Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

The ABC believes that the Loyalty Oath was a significant issue which warranted an d received coverage on the ABC.

The ABC also considers that the investigation of the funding of human rights groups in Israel was an issue that warranted and received coverage. The ABC acknowledges that information on funding sources can be relevant in relation to a range of organisations.

The level of coverage received by a particular issue is based on editorial significance and news value, and is often influenced by the level of response and debate. There is no doubt that the loyalty oath issue attracted significant attention as it represented a change to existing practice, while some commentators observed that monitoring and public declaration of the sources of funding of human rights groups and other NGOs had already been in place for some time.