Before the recent federal election, it was clear the ABC would fare better under a Labor government than the Coalition. When the Coalition delivered its 2018 budget, it froze the ABC’s budget indexation from July 2019, meaning a cut of $83.7 million over three years. This came on top of a $254 million budget cut to base ABC funding in 2014. Labor had promised to reverse the pause on indexation.

There had already been some turmoil when ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie was sacked in September. Chairman Justin Milne resigned shortly afterwards following revelations he had pushed for Guthrie to get rid of presenter Emma Alberici and political editor Andrew Probyn, and tried to interfere over editorial matters following complaints from then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

All this was concerning. But who would have thought we would see the Australian Federal Police raid on the ABC that took place last month, just weeks after the election? A raid that followed one on the home of News Corp political editor Annika Smethurst the day before. Both were related to stories that were over a year old. In the case of the national broadcaster, it was The Afghan Files, which suggested Australian troops may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

The AFP claimed the stories had the power to “undermine Australia’s national security”. In fact, they are clearly in the public interest. In any democracy, the public has the right to know about such things from an independent media. The AFP raids are deeply disturbing, and have naturally raised eyebrows internationally. We have long taken press freedom for granted in Australia. The fact that we are now having these conversations is scary. Limelight stands alongside all the Australian journalists who have protested the raids and the attack on the freedom of the press.

At the time of writing, Ita Buttrose, the new ABC Chair, and Managing Director David Anderson had had a brief meeting with PM Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher. Buttrose described it as “constructive” and told the media that Morrison had “taken on my comments and we’re looking forward to working together and going ahead”. Let’s hope so. Our democracy depends on it.