Morayfield Bloke Gets Great Value For His 4 Cents A Day After Being Saved From Floodwaters By ABC Reporter

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

The people of Morayfield have never been more grateful that the Australian public broadcaster has the resources to send actual field journalists out into local communities all around this country.

As the commercial networks continues to 'cut the fat' by retrenching regional news bureaus and increasingly relying on nationwide syndication - the ABC still has young guns out in the field.

This is all thanks to the 4 cents a day that each Australian pays to ensure that our country has a comprehensive public media that can deliver emergency updates, breaking news and hold governments and other public institutions accountable through forensic investigations.

And one Queenslander in particular has seen incredible returns on this investment.

This comes as an ABC reporter and another bystander rescued ‌the man from a sinking car as it was engulfed by flood waters in outer North Brisbane yesterday arvo.

Will ​Murray, a journalist with Australia's public ⁠broadcaster ABC, was reporting on Queensland flash ​floods, when a local motorist found himself swept up in the water.

His four wheel drive then stalled ​and started to sink, before Murray launched himself in to the muddy stormwater alongside another local hero and helped free the driver just in the nick of time.

This is warm and fuzzy hero's tale is frustrating for the extremely vocal detractors of the ABC, who would much prefer to slash government spending on public news and let angry men with podcasts fill the void.

The fact that an ABC journo and cameraman were on the scene even before emergency crews also dismantles angy arguments about the efficacy of the public broadcaster.

With Queenslanders serviced by less and less local commercial media - and instead forcefed news from Sydney and Melbourne - it is no surprise that the first bloke on the scene was wearing the national broadcaster's wavelength symbol on his lanyard.

Will Murray's quick thinking and heroism has been put down to the fact that he was sent bush early in his career and has been lucky enough to learn a bit of bush smarts on the ground for countless cylones, floods and bushfires.