Restoring the Balance was a satirical radio segment that occasionally appeared onAustralianradio stationTriple J. It satirically displayed the contrasting political views between the then conservative AustralianHoward government, and the majority of theLeft wing government-funded Triple J radio station. The premise of the show suggested that the station was forced by the ABC board to broadcast a segment ofright wing political views in order torestore the balance. The creators began by conducting satirical interviews with Australian political identities in 2003. The show itself was broadcast sporadically on Sunday afternoons during 2004, and then began as a series broadcasting on 25 February 2007.[1]
The show features the characters of youngLiberal Stirling Addison and youngNational Tom Thomlinson. The pair are played byTony Moclair andJulian Schiller[2] respectively. They represent the more affluent end of Australian society - Addison from the city, Thomlinson from a farming area. The characters portrayed on the show are extreme in their views, which has resulted in complaints from callers who do not realise the show is a parody.[3]
The official site lists brief outlines of each of the characters. Addison is a Sydney Grammar Old Boy and his profile includes:
Thom Thomlinson is described as"a simple farm boy at heart", who grew up on his family's 100 000 hectare property in rural Queensland. Gems from his past include:
Schiller and Moclair also filled in on Triple J as a one-off in the Sunday morning shift where they appeared as themselves. In August 2004, Schiller and Moclair signed on to do breakfast radio atNova 91.9, anAdelaide station.
It was announced that from 25 February 2007, Stirling Addison would return to Triple J on Sunday evenings to host a new series of Restoring the Balance (apparently without Thom Thomlinson as a co-host).[4]John Safran, the previous host of this timeslot, has allegedly gone on a 10-week hiatus due to his other media commitments. In character, Stirling insisted that this change was instead approved by the ABC board due to the current segment being "too semitic", and displaying "a lack of traditional right-wing values". Amongst other things, he then went on to approve the taxpayer-funded visit of U.S. Vice PresidentDick Cheney to Sydney, and stated how "it would be an honour to beshot in the face by the Vice President".
2007 saw the inclusion of Spencer Penrose, a Family First member as co-host (played byRichard Marsland).
Restoring The Balance made its last appearance on Triple J in a stint airing on Sundays at 9pm, from 24 July until Sept 11, 2011.[5]