Labor is calling for donations to fight budget cuts at the ABC despite leader Bill Shorten's unwillingness to reverse the decision if he wins office.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has leapt on an interview Mr Shorten gave to ABC Statewide Drive in Victoria on Monday in which he criticised Mr Abbott's broken promise not to cut funding for the ABC or SBS.
Labor claims as much as $500 million has been slashed from the ABC's budget since the Abbott government won the 2013 election.
When asked if he would restore the money cut from the ABC's budget, Mr Shorten said "we don't think the cuts need to be as deep as they are, absolutely".
But Mr Shorten would not articulate whether a Labor government would reverse the cuts in full.
The opposition has said funding for public broadcasting would increase under a Labor government, but claimed it could not say by how much because it did not know what "the state of the ABC will be in 2016".
Earlier, the ALP emailed its members urging them to donate to an ABC "fighting fund" for a campaign targeting Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull in his Sydney seat of Wentworth.
In a reference to the axing of state-based 7.30 programs, the email calls on members to donate $7.30 to help fund the campaign.
"The night before the last election, Tony Abbott promised 'no cuts to the ABC or the SBS'," the email says.
"But today, 1 in 10 jobs at the ABC were lost because of Tony Abbott's $500 million cut to the ABC and SBS. Five regional stations will be shut down and the state based 7.30 program will be cut.
"Malcolm Turnbull has desperately tried to explain that Tony Abbott's pre-election promise not to cut the ABC or SBS was not actually a promise!"
The email notes the campaign will bombard Mr Turnbull's office with calls to make sure he gets the message that Australians do not want to see public broadcasting cut.
Mr Abbott on Tuesday accused Mr Shorten of "complaining about something which he intends to do himself".
Mr Abbott said on Tuesday that it "is now clear from what Mr Shorten said to ABC Statewide Drive in Victoria, Mr Shorten is not being straight and upfront with the Australian people".
"He is complaining about something which he intends to do himself. He says the government is cutting the ABC, well, he has his own cuts in mind for the ABC," Mr Abbott said.
"This just shows that Bill Shorten is all complaint and no solution. That's what he is. He is running a national complaints bureau. He's not trying to come up with serious credible policies to deal with the issues that are facing Australia right now."
But Mr Shorten said Labor would never have made such cuts to the ABC and its plan was to increase funding for both the ABC and SBS.
"Goodness only knows what damage this desperate government, with its out of control unfair budget, will do to the ABC by 2016," Mr Shorten said on Tuesday.
"But I can certainly give the commitment that under Labor, we will increase the funding of the ABC.
"Of course we're going to need to see quite how much damage gets done and I sincerely hope that the government listens to the people of Australia, maybe even Christopher Pyne's petition and decides not to go hard with their cuts but Labor will increase the funding to the ABC and we will run hard on this campaign because this is a broken promise which damages the access of all Australians to the public broadcaster."
