As chief foreign correspondent, Phil Williams was the ABC’s international fireman, able to swing into virtually any country in the world and produce intelligent reports from a standing start.
In this video, from his farm outside Canberra, Phil worries out loud about the ABC’s continued capacity to report the world to Australia – and project Australia to our region. The slashing of the Australia Network by the Abbott government, and the whittling away of the ABC’s once-unrivalled network of overseas bureaux in the years since, have both had their effect. Please watch and pass on.