Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been taken to task for his denials that he broke an election pledge not to cut funding to the ABC and SBS as hundreds of people rallied outside Parliament House to protest the axing of more than 400 ABC jobs.
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Waving banners reading "Liar Abbott", "blue ties tell lies" and "ripped up promises" protestors chanted "lies" and "shame" over the slashing of hundreds of millions of dollars from the budgets of the public broadcasters.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who was called upon but has not committed to Labor restoring the funds in full if elected, told the rally Mr Abbott had "made himself a bigger man than he is" through his regular attacks on lies in politics while he was in opposition".
"Never has a politician in modern history pinned so much of his own character to the issue of not telling lies in politics," Mr Shorten said.
"He was merciless in opposition. He made himself a bigger man than he is by saying he would be different.
"Now, what we have is this attack on the ABC. It is not just an attack on an Australian institution, it shows you that this PM has no commitment to keeping his promise with Australian democracy."
Mr Shorten said the cuts amounted to the effective censorship of independent broadcasting in Australia.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull was described as an "associate savage" by Mr Shorten, while Labor's communications spokesman Jason Clare mocked the government frontbench by apologising for their absence at the rally.
"I have a few apologies I have to give. The first is Christopher Pyne," Mr Clare said.
"Christopher says he is busy.
"He is reading all the comments that have been made on his petition.
"I hope he reads this one from James that says: Christopher, you're pathetic, and this petition is pointless."
Mr Pyne launched a petition on change.org last week to protect the ABC's Adelaide production unit.
Greens leader Christine Milne said that while the cuts had been couched in economic terms, the slashing of public broadcasting was "conservatives coming after Australian democracy, Australian culture and the values that go to the heart of who we are as a nation".
A range of MPs from across the political spectrum appeared at the protest, with independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon warning the Coalition: "[If you] keep doing what you're doing, you're going to lose a lot of votes and a lot of seats."
Lisa Robins, an environmental consultant from Canberra, waved a banner reading "Two-faced Tony" and 'Hands off Bush Tele" in defence of the ABC's national rural radio program Bush Telegraph, which was named among the programs to be chopped.
"I fear for free speech in Australia and for where our democracy is heading," Dr Robins said.
"Tony Abbott was always having a go at Julia Gillard, [saying] who is the real Julia Gillard. Well, who is the real Tony?"
"I work in the natural resource management sphere and Bush Telegraph is one of the best pathways we have for communicating what's happening in rural Australia."
Seventeen-year-old student Max Jasinski said he had been watching the ABC "all my life" and he wanted to support the continuation of programs.
"Play School, Doctor Who, they broadcast great stuff," he said.
"The fact they have no bias toward one political view is important and I think it would be a shame if that went away."
Australian writer and commentator Van Badham travelled from Melbourne to support independent journalism, and to show solidarity for a friend who is among those at theAB C who will lose their job.
"It is absolutely wonderful to see the sincere cohesion of politics – this is not about left or right political alignment, this is about our community," she said.
Her mother, 73-year-old Barbara Badham, travelled from Sydney and said the ABC "means a lot to my generation and I don't want to see it destroyed".
