From an article published in the W/E Australian 22/23may04.

The Government ought to have been both more brutal and more selective about those sections of the ABC it was trying to starve into some semblance of professionalism and impartiality. Tied allocations could have left divisions such as regional radio untouched, while punishing the delinquents. There also seems to have been insufficient attention paid to the culture of the organisation, the phenomenon of staff-capture and understanding the mind-set of middle management.

Grahame Morris's minatory line, when he was Howard's chief-of-staff, that the ABC was a case of 'our enemies talking to our friends' seems to have spooked most of the cabinet.

It would be nice to be able to say that Radio National's employment of Michael Duffy as its proverbial 'right-wing Phillip Adams' represented a change of attitude, a first flower of genuine pluralism. I don't believe it's much more than an insurance policy in case the Government is returned, something most in the news and current affairs division will be all too palpably doing their best to prevent. Apart from encouraging an attitude of mulish resentment, Howard's impact on the national broadcaster has been negligible. We might all have been better served had he managed to privatise it.