On a chilly winter's night in Canberra two years ago, Malcolm Turnbull attended the launch of a new group of cross-party MPs keen to show their support for the ABC.
It was a rough time for the national broadcaster.
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While appearing on different ABC shows, PM Malcolm Turnbull and his deputy Barnaby Joyce have criticised the broadcaster for being elite and out of touch. Courtesy ABC.
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Two pronged ABC attack
While appearing on different ABC shows, PM Malcolm Turnbull and his deputy Barnaby Joyce have criticised the broadcaster for being elite and out of touch. Courtesy ABC.
Only a fortnight before, its budget had been cut by $35.5 million over four years – a 1 per cent reduction – and the government had terminated its $223 million Australia Network international broadcasting contract.
So the audience that gathered at Parliament House was heartened to hear the then communications minister defend the national broadcaster and outline why it was such an important part of the Australian landscape.
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After the event, a spokesman for the man who once appeared on Q&A; in a leather jacket said it would be fair to describe Mr Turnbull as "a small 'f' friend of the ABC".
He might have been a little closer to one of the broadcaster's brightest stars, Peppa Pig, whose snout, he tweeted, would always be welcome in the ABC's trough.
Later that same year, when Mr Turnbull was releasing the results of a government-commissioned efficiency review of the ABC, he was still at pains to count himself as a friend of Aunty: "The ABC, I know, is particularly concerned that the median age for its television audience is 61. I find this reassuring. It means I am still one of ABC TV's younger viewers."
Two years, a prime ministership and an election later, and Mr Turnbull is now offering the kind of constructive criticism to the ABC that only a friend can.
It has joined the ranks of the "elite media", Mr Turnbull said on 7.30 on Monday night, and should take its share of the blame for distracting people from the government's focus on economic growth.
It was not he who wanted to talk about boutique issues such as section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, but the media, he said.
"This is a question you should address to your editors at the ABC very seriously," Mr Turnbull suggested, by way of feedback to host Leigh Sales.
"18C is talked about constantly on the ABC, talked about constantly in what's often the elite media. I have focused overwhelmingly on the economy."
The phrase "elite media" popped up again.
And again.
Two hours later, on the same channel, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce went one step further when he warned the broadcaster it would create hostility not only towards itself but "the political class" if it continued to talk about issues of no interest to people who do not live "inside the beltway".
Sound familiar?
The Prime Minister's change of language in relation to the ABC is another example of how his message has changed since he took on the leadership.
Then it was all about innovation, agility, disruption and excitement; now it is all about the economy and creating jobs. Jobs and growth, if you will.
More than one MP has pointed out to the Prime Minister that innovation and disruption was all very good for people well placed to handle change.
It was not, as the now former member for Herbert, Ewen Jones, said shortly after the election, so good for the people who found themselves displaced by change and with no immediate job to go to.
Nor was it particularly helpful, according to Perth MP Andrew Hastie, for people who just did not get what the PM was on about.
The change in tone that has been coming on gradually, but has sharpened following Britain's decision to leave the European Union and will become even clearer with the election of Donald Trump.
It's interesting to note that Mr Turnbull's use of the phrase "elite media" came when he was asked about how he, a debonair, self-made millionaire, gets out of his bubble to talk to everyday voters.
John Howard used to say that voters had only just begun to hear what politicians were saying when they were in danger of feeling nauseous if they heard the phrase again.
As Australian politicians grapple with world events, that wave of nausea is going to apply to a new lexicon.
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