Newly elected Minister for Communications DIGs triple j

Given a decent run in the traffic it can take less than half an hour to travel from Vaucluse in the heart of Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate to Newtown. But the two Sydney suburbs may as well be at opposite ends of the planet politically.

The recently elected Communications Minister was well aware that Liberal voters would have been thin on the ground at the down market pub in Newtown where triple j chose to make its official announcement of their takeover of DIG MUSIC. Parking in this region of Sydney is always at a premium, but many in this crowd would have pedaled to the venue while the guest of honour arrived by chauffeur driven com car.

He started out by acknowledging the fact that he was somewhat out of his natural habitat by saying how much he enjoyed getting away from his own electorate to see what life is like in others.

He went on to praise ABC radio, and in particular triple j for its world leading use of multi-media. “The BBC perhaps does just as well, but certainly no better,” he said.

“I am not only a staunch listener and viewer of the ABC, I’m a great supporter of the work you do. The work of the ABC has never been so important as it is today. As so many parts of the media are under economic stress and are unable to deliver as much as they were able to in years past when their business models were more robust.
Those of you here that work for the ABC are working for an immensely important national institution, one that is a vital part of our democracy. And that is why, of course, you bear many heavy responsibilities, much heavier than those in the commercial media. And that’s right and proper that you do,” said Mr Turnbull.

It was a tough room for the recently elected communications minister to address but he managed to win most of them over by the time he’d finished 6 mins and 30 secs later – at which time the crowd burst spontaneously into a stirring rendition of Happy Birthday. It was the Minister’s 58th.


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See more about the changes at Dig here.

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