Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

) ( ): by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the statement.

What we just saw there was an attempt at another whitewash. This is a government that has constantly been in the mode of attack over our great institution, the ABC. I state again, as our shadow assistant minister has said over and over: the ABC belongs to the Australian people; it does not belong to the Liberal Party.

In Minister Fifield's response today, he declared it's been a difficult few weeks. He tried to make out it's been a difficult few weeks for the ABC, but the reality is it's been a very difficult few weeks for this minister. What he's attempting this morning is to come in here and wipe the blood off his hands for all the damage he's done to the ABC—cleaning up after the scene of the crime of constant and persistent attacks on our national broadcaster. Platitudes followed his opening statement of his anxiety about this period in which he has abjectly failed as a minister of the Crown—platitudes about confidence in the ABC and confidence in its independence. This is a government that has attacked that great institution day in and day out: reviews after reviews; interference with appointments; and the minister himself writing on multiple occasions, complaining about the editorial nature of the work being undertaken by the ABC. Then he went on, in his speech, to go back to his usual standard line of: 'Nothing to see here. Let's be calm in response to this and let's talk about the money we've invested in the ABC.' The reality is they have not done well by the ABC. They have been subject to influence from those on the crossbench to attack the ABC, and it's something that they're very happy to do.

In his statement, the minister declared that he has had a number of discussions with the chair of the ABC and also with the former managing director, Ms Guthrie. He spoke to the chair all right! He's spoken to the chair on plenty of occasions, and he's spoken to the chair in such a way that the chair of the ABC walked away with the impression that he should sack a journalist because this minister had him so worried that there would be further attacks on the ABC if he didn't respond. That is the level of political interference that we are seeing from this government.

What we saw from the minister coming in here and trying to explain away the incidence of late September, where we saw an extraordinary attack on our national broadcaster, will simply not cut it. I don't have the benefit of having the minister's speech in front of me to interrogate each of the nonsense points that he's gone through, but the fact is he is here in denial of the reality that we know the ABC is completely under attack.

The Labor Party made its comments very, very clear, as of 26 September, that any internal inquiry—and I will acknowledge respect to the head of the department, Mr Mrdak—into the ABC as advocated by this government is a whitewash and nothing more. This attack on our national broadcaster is of such significance that we should have an independent inquiry. Labor has called immediately for a Senate inquiry. The ABC does not belong to the Liberals. It's not a plaything used by Minister Fifield when he wants to intimidate the journalists who want to tell the truth about the failures of this government and report with independence. The ABC is not a plaything for this government, yet that is how it's being used. A Senate inquiry is the only way that we can actually get to the bottom of what's being going on with this minister's hands-on, very aggressive interference with the ABC.

The situation in the last week of September went from worse to worse. By 28 September Labor made it clear that this minister and his response was so wholly inadequate that he has demonstrated, without doubt, that he's unfit to hold the role of a minister of the Crown. He is certainly unfit to continue in the role as the communications minister while this incredible attack on the ABC under his watch is still playing out. On 30 September Labor called, in the hope of getting to the truth, for a very important response, because we cannot allow this minister to continue doing what he's doing. We have to ask if this minister seriously believes that an inquiry by his own department's secretary has got any chance of restoring public confidence in the independence of our great national broadcaster. What we have seen from this government in this year alone is an attack on the ABC where they have cut $83.7 million. They've launched two damaging broadcasting inquiries, they've led a stream of complaints about ABC journalism and they are inconveniently faced with the reality that there are three bills before the parliament to meddle with the ABC Act and charter.

We have, in this minister, a man who comes in here with arrogance and hubris, who, in his mild-mannered way, tries to avert our gaze from the reality that we are seeing an ABC so under attack that this is probably an historic moment in terms of the level of assault that that great institution has undergone. I see here a former journalist in Mr Hinch. The sort of intimidation that is going on for journalists in this country under this current government is absolutely extraordinary. What we saw in the revelations of conversations, which led to Mr Milne having to resign as the chair of the ABC, was a man who confessed to, having been in a meeting with the minister and the Prime Minister, leaving with an impression that he should order the sacking of a journalist. The minister's come in here with a few words this morning, but what has he denied? Certainly he has not denied that he was in that room and in that meeting that led to Justin Milne acting with some integrity and finally withdrawing himself from the leading position on the board.

With the findings of the secretary's inquiries, we see that the senator merely restates what's already on the public record. That's all he's saying; he's repeating the platitudinous comments that we've seen from this government in response to the historic reality of an incredible level of interference with our national broadcaster. The minister and the former minister say they didn't directly seek the sacking of a journalist, but how can you not directly seek the sacking of a journalist yet leave such an impression on the chairman that he leaves with that impression? There are plenty of word games that get played around this place, and, whatever they said in that meeting, one thing was clear: when Justin Milne left it, he knew his job was to go and sack a rightly employed journalist who was just doing their job.

We know that in a document reported in TheDaily Telegraph on 26 September, Mr Milne called on Ms Guthrie on 15 June after a meeting with Mr Turnbull and the communications minister. He discussed the Probyn matter after this. Mr Probyn, you might recall, was accused of running Labor lies about the 'super Saturday' by-elections. In that phone call—it's reported that it lasted for approximately half an hour—Mr Milne berated me about Andrew Probyn, saying that the then Prime Minister hates him and, 'You have to shoot him.' That's the board document that was reported in TheDaily Telegraph. That's the kind of interference that this minister is seeking to say has not occurred, but the public record absolutely reveals that that is the case. The minister, in his response today, says that this matter should be entirely a matter for the board. The problem is that the board is so compromised by this minister's interference in it and by the Prime Minister's interference in it. It's a mess, and no amount of internal inquiry directed by this government, no matter how independent his department might attempt to be, can get to the bottom of the problems that beset the ABC on the watch of this government.

We know that it's not the case that the board has been able to operate independently on the watch of this government. This government have had their hands all over it—threats and actual cuts to funding, intimidation of the chair and interference in the delivery of people onto the board. It's just a litany of permanent attacks on the ABC. If those who are here in the gallery today could come to the communications estimates sessions, just for five minutes, they would see the members of this government line up and attack the ABC hour after hour. I'm sure that people across this country who have relied on the ABC and believe and trust the messages they have to say are outraged at the hypocrisy of the minister's comments today, his disrespectful way of coming in to describe a difficult few weeks for the ABC. It's a difficult few weeks for you, Minister, at the end of a period of time when you have been attacking the ABC nonstop. Your platitudes of continuing confidence in the ABC, allowing it independently to do its job, simply don't wash, not on the back of the changes that you have instituted.

Again, I say: Labor calls for a Senate inquiry to independently determine the involvement of this government. The ABC does not belong to the Liberal Party; it belongs to the Australian people. The Labor Party will always stand in defence of our great ABC. It's a vital institution in our democracy. This government should be ashamed of the way in which it has interfered.