Two weeks ago, I wrote about the growing threats to the ABC’s independence. I wish I could tell you things had settled down. They haven’t.

On 3 June, the powerful right wing organisation, Advance, launched a campaign to “shut down the ABC”.

Recently, a new lobby group, Allies for a Strong Australia, held another anti-ABC rally in Melbourne. Among the speakers was prominent far-right commentator, Avi Yemeni, who has a long record of spreading disinformation and attacking democratic institutions. He pushed a familiar message: that the ABC is “state propaganda” that should be brought to heel.

What began as regular and predictable attacks against the ABC by a few politicians and News Corp has emerged as a new coordinated coalition.

Three Liberal frontbenchers have called on the Royal Commission into Antisemitism to hold a special hearing to probe bias at the ABC and SBS. It follows their other unsuccessful attempts to enquire into the ABC’s independence.

One Nation, which has banned the ABC from press conferences and wants to move it to a subscription model, has long been hostile to public broadcasting.

The Coalition’s communications spokesperson, Senator Sarah Henderson, shares key planks of this agenda. After a bruising election defeat, the Opposition is under pressure to court the same populist constituency that One Nation has made its own.

And they’re being egged on: Sky News has made attacking the ABC a staple of its nightly programming, amplifying every controversy and driving the political temperature higher.

This emerging coalition wants to undermine the ABC’s editorial independence in a way that has no precedent in the history of Australian public broadcasting. And worse, it wants to shut the ABC down. And it just might work — unless we push back.

But we need your support.

ABC Friends is the only broad based organisation in Australia which is dedicated to supporting the ABC.

We’re pushing back: in the media, advocating to Parliament, and in public conversation. We’re in this fight for the long haul.

The forces that want to silence the ABC are becoming more organised and more mainstream. We can beat them, but only with your support.