Several hundred filled Town Hall Square on Saturday to protest at the $254 million cuts and a forecast 400 job losses at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with prominent journalist Quentin Dempster describing Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as "a bullshitter".
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They chanted "No ifs, No buts. No ABC Cuts" and waved banners reminding Prime Minister Tony Abbott of his election-eve pledge of no cuts to the ABC or SBS.
Michael Tull, National President of the Community and Public Sector Union, said the purpose of the rally, which heads to Melbourne on Sunday and Canberra on Monday, was to make the promise stick.
Presenter and ABC journalist Quentin Dempster said Lateline had been gutted of its reporting strength and was reportedly to be made "lighter".
"To make it lighter in an age of geopolitical tensions, terror, corruption and inhumanity is laughable," he said.
Increasing advertising from five to ten minutes an hour on SBS would further dislocate audience loyalty and was a destructive dynamic that could only erode taxpayer support for SBS over time, he said.
In an age of fear and terror Australia needed SBS as a countermeasure, he said, emphasising its importance for: "Delivering a sense of inclusion through multilingual services to our rapidly increasing migrant population including this country's 600,000 Muslims."
He went on: "Tony Abbott said unequivocally and unconditionally 'No cuts to the ABC or SBS'. Malcolm Turnbull is a bullshitter. I remember him once promising never to tell a lie to the Australian people. Let me recalibrate this. Malcolm Turnbull is a bullshit artist who has now compounded Tony Abbott's lie."
Tanya Plibersek, federal member for Sydney, said she had grown up with Play School and Doctor Who before moving on to Countdown and later becoming 'more sensible' watching Gardening Australia, Lateline and Foreign Correspondent.
She stressed the importance of children's programs 'so that Australian kids can grow up with Australian accents'.
"The government knows that this [cuts] is wrong. Tony Abbott knows this is wrong otherwise he would not have promised there would be no cuts. A broken promise is a broken promise and a lie is a lie," she said.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam captured the mood of the crowd when he warned of the dangers of messing with the ABC.
"We are going to relegate these people to an historic footnote. When you open up the book in the future and you find that little footnote at the bottom of the page it's going to read like a warning to all future governments.
"Don't mess with Auntie."
