ABC supporters have given Federal Treasurer
Peter Costello a festive protest message, `decorating' his Melbourne electorate office
with slogans decrying cuts at the national broadcaster.
About 6am (AEDT), the group, calling itself Stricken Auntie Needs Total Autonomy (SANTA),
converged on Mr Costello's Armadale office where they covered its two front windows with
Christmas decorations and a large slogan.
"All I want for Christmas is my ABC," it read.
One of the protesters, dressed as Santa, said at the scene: "Peter Costello is a scrooge,
and won't be getting many Christmas presents this year."
They were protesting specifically at scrapping of the broadcaster's science program,
Quantum, and the purchasing of programs, rather than producing them inhouse, as well as
budget cuts.
The protesters stressed the decoration and slogan were taped to the windows and, thus,
easily removed.
After the protest, SANTA spokeswoman Joanna Sender said the action was "polite" and "dainty".
Ms Sender said the Treasurer was targetted because "he basically controls the purse strings".
"And as a senior Liberal, he is putting undue pressure on the ABC," she said.
"If the ABC gets cut down, we are just left with Murdoch and Packer."
The group says it may be planning further unspecified actions.
A spokeswoman for Mr Costello today said his office would not be making any comment
on today's protest.
AAP gfr/mg
KEYWORD: ABC PROTEST
2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
No comments:
Post a Comment