Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is fair to say in this place that the ABC brand has been diminishing in its value for some time. I also need to say this morning that on Tuesday night, the grand ABC brand of decades and generations was finally trashed through an incompetent production of the Q&A program. This is truly a serious matter. Under the law, the ABC is funded by the hardworking taxpayers of Australia to provide an impartial service. Any fair-minded person who watched the Q&A program on Monday night would be able to see quite clearly that, in performing its role, the ABC has well and truly crossed the line.

Facts are coming to light as we speak, but there are still far too many questions that remain unanswered. We find that this man, a criminal convicted of offences that would cause great disturbance to all Australians, found his way into a studio audience and found his way onto a taxpayer funded ABC shuttle bus where names, as I understand it, have to be provided to the ABC. For goodness sake! Where on earth are the processes of the ABC to ensure that the people that it actively encourages to be a part of its live show are processed appropriately and that security matters are taken in account?

I do not want to use this platform to cause unnecessary alarm, but anyone of a fair mind only has to read the tweets of this man to know the history of this man. You would have to be insane to allow this person into a live audience with a soapbox that is bigger than most to make a point. Following the show, the man in question tweeted:

I would pay to see that Minister dumped on #ISIS territory in Iraq!

What a disgraceful tweet! In the past he has also tweeted about our former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He tweeted:

Australian Citizenship test: Question: Do you support the throat slash of Australia's first female prime minister? Please tick YES or NO?

I need say no more. The ABC have let this country down. Q&A is letting the brand of the ABC down, and much more needs to be done to restore our confidence in it.