‘Juvenile and clueless’ is how the Australian’s esteemed Editor-at-Large Paul Kelly deems the suggestion by Liberals and conservatives (including many who write for this magazine) that the government should privatise our floundering national broadcaster. Mr Kelly claims that the ABC is a ‘great institution’ and that ‘Australia needs it’. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard used to struggle to pronounce the word hyperbole, (preferring ‘hyperbowl’) but she understood the word’s meaning: a ludicrously embellished exaggeration.