Liberal Senator Alex Antic has called for both a comprehensive review into the ABC and the establishment of a standing ombudsman for the public broadcaster.
The ABC has once again come under fire at Senate Estimates for perceived bias and contraventions of its charter in terms of impartiality.
Senator Antic posed questions to ABC’s Managing Director David Anderson over potential biases including those featured in the national broadcaster’s coverage of the recent Hamas-Israel conflict.
The ABC “swings to the favour” of the terrorist organisation Hamas and is “institutionally anti-Semitic” in its coverage of the ongoing conflict, Senator Antic said during Senate Estimates.
He told Sky News the consistent complaining from government MPs and Senators won’t change the inherent flaws in the public broadcaster.
“I think the starting point is a proper review of the ABC,” he said.
“We haven’t really had a proper deep dive into the ABC since about 1983. We need to get
ABC signs letters of intent with both Google and Facebook
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ABC paid Capitol rioter for footage to ‘boost ratings’: Eric Abetz26/05/2021|7min
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has accused the ABC of deliberately paying a violent left-wing activist for his footage of the Capitol Hill riots for the sake of “sensationalism” and boosting ratings.
Remittance advice from the ABC shows the national broadcaster spent taxpayer funds to buy footage of the January 6 Capitol Hill riots from rioter and anti-Trump activist John Sullivan.
Mr Sullivan was indicted in February by a federal grand jury on six charges including obstruction of a civil proceeding, civil disorder, and disorderly conduct.
The ABC purchased the right to use the footage from Mr Sullivan after the self-professed anti-Trump activist had been charged.
ABC Managing Director refuses to explain 13 Cartier watches-worth of a bonus26/05/2021|3min
ABC Managing Director David Anderson has refused to explain to Senate Estimates the awarding of a $55,000 bonus to an ABC employee.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz asked the managing director whether “this huge bonus of some 11,12,13 Cartier watches” was paid for journalistic or for administrative skills.
Mr Anderson said he “did not wish to have speculation run rife in the media,” but confirmed the bonus was not given on the basis of administrative work.
The Liberal Senator pushed Mr Anderson, but he continued to refuse not to “narrow that down”.
‘Ugly, nasty and divisive’: Eric Abetz slams ABC over ‘patently false’ comment26/05/2021|3min
The ABC has come under fire in Senate Estimates after one of its Tasmanian reporters made an “ugly, nasty, divisive and patently false” claim which has been labelled extremely offensive to many Tasmanians.
Liberal Senator Eric Abetz asked ABC Managing Director David Anderson whether an ABC presenter in Tasmania will be reprimanded after he made lewd claims referring to white supremacists.
Mr Abetz said the presenter “besmirched thousands of Tasmanians” when he said “I would have thought if you’re a white supremacist, you’d live in Kingston”.
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