The silliness and tantrums haven't been confined to the commercial channels. The ABC has been the target of a massive dummy-spit from the government, when the Prime Minister objected to the inclusion of a question from an audience member on Q&A and responded by banning his ministers from appearing on the panel-discussion show. Tony Abbott pounced on the presence of Zaky Mallah​ to attack the program and the organisation, contending that the incident demonstrated the ABC's shabby standards and left-wing bias. But prohibiting his ministers from expressing the government's position and arguing its case on one of the most prominent platforms in the country seems a bizarre and self-defeating response, and perhaps the reaction of someone spoiling for a fight who seizes upon something he can spin as provocation.

Strange times: Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud pulled in the viewers.

Since it debuted in 2008, Q&A has become one of the ABC's most successful programs, growing into an important arena for discussion of current events and broader topics. Allegations of bias against the show in particular and the ABC as a whole are difficult to prove and people on both sides seem to find evidence to support their existing prejudices. One man's expression of a view is magnified to represent that of the whole organisation. A rigorous interview is cast as an attack.

Alongside the Q&A kerfuffle, one thing about the current government's relationship to the ABC and our other public broadcaster, SBS, has become worryingly clear. Its multimillion-dollar budget cuts are biting deep and adversely affecting what we see. This is especially evident with local drama. The ABC recently screened its six-part fantasy-drama, Glitch, which was originally conceived as an eight-parter. Later this year comes The Beautiful Lie, a modernised revisiting of Anna Karenina produced by John Edwards and Imogen Banks (Offspring, Tangle) and directed by Glendyn Ivin​ (Puberty Blues), also made up of six episodes and originally imagined as longer. The days of the 13-part series – such as SeaChange or Phoenix – are long gone; today, even a 10-episode series appears to be a luxury. We're getting fewer productions in shrunken sizes.

The problem was painfully apparent at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival, where SBS proudly unveiled the first two episodes of The Principal, the first local drama series that it's been able to afford since the estimable East West 101 wrapped in 2011. Written by Alice Addison and Kristen Dunphy, directed by Kriv Stenders​ (Red Dog) and starring Alex Dimitriades, the Sydney-based high-school drama's early episodes are impressive: tightly written, cleverly structured and offering a perspective that we haven't seen elsewhere. The bad news is that The Principal is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it four episodes, though the indications are that it deserves something more substantial. There's also no guarantee, even if people do flock to it, that SBS can afford to finance a second season.