Activists dressed as the Bananas in Pyjamas have confronted former prime minister John Howard about funding cuts to the ABC while he campaigned with Georgina Downer in the Mayo electorate.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The protesters clad as the children's TV characters and other members of the lobby group GetUp! approached Mr Howard outside a candidates' forum in Goolwa, south of Adelaide, and called on him to sign a petition to "Save the ABC".
"The ABC is doing fine," he told the group before walking away on Wednesday.
GetUp! has funded billboards in Mayo urging voters to "Save our ABC from Liberals' cuts" and "Put the Liberals last", and some of them bear the face of Georgina Downer.
One of the protesters, Gabie Bond, said any cut to the ABC's funding would be detrimental.
"We think that funding cuts that have already been in place have really been a very sad thing for our public broadcaster," she said.
The Liberals last week criticised Centre Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie for appearing in a photograph alongside two campaigners dressed as the Bananas in Pyjamas characters - a charge that was also levelled at the Labor and Greens candidates.
Minister for Small Business Craig Laundy said the photo, taken at a candidates' forum, was evidence of an alliance between Ms Sharkie and the two parties, while Ms Downer said the GetUp! campaign was untruthful.
"More scare, more lies from the Sharkie, Shorten, GetUp alliance," she wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
"The ABC will not be sold or privatised. That is my commitment"
A three-year freeze in the indexation of ABC funding was announced in the May federal budget and the Liberal Party's Federal Council in June passed a resolution calling for the ABC to be privatised.
But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has insisted the broadcaster will remain public.
Australian Associated Press