Bill Shorten’s Labor Party is going to make the survival of the ABC a major federal election issue.

Shamelessly cavorting with fake Bananas in Pyjamas at party events, the ALP is now exploiting public distress about the overt Coalition hostility to the ABC through defunding of the broadcaster since 2014 and enraged prime ministerial complaints about its TV journalists Emma Alberici, Andrew Probyn, Laura Tingle and others.

NSW Labor's state conference in June featured an appearance by (unofficial) Bananas in Pyjamas. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

So far Labor has committed only to rescinding a Scott Morrison-ordered ABC budget cut of $83.7 million to be applied from July 1 next year. There has been no mention of any restoration of the $254 million in operational base funding cut from the ABC since then treasurer Joe Hockey’s 2014 budget. This was the one dishonouring Tony Abbott’s pre-election commitment that:

“There will be no cuts to the ABC or SBS.”

While Prime Minister Morrison and Communications Minister Senator Mitch Fifield this week have been reassuring the public they are committed to the ABC after ugly leaks exposed alleged board-level breaches of its independence, there is a debate to be had about the ABC’s possible redundancy.