Dear Editor

Re: FM102 Radio Australia

Australian expats should petition to have this “service” closed down.  It is an embarrassment to the ABC, The Australian High Commission who should be providing oversight and the Samoan media organization that is contracted to relay the service to Samoa. 

The service only works 50% of the time and when it does it is faulty, staccato, sometimes on for 20 seconds, off for 20 seconds.  

If service is suspended on a Friday it will take until Monday to re-establish. I am sure there are now no listeners in Samoa to the service. 

Who would wait at a bus-stop for a bus that only has 50% chance of turning up?

Interestingly they had the service working when the Australian P.M. visited but the day he left the service became defunct yet again. 

Where I come from there has been a BBC service relayed to Suva for many years fault-free.  Why?  Because the BBC contracted a professional media group to guarantee service with competent oversight by the British High Commission.

I understand most Australian expats now prefer podcasts.  

A great pity as the ABC provides great hourly newscasts, the superb ‘Pacific Beat’, the Science show and the Health Report.  

Unfortunately 20% of the programmes are devoted to Australian indigenes who only represent 2% of the population and the ABC are insisting on broadcasting ‘pidgin english’ sessions to the Pacific.  

This is a colonial kitchen-english that Samoans, Fijians, Tongans, Indo-Fijians, etc. cannot understand.  

While the P.N.G Govt. is spending millions to foster English, the ABC is fostering a disappearing and embarrassing form of English to Pacific listeners who listen to the ABC to perfect their spoken English.  

Expats should not despair.  This is a minor taxpayer sinkhole-there are much worse around-most of them not in Samoa.  

Fiki Brain