Extract from The Guardian
Greens accuse PM of ‘tasteless, degrading rhetoric’ and planning a
‘politically charged witch-hunt’ after PM says public broadcaster has
betrayed the country.
Tony Abbott has declared that “heads should roll” at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
over the handling of a Q&A program that included a question from a
person who pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Asio officers.
In a dramatic escalation of his rhetoric against the public broadcaster, the prime minister said the ABC had “compounded that terrible mistake, that betrayal, if you like, of our country … by rebroadcasting the program”.
The criticism came as the government announced its own review of the Q&A controversy. The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said he had asked his department to investigate the matter and report back to him because he wanted “to get a better understanding of exactly what occurred”.
The ABC had already announced a review and conceded the Q&A program had made an “error of judgment” by allowing Zaky Mallah to join the studio audience and ask a question of the panel on Monday. In 2005 Mallah was acquitted of two terrorism offences but pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officials.
Coalition ministers, MPs, News Corp Australia papers and talkback radio hosts have seized on the Q&A controversy to intensify their longstanding criticisms of the ABC’s editorial decisions.
Abbott suggested on Thursday that some unnamed people at the ABC should lose their jobs over the issue. The prime minister was asked what he thought of the decision to proceed with a scheduled replay of Monday’s Q&A program on ABC1 on Wednesday.
“Utterly incomprehensible,” he told reporters in Canberra. “Here we had the ABC admitting a gross error of judgment and then compounding that terrible mistake, that betrayal, if you like, of our country … by rebroadcasting the program. Now, frankly, heads should roll over this.
“I’ve had a good discussion with the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull; I know he has made a very strong representation to the ABC.
“We’ve announced that we are not satisfied with an internal ABC inquiry because so often we’ve seen virtual whitewashes when that sort of thing happens. There is going to be an urgent government inquiry with recommendations and, frankly the ABC ought to take some very strong action straightaway.”
When asked whose heads should roll, Abbott ended the press conference and walked away.
The Greens accused the government of taking the debate about ABC editorial standards “to hysterical levels of stridency” as part of a wider attack on public broadcasting.
Senator Scott Ludlam said the ABC had already announced a review but the government had “magnified this issue beyond any reasonable proportion”.
“I find it impossible to believe that an Abbott-ordered inquiry into the public broadcaster will be anything other than a politically charged witch-hunt,” Ludlam said.
“The prime minister’s language today, including the comment that ‘heads should roll’ is tasteless, degrading rhetoric designed to weaken the public broadcaster and step up the government’s high-pitched flag-based fear mongering.”
Turnbull said he and Abbott had discussed the issue and were “taking this very, very seriously”.
“The management needs to take responsibility for this and there needs to be consequences of this, the management understands that,” the communications minister said.
“As far as I am concerned as the portfolio minister I want to get a better understanding of exactly what occurred because there are conflicting reports and I’ve asked my department to investigate it and report back to me.”
In a brief statement, the department said it would complete its report next week and the ABC had agreed to fully cooperate.
Turnbull rejected calls – advocated by some government MPs – for a blanket boycott of the program by Coalition ministers. Some backbenchers have also called for the program to be taken off the air.
He said individual ministers would make their own judgments and he would continue to appear on Q&A if invited to do so. “I think we are in the business of getting the message of the government across,” Turnbull said.
“We need to take advantage of every platform that’s available.”
The defence minister, Kevin Andrews, told the Australian newspaper he would continue to refuse any requests to appear on Q&A “until it becomes balanced”.
The Labor senator Helen Polley played down the prospect of a blanket ban on Coalition MPs appearing on Q&A, saying she did not believe “that they would be that silly”.
“I think that some may say that it might improve their ratings if Mr Andrews doesn’t appear on Q&A,” she said.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said the ABC “did make a big mistake in terms of that last show, in allowing that person to be in the audience”.
But he added: “I wouldn’t want to see the show shut down; I wouldn’t want to see the ABC punished forever and a day. I would be more than prepared to go on Q&A.”
The prime minister’s statement was condemned by the journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
The union’s CEO Paul Murphy said it was clear the government was trying to influence editorial decisions at the national broadcaster.
“In the past year the government has attacked press freedom, the freedom of access to information and freedom of expression through its amendments to Australia’s national security laws,” Murphy said.
“Now the government is at it again with this inquiry over an incident for which the ABC has already apologised and launched its own investigation into. Clearly the government is seeking to directly influence editorial decisions at the national broadcaster.
“The prime minister has even pre-empted the outcome of the inquiry by distastefully insisting: ‘Heads should roll over this’. He should withdraw this threat and the proposed inquiry.”
The Q&A incident is already subject to an internal investigation by the ABC TV department and an external independent review.
In a dramatic escalation of his rhetoric against the public broadcaster, the prime minister said the ABC had “compounded that terrible mistake, that betrayal, if you like, of our country … by rebroadcasting the program”.
The criticism came as the government announced its own review of the Q&A controversy. The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said he had asked his department to investigate the matter and report back to him because he wanted “to get a better understanding of exactly what occurred”.
The ABC had already announced a review and conceded the Q&A program had made an “error of judgment” by allowing Zaky Mallah to join the studio audience and ask a question of the panel on Monday. In 2005 Mallah was acquitted of two terrorism offences but pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officials.
Coalition ministers, MPs, News Corp Australia papers and talkback radio hosts have seized on the Q&A controversy to intensify their longstanding criticisms of the ABC’s editorial decisions.
Abbott suggested on Thursday that some unnamed people at the ABC should lose their jobs over the issue. The prime minister was asked what he thought of the decision to proceed with a scheduled replay of Monday’s Q&A program on ABC1 on Wednesday.
“Utterly incomprehensible,” he told reporters in Canberra. “Here we had the ABC admitting a gross error of judgment and then compounding that terrible mistake, that betrayal, if you like, of our country … by rebroadcasting the program. Now, frankly, heads should roll over this.
“I’ve had a good discussion with the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull; I know he has made a very strong representation to the ABC.
“We’ve announced that we are not satisfied with an internal ABC inquiry because so often we’ve seen virtual whitewashes when that sort of thing happens. There is going to be an urgent government inquiry with recommendations and, frankly the ABC ought to take some very strong action straightaway.”
When asked whose heads should roll, Abbott ended the press conference and walked away.
The Greens accused the government of taking the debate about ABC editorial standards “to hysterical levels of stridency” as part of a wider attack on public broadcasting.
Senator Scott Ludlam said the ABC had already announced a review but the government had “magnified this issue beyond any reasonable proportion”.
“I find it impossible to believe that an Abbott-ordered inquiry into the public broadcaster will be anything other than a politically charged witch-hunt,” Ludlam said.
“The prime minister’s language today, including the comment that ‘heads should roll’ is tasteless, degrading rhetoric designed to weaken the public broadcaster and step up the government’s high-pitched flag-based fear mongering.”
Turnbull said he and Abbott had discussed the issue and were “taking this very, very seriously”.
“The management needs to take responsibility for this and there needs to be consequences of this, the management understands that,” the communications minister said.
“As far as I am concerned as the portfolio minister I want to get a better understanding of exactly what occurred because there are conflicting reports and I’ve asked my department to investigate it and report back to me.”
In a brief statement, the department said it would complete its report next week and the ABC had agreed to fully cooperate.
Turnbull rejected calls – advocated by some government MPs – for a blanket boycott of the program by Coalition ministers. Some backbenchers have also called for the program to be taken off the air.
He said individual ministers would make their own judgments and he would continue to appear on Q&A if invited to do so. “I think we are in the business of getting the message of the government across,” Turnbull said.
“We need to take advantage of every platform that’s available.”
The defence minister, Kevin Andrews, told the Australian newspaper he would continue to refuse any requests to appear on Q&A “until it becomes balanced”.
The Labor senator Helen Polley played down the prospect of a blanket ban on Coalition MPs appearing on Q&A, saying she did not believe “that they would be that silly”.
“I think that some may say that it might improve their ratings if Mr Andrews doesn’t appear on Q&A,” she said.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said the ABC “did make a big mistake in terms of that last show, in allowing that person to be in the audience”.
But he added: “I wouldn’t want to see the show shut down; I wouldn’t want to see the ABC punished forever and a day. I would be more than prepared to go on Q&A.”
The prime minister’s statement was condemned by the journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
The union’s CEO Paul Murphy said it was clear the government was trying to influence editorial decisions at the national broadcaster.
“In the past year the government has attacked press freedom, the freedom of access to information and freedom of expression through its amendments to Australia’s national security laws,” Murphy said.
“Now the government is at it again with this inquiry over an incident for which the ABC has already apologised and launched its own investigation into. Clearly the government is seeking to directly influence editorial decisions at the national broadcaster.
“The prime minister has even pre-empted the outcome of the inquiry by distastefully insisting: ‘Heads should roll over this’. He should withdraw this threat and the proposed inquiry.”
The Q&A incident is already subject to an internal investigation by the ABC TV department and an external independent review.
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