However, approval for Aunty and free speech has brought a flood of support nationally from those who value it.

One FOMM reader quoted from former PM, Paul Keating, more than 20 years ago, June 14, 2000, from his speech entitled, The Australian Media, to the Sydney Institute, in which Keating said: "You will hear from the cheerleaders for the current media proprietors the view that you can get all the diversity you need within the individual publications; but it takes only a flick through the newspapers and the talk-back radio stations, let alone commercial television, to see how far plurality press-baron style, will get you".

Former Wagga man, John Retallick, another ABC supporter, wrote: "As I listen to the fine music on ABC Classic Radio or watch authoritative news on ABC-TV, I can't imagine life without it. Sadly, this is not a view held by all and there are people I know who would close it down given half a chance. Supporters need to constantly defend it as a great and valuable institution to society (but) we particularly need our elected representatives, the politicians, to defend and support the ABC and not to deride it as some of them do.

"In terms of news, the media landscape in Australia is dominated by conservative and sometimes extreme right-wing News Corp publications and broadcasting. The ABC is needed as a counter-balance to these by bringing a centre perspective to the presentation of news and current affairs.

"The role of the ABC in regional and remote areas is particularly important. In many of these areas, it is the only source of news, current affairs and entertainment, devastating if it was to be shut down or reduced; also it plays a vital role in emergencies like bushfires and floods.

"For democracy to be an effective form of government, a well-informed citizenry is imperative. All media organisations have a part to play in that and the ABC, as our only public broadcaster, has a particularly important role. It has to reach all Australians, no matter how far from the big cities they might be; therefore, the ABC must be strongly supported and well-funded to do this significant work.

"We live in an age where misinformation and conspiracy theories are rife; it is all over the internet if anyone cares to look for it. So how can we know what is true and correct without having to fact check everything we read or hear? Answer? According to the Roy Morgan annual survey, the most trusted news organisation in Australia is the ABC.".

Alan Sunderland worked 23 years at the ABC, including from 2013-19 as editorial director. On October 27 in The Sydney Morning Herald he wrote a topical appraisal about ABC strategy:

"The ABC was no warrior of culture wars nor should comments about left-wing elites cause panic about the ABC; the aim (of the national broadcaster) is to cover all of the issues that matter".

Sunderland referred to a 2013 speech by James Spigelman, then chairman of the ABC and a former chief justice of the NSW Supreme Court, who Sunderland rates "as one of the best and fairest champions of public broadcasting ever to hold Aunty's chairmanship".

In an hour-long speech, at the National Press Club, Spigelman warned all journalists, including those from the ABC, there were more of them interested in issues such as gay marriage than electricity prices, and they had an obligation to engage with those sections of the community who are concerned with the latter. Sunderland reminded us, "that all Australians pay for the ABC out of their own pockets and they are entitled to a service that is relevant to them."

Sunderland suggests: "It's not about saying things the government might like in the hope more funding might be forthcoming ... governments more often than not just get in the way by trying to starve, bully, neglect or pressure it".

ABC chairman, Ita Buttrose, inferred as much in her stinging but precise attack on critics this week: "There is a strong link between healthy democracies and strong public service media; so it was a bleak day for democracy and media freedom when the Australian Federal Police raided offices of the ABC in 2019 raids which were a calculated move designed to intimidate. It raised legitimate concerns about press freedom and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence". We will not be silenced.