why do we have an abc at all?

Just wondering.
Because the world has changed dramatically with the rise of the internet, blogs, social media etc.

I can sort of see the need for a radio service particularly in rural and remote regions, but why the rest of it?

There are plenty of private sector entities providing news and content over a huge spectrum of interests.

The ABC is no longer needed. Only the Greens and ALP want to retain it, because they use it as their taxpayer funded propaganda machine.

Shut it down, sell off whatever is able to be sold, flog off the prime land at Ultimo and elsewhere, and save the taxpayer somewhere in the order of maybe 1 billion dollars a year, every year.