From the age of five when I was an Argonaut, the ABC has been a force for good in my life and work. It has educated, informed, entertained and excited me for over 60 years. It is a fantastic resource for this nation. Unfortunately, many of us have taken the ABC for granted. My hope is that readers will realise how valuable our public broadcaster is and fight to save it from further cuts and harassment.

If you only read The Australian, or listen to the views of some politicians, you would think that the ABC is struggling to provide fair coverage of events, is biased in its politics and its science, and that it is wasting tax-payers' dollars. Have you noticed that journalists critical of the ABC have started to call it "the taxpayer-funded ABC"?

Well, what do taxpayers actually think about "their ABC"? The most recent independent Newspoll shows an extraordinary level of support and enthusiasm. Over 84% of Australians believe that the national broadcaster provides a valuable service to the community. Moreover, 84% believe that its reporting is accurate and fair; 80% think that it does a good job on country and regional issues and 78% that ABC TV is of high quality.

If any other organisation had such high proportions of people valuing it across the country it would be very happy indeed. I suggest that it is evidence that the national broadcaster is providing value for the money invested in it.

So how much does it cost and what do we get for that? It is interesting to compare the ABC budgets from almost 30 years ago to now in terms of real funding.