Coronavirus Australia Radio caller slams big dollar ABC for lockdown reporting

A man living out of his car after losing his home during the pandemic has delivered a searing slap down of lockdown-lovers with safe and secure jobs on the ABC â€" and listeners are already calling him the ‘caller of the year’. 

Giving his name only as Mark, the Victorian called in to ABC Drive with Rafael Epstein on Thursday to deliver an emotion-charged tirade begging the broadcaster to stop using the phrase ‘we’re all in this together’.

‘I keep hearing on the ABC “we’re all in this together”, we’re not. We’re not in this together,’ he said of the Covid lockdowns gripping millions of Australians.

‘The only time I actually want to hear that is when a politician or member of the media says: “I’ll give half my salary to someone who just lost their house”, but we’re never going to hear that are we?’ 

For those working outside of 9-5 office jobs which can easily be done from home, the pandemic has proved to be a nightmare, with thousands out of work or losing shifts when businesses and trade shut down.

Mark furiously pointed out this unequal burden on workers, saying the radio host still makes his normal salary â€" while tens of thousands of ordinary, working Australians are losing money and unable to work. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than one million Australians lost their job within the first two months of the pandemic last year

‘And then we get the ABC, and I’m quite sure you guys aren’t losing any money,’ he said.

‘Of course you’re not, and you’re earning big dollar. 

‘It’s an insult to hear “we’re all in this together”.

‘Because the simple fact of life is, life is not equal. And to then hear “we’re all in this together?” 

‘We’ve got people losing their jobs, but we don’t hear about the houses they’re losing, rental or mortgage… and marriages.’

Mark explained that he works along the border between Victoria and New South Wales, and called in from his car â€" where he is now forced to live after losing work and then his home. 

‘Please, please just tell everyone in the ABC and everywhere else â€" stop saying it,’ he added. 

‘There’s enough stress, I live in my bloody car now, I live in my friggen car. 

‘I’ve lost everything.’

Residents walk through a fruit shop in Bankstown in Sydney’s west as the state continues to set new records for daily Covid cases â€" with lockdowns forcing thousands out of work

The man named Mark called in to ABC Drive with Rafael Epstein (pictured) on Thursday to deliver an emotion-charged rant about the pandemic that has forced him to live in his car

How the ABC has been touting hard lockdowns as the only answer

ABC health commentator Norman Swan has been a regular proponent of hard lockdowns, using his profile to suggest there were no alternatives.

Dr Swan sparked a Twitter spat with former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth in early August when he suggested Sydney residents were ‘guinea pigs’ with vaccines being relied upon to curb the outbreak.

‘I don’t think that this has been tried anywhere else in the world where you’re trying to use vaccination to curve an outbreak,’ he said.

‘And in a sense, the residents of New South Wales, or Greater Sydney, are guinea pigs.’

 

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The caller then became emotional as he revealed he’d had to sleep in his car after losing his home â€" before the Epstein cut him off, a decision he blamed on fearing Mark would swear.

‘I can hear how angry you are and you’re allowed to be angry,’ Epstein said as he turned down Mark’s microphone.

‘We’ll have a word, if we’re able to have another word to you we will. That’s part of it, that’s part of the picture as well. 

‘No doubt the anger is real. I try to say often the burden is not born equally.’

Epstein then moved on with the show, only to be inundated with calls forcing him to revisit Mark’s story.

‘We’ve got people losing their jobs but we dont hear about the houses they’re losing, rental or mortgage… and marriages,’ Mark says on ABC Radio (pictured, people queue outside Centrelink in Southport on the Gold Coast)

‘In response to Mark, some calling him caller of the year, I will repeat I’ve spoken up and down about the burden not being felt equally,’ the ABC Radio host said.

‘People are saying “let him vent, at least he’s not being abusive”. There was potential for swearing and to be honest I wasn’t sure the conversation would be good for Mark going forward.’

He said he attempted to get Mark back on the line during a break but he ‘hung up’.

Epstein brought up Mark’s call later in the show, reading out messages of support from listeners who have even offered to give him money.

‘Messages flooding in; “He is 100 per cent correct”,’ Esptein says of a listener. 

Millions of Australians are out of work as lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales persist, with thousands of businesses facing permanent closures (pictured, an empty cafe on Hardware Lane in Melbourne)

‘A ton of you are expressing concern about Mark. I don’t have a way of contacting Mark. 

‘I’m not going to apologise on fading Mark out at that point. That’s my job, to work out whether someone is appropriate and safe to go to air.

‘Some of you are wanting to put money in his bank account, if Mark wants to call back I’m happy to have him on the radio, but I made that call, I’ll stand by it and I’d do it again.’ 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than one million Australians lost their job within the first two months of the pandemic last year.

With pubs, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops shut in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, millions have been forced to rely on government handouts to pay the bills.

Many businesses are on hold in Victoria and New South Wales due to ongoing battles with the Delta strain.

There are a number of federal and state government disaster relief and extreme hardship payments being offered â€" but for many supporting families and battling to put food on the table, it hasn’t been enough.

Source: Daily Mail

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