Naive Channel Seven passes off socialist share house as 'undecided voters', while Dutton antagonist Niki Savva needs a US history lesson

Sky News AU

02-05-2025

Ellie's spy among ABC Friends received an email on the morning of 2 May 2025 advising how very busy ABC Friends have been campaigning in the May election – Cassandra Parkinson's email advised that ABC Friends' most recent newsletter contained two articles about Peter Dutton. It continued:
ABC Friends rarely focuses on individual politicians but as leader of the opposition and potential prime minister important that we respond to Mr Dutton's comments on the ABC. Mr Dutton has refused to rule out cuts to the ABC, an ominous sign. And in recent days, he described the ABC and The Guardian as "hate media". Such inflammatory remarks are unworthy of an Australian political leader. Thank you to everyone who has supported our campaign. I can't tell you what a difference it makes knowing you are there backing the ABC and ABC Friends.
So, Comrade Parkinson and (ABC) Friends have declared that any reference to the 'hate media' is 'unworthy of an Australian political leader'. It would seem that Ms Parkinson has a poor memory.
According to MWD's research, the first politician to use the term 'hate media' in Australia was none other than Bob Brown in 2011 – when he was the leader of the Greens. To (secular) Saint Bob at the time, News Corporation was the 'hate media'. By the way, one of the attachments from ABC Friends to Cassandra Parkinson's email was by the ABC's very own Alan Kohler.
Really.
How about that? Alan Kohler, the ABC's finance reporter, has a video attached to the same ABC Newsletter which describes Opposition leader Peter Dutton as 'unworthy'. Which raises the question: Has Comrade Kohler become an 'activist' following Fran ('I'm an activist') Kelly? You be the judge. DENIS MULLER FORGETS CALLING BOB BROWN'S 2011 REFERENCE TO 'HATE MEDIA' AS MERELY 'SILLY' – SINCE IT WAS DIRECTED AT NEWS CORPORATION
While on the topic of 'hate media' – did anyone read the article by Denis Muller in The Conversation on 28 April titled 'Peter Dutton calling the ABC and the Guardian 'hate media'; rings alarm bells for democracy'.
Comrade Muller is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne University's pompously titled Centre for Advancing Journalism. Denis Muller (for a doctor he is) is a one-time journalist at The Age - which MWD used to refer to as 'The Guardian on the Yarra' until the real Guardian came to Sydney in 2013 thanks to Malcolm Turnbull and all that.
In his piece in The Conversation , your man Muller described Peter Dutton's 'reference to hate media' with respect to the ABC and The Guardian as 'extreme' language and 'dangerous to democracy'.
Could this be the very same Denis Muller who, writing in The Conversation on 24 May, described Bob Brown's use of the term 'hate media' as just 'silly'? However, in his recent article in The Conversation, Comrade Muller seems to have sent (Senator) Bob Brown's reference to 'hate media' down what George Orwell once termed the memory hole. Convenient, eh, for a leftist academic? CAN YOU BEAR IT? A NOVEL IDEA – NOVELIST WILL KOSTAKIS PLUGS HIS NOVELS ON ABC NEWS BREAKFAST WHEN DISCUSSING AGATHA CHRISTIE ABOUT THE DAY'S NEWS
In this week's 'An ABC Update', the focus is on the row within the ABC about the attempt by Kim Williams, the taxpayer funded public broadcaster's chair, to have comedian Sandy Gutman (aka Austen Tayshus) score a few ABC Radio interviews on a couple of stations in regional Australia. On such matters does the authority of an ABC chair hang. In any event, your man Williams is now deauthorised at the ABC HQ in inner city Sydney – and elsewhere within the organisation especially now that he has done a grovelling apology to staff of the ABC soviet.
ABC staff are horrified – absolutely horrified – that Mr Gutman managed to score, while on ABC Radio, a few plugs for his $20 a head performances at local pub somewhere or other. How shocking is that?
Ellie's (male) co-owner was reminded of this when, on May Day no less, the leftist author Will Kostakis [are there non-leftist authors? – MWD Editor] did the 'Newspapers' segment on ABC News Breakfast .
Comrade Kostakis said something about superannuation at the time of the Trump Administration and declared that the Coalition's position on the Voice controversy was 'really disheartening'. Quelle Surprise! – as the saying goes.
And then your man Kostakis started plugging his own novels and spoke about the famous novelist Agatha Christie in the same breath – in the context of AI. Let's go to the transcript where your man Kostakis discussed an article titled 'BBC Recreates Agatha Christie using AI':
Will Kostakis: …the BBC has something over there called BBC Maestro. We've seen all those annoying ads for, like Masterclass, it's something like that. So, she's going to be teaching creative writing. Using the powers of AI, quote, unquote. So basically, there's going to be an actress standing there and they've put Agatha Christie's face on her and using voice recordings they have her teaching creative writing. And this is just weird. It's not Agatha Christie teaching you, it is a robot voice using Agatha Christie's likeness teaching you. And look we're at this point in the culture where we don't seem to like new things – right? We have movies that are rehashes, book that are rehashes. And when you walk into a bookstore, and you have a choice say between an Agatha Christie book and a Will Kostakis book what are you going to buy? I wish you'd buy the latter.
Catherine Murphy: I don't know, I might buy Will. I'm gonna go with you, Will!
Will Kostakis: Thank you. But you're gonna grab an Agatha Christie book because you have that relation to her, you grew up with her. She has the reputation. So how do authors like me build a name. We find our audiences. And how do we give back to the next generation of writers. We get into classrooms, we get into libraries, we record videos, we teach creative writing. Yep, and this is another opportunity that's being taken away from us because we are obsessed with the past. Like how long until a video of Agatha Christie is appearing at Melbourne Writers' Festival instead of authors. And you know, if you had to choose like, 'I wouldn't want to go see Will Kostakis speak I'd want to go and see Agatha Christie.'
James Glenday: Don't sell yourself short…
Catherine Murphy: Well, no, we're going to book in to your creative writing course and we're saying no to Agatha.
And so, it went on with Comrade Murphy barracking for Kostakis and the extant author declaring that he wants 'to support the writers that are alive'. Like himself. How's that for self-promotion on the taxpayer funded public broadcaster? More importantly: Can You Bear It? ABC'S JOHN LYONS LEAVES MEDIA WATCH DOG LOST FOR TRANSLATION
As Media Watch Dog readers will recall, it is just over six weeks – 18 March in fact – that James Glenday made this (exciting) announcement on ABC TV's News Breakfast program about ABC 'star' John Lyons. Let's go to the transcript:
James Glenday: Overseas now, and the Trump administration has denied accusations that it defied a federal court order by carrying out deportations of hundreds of alleged gang members to El Salvador over the weekend. Our Americas Editor, John Lyons, has been following these developments over the weekend, and he joins us now from Washington. John, first of all, I mean, we've had you on this show many times. But congratulations on your new appointment.
John Lyons [speaking from Washington DC]: Well, thank you, James. It's great to be trying to translate the Trump presidency to an Australian audience.
James Glenday: Yeah, you do have a big job over the next couple of years.
Ellie's (male) co-owner is desperately in need of comrade Lyons' advice about how to interpret President Donald Trump's policies on tariffs, Ukraine and so on. Along with a translation of what's going on in Canada with Prime Minister Mark Carney's victory in last Monday's election.
But, alas, the recently appointed ABC Americas Editor is no longer in North America.
As readers of last week's Correspondence section will recall, ABC Communications advised Gerard Henderson that your man John Lyons was back in Australia, but did not say why.
Here's why. Let's go to the transcript of ABC Radio National Late Night Live (aka Late Night Left) on 29 April when David Marr introduced – yes, you've guessed is – Comrade Lyons:
David Marr: …How Ukraine has, so far at least, stopped Russia in its tracks is the central question John Lyons and his wife Sylvie Le Clezio explore in their new book A Bunker in Kyiv . Sylvie is a film maker and researcher; John is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor about to take up the Washington post for the ABC. John, welcome for about the 99th time to Late Night Live .
This is fake news. Comrade Lyons has already been appointed as the ABC's Americas Editor. It's just that he's returned to Sydney, briefly it appears – to promote his book A Bunker in Kyiv . Which is published by ABC Books.
And so it came to pass, that John Lyons – whom, in April, the ABC declared was its Americas Editor, is back in Australia on May Day to flog his co-authored book. Leaving Hendo and others in the dark without a 'translator' of developments in North America. Can You Bear It?
[No. Not really. Now that you ask. It would that seem that none of the rest of the ABC team in Washington D.C. is up to the job. Fancy that. MWD Editor] CHANNEL 7 CONNED BY THE OCCUPANTS OF A SHARE HOUSE (READ 'SHARE SOVIET') OF FLINDERS UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS (READ 'COMRADES')
Channel 7's The Final Showdown debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton aired on Sunday 27 April.
Michael Usher was in the presenter's chair and Mark Riley was the interlocutor between the party leaders.
Early on, viewers were told that there was an online audience of some 40 folk who would judge the winner and viewers were assured that the audience had been carefully selected to ensure that they were undecided voters.
After the debate concluded, while the votes were being assessed, Channel 7 interviewed some so-called 'undecided voters'. Let's go to the transcript when Comrade Usher is about to cross to a share house in Adelaide:
Michael Usher: Let's go to the South Australian seat of Boothby where it's a really tight contest…. Let's head to a living room there. Political Science students from Flinders University, a pretty strong and clear reaction. Have a listen.
Student 1: I think Dutton tells a lot of lies around nuclear energy, particularly around who's gonna get these jobs.
Student 2: I definitely think that Albanese won, both in being succinct, as well as having a direct plan.
Channel 7 Journalist: On the topic of housing, who do you think has the stronger housing policy. I'm sure are you – do you own a home yet?
Student 3: Absolutely not. I think Anthony Albanese did far better. Peter Dutton just lies all the time about housing. Every single issue that he identifies with housing has the complete wrong root meaning behind it.
Channel 7 Journalist: On the topic of cost-of-living, who do you think won the debate tonight?
Student 4: I reckon Albanese did far better than Dutton. Dutton, you know, all he really said was the, you know, the cut to petrol costs for 12 months. Whilst Albanese, he's doing stage three tax cuts, you know, he's doing – uh – you know – he's keeping the – uh – Coles and Woolies honest with the supermarkets.
Michael Usher: Alright, well there's a share house with a very clear set of views in Adelaide. They know where they're voting tonight.
Yes, indeed. We know who the Flinders University Political Science students are voting for, or rather, against. Including Student 4 who, uh, you know – doesn't like, you know, uh, Peter Dutton.
Ellie's (male) co-owner asks: How can the comrades at Channel 7 be so naïve as to believe that there are undecided voters in a share house occupied by Che Guevara-admiring Flinders University Political Science students? And here's another question. Can You Bear It? NINE'S NIKI SAVVA ATTRIBUTES A FAMOUS RONALD REAGAN COMMENT TO DONALD TRUMP
Wasn't it great to see Peter Dutton antagonist Niki Savva back on the Opinion Page of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on May Day? The heading was 'Dutton stumbles in race for his life'. Media Watch Dog was hoping for usable copy. And, sure enough, the Teal-loving Savva delivered in her eighth paragraph:
With every sign the economy was improving, inflation moderating and interest rates easing, he [Dutton] needed to do much more than recycle a Trumpism, asking if people were better off now than three years ago.
What a load of absolute tosh. The election campaign question 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' first came to prominence during the 1980 United States presidential campaign between incumbent Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan. The second debate of that election was held only a week before election day on 28 October. In his closing remarks the future President Reagan said the following:
Ronald Reagan: Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all those questions 'Yes', why then I think your choice is very obvious as to who you'll vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four. Then, I could suggest another choice that you have.
Variations of the phrase have been used regularly since then, including by pollsters. Comrade Savva should know that this, now common challenge, has nothing to do with Donald J. Trump and/or Trumpism. How ignorant can a political commentator get? And here's another question: Can You Bear It? ABC JOURNO RACHEL MEALEY'S FAKE SORRY
One of the famous sayings of the early 1970s is 'Love means never having to say you're sorry'. It comes from Erich Segal's novel Love Story and was spoken by the Ali MacGraw character to Ryan O'Neal character in the film of the same name.
But Media Watch Dog digresses, not for the first time. Ellie's male co-owner noticed an over-use of the word 'sorry' when listening to ABC Radio AM presenter Rachel Mealey interviewing Opposition frontbencher Jane Hume on Easter Monday:
Comrade Mealey constantly interrupted Senator Hume towards the end of the interview. Let's go to the transcript:
Rachel Mealey: [interjecting] Do you agree with him [Peter Dutton] that the ABC and The Guardian are hate media?
Jane Hume: That wouldn't be a phrase that I would use, but that wasn't my phrase. What I would suggest, however, is that –
Rachel Mealey: [interjecting] Was it a slip of the tongue from Peter Dutton?
Jane Hume: I couldn't answer on his behalf. What I will say, though, is that a Peter Dutton led Coalition government will deliver on what's important to Australians tackling the cost of living at its source, managing the economy responsibly and making sure that we have better opportunities for prosperity for all Australians –
Rachel Mealey: [interjecting] Do you think that language... Sorry to interrupt, Senator. Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to focus on that use of the term hate media. Do you think that that language is helpful at this stage in the campaign?
Jane Hume: Well, I think that that's conjecture one way or the other. I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on what matters to everyday Australians. And that is the cost of living, delivering a 25 cent cut in petrol prices, which –
Rachel Mealey: [interjecting] That clip, I'm sorry , once again, that clip of him saying that has travelled quite a bit on social media. It's been shared a lot on social media. Do you think it's caused damage?
Jane Hume: I would imagine it's been shared a lot by the ABC…
Needless to say, Comrade Mealey was not sorry for interrupting Jane Hume. If she was in remorse, the interruptions would have ceased. But they didn't.
To paraphrase Erich Segal, 'Being an ABC journalist means that you can fudge a sorry apology'. Can You Bear It? AN ABC UPDATE THE ABC SOVIET DEFEATS KIM WILLIAMS IN A 3 TO ZIP SCORE IN A TRIVIAL GAME
As avid Media Watch Dog readers know only too well, Ellie's (male) co-owner just loves it when the ABC talks about the ABC on the taxpayer funded public broadcaster.
Take last Monday's ABC TV Media Watch program for example. Right now, the 3 May election is newsworthy. As is the media in North America following the election of President Donald J. Trump and the strong performance of the Mark Carney led Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian election. And more besides.
However, on Monday 28 April, ABC TV Media Watch devoted 12 minutes out of a 17 minute program to a topic titled 'ABC Radio choir-bound'. The only other story turned on a critique of one small pollster in one Labor-held seat in Western Sydney. That's all, folks.
Towards the end of the program, presenter Linton Besser declared, in full moral unction:
It's a reminder of just how special the ABC is, that Media Watch has been given free rein to investigate this imbroglio in which the organisation's own chairman has suffered what I believe to have been a grave lapse of judgement.
Now let's go to the transcript of the start of the segment last Monday:
Linton Besser: Now we turn to this bizarre hit from the glorious 1980s:
I said to me mate Al, 'hey where can Marsu pee, Al?'He said 'she can go out back with the fellas, she's probably seen a Cockatoo. - YouTube, The 12th Man, Austen Tayshus - Australiana (Official Uncensored Version), 28 Jan, 2015
Linton Besser: If you can believe it, Austen Tayshus' 1983 pun-fest 'Australiana' enjoyed eight weeks at the top of the charts, and for the past few years he's been on a 40th anniversary tour in pubs and clubs across the country with ABC radio rolling out the welcome mat in local interviews like this:
Sandy Gutman : … 40 years on, I'm still the king of comedy, mate, that's travelling around, and I'm comin' to Port Augusta, mate, the Flinders Hotel this Saturday night … - ABC North and West SA, Breakfast with Tom Mann, 7 August, 2024
Linton Besser: Austen Tayshus, whose real name is Sandy Gutman, has featured regularly on the ABC celebrating his briefly famous monologue and spruiking his upcoming shows across the country…. Since July last year, Gutman has received more than 90 minutes of free publicity on the public broadcaster in no fewer than 11 segments, all of which promoted specific upcoming gigs…with tickets costing between $20 and sometimes including dinner.
How about that? Comrade Besser conveniently overlooked the fact that ABC journalists constantly provide 'free publicity' to ABC authors and ABC faves who are flogging their artistic output as authors. And at $20 a ticket, your man Gutman is not overcharging.
For example, ABC Radio National's The Radio National Hour on 21 February 2025, presenter Fran ('I'm an activist') Kelly interviewed Kathy Lette – Australia's most famous punster – about Lette's book The Revenge Club (Bloomsbury). Which, believe it or not, was published in February 2024 – a full year earlier. How's that for free publicity?
Note that Besser sneered at Austen Tayshus' 'pun-fests'. But Comrade Lette never gets sneered at on the taxpayer funded broadcaster for her pun-fests. An unpleasant double standard, don't you think?
Like Kim Williams, Gerard Henderson is an acquaintance of Sandy Gutman (aka Austen Tayshus). He spoke for The Sydney Institute in 2011. Hendo regards him as being at times, a bit, well, manic – as the saying goes. But Gutman is talented and can be very funny. He can also be obsessive and at times, angry and difficult to handle. However, he'd invariably accept a 'no' answer if it is communicated directly. Gutman does not threaten the $1 billion public sector media.
This is the extract from the note which Williams sent to two ABC managers on 2 December 2024 in support of Gutman.
Kim Williams: I am of course essentially on his side. Our people are often arrogant with talent. How often would someone like Austen Tayshus be in New England? Strange attitude. I know he can be demanding but he is talent. I have included Donna because it's her patch. Donna, Ben can brief you if you need it. There's a backstory. - Email, Kim Williams to Ben Latimer and Donna Field, 2 December, 2024
What Williams wrote on 2 December last year is essentially true. ABC presenters and producers are often 'arrogant with talent'. And many talented non-leftists have been cancelled by the ABC. Moreover, Austen Tayshus would not often be in the likes of Bendigo, Lismore, Orange, Port Pirie and Tamworth. It would seem the ABC chair was of the view that ABC Radio listeners may have found the comedian of interest.
Linton Besser presented the case for the prosecution against Williams. Unlike the Media Buzz program hosted by Howard Kurtz on Fox News in the United States, there is no viewpoint diversity on ABC Media Watch . It has only had left-of-centre presenters since it commenced in 1989 (after Gerard Henderson's very own Media Watch).
And only the presenter appears live on the program. In other words, there is no on-air right of reply.
Rather each week, viewers listen to a sermon – currently delivered by your man Besser.
Last Monday, Comrade Besser reported that 'not all of the ABC's staff loved the idea of Austen Tayshus on their show and declined to put him to air'. In the event, Gutman was told in March that any request for air-time must go through local radio managers. And he accepted this. Moreover, Gutman conceded that he had mishandled the situation – texting on 25 April 'If I overreacted on a couple of occasions that is to do with frustration and the considerable workload'.
For his part, Kim Williams did a mea culpa. Let's go to the transcript again:
Linton Besser: So why did Kim Williams intervene on so many occasions on Sandy Gutman's behalf? He told us he was keenly aware of the sensitivity of Sandy Gutman's claims of antisemitism, however baseless, but that he offered Gutman no promises of air-time and that he: '… did not at any time intervene and would never seek to override editorial judgement from local teams… There was no request [from me] beyond a review of the matter and never at any stage an improper exercise of authority or any matter of personal interest.' - Email, Kim Williams, ABC Chair, 24 April, 2025
Kim Williams explained that his startling internal email was a reference to: … 'what I saw as an offhand manner in dealing with talent. On reflection that was inappropriate … I accept that my comment can be seen as gratuitous.' - Email, Kim Williams, ABC Chair, 26 April, 2025
The ABC Chair added: 'If there have been misunderstandings in the process, or erroneous assumptions I genuinely regret that they may have arisen …I understand my own role and the difference it has from that of the Managing Director and his senior leadership team and the obligations which repose on us separately.' - Email, Kim Williams, ABC Chair, 26 April, 2025.
However, Mr Williams' grovelling back-down was not enough for the ABC Soviet. Media Watch then sought the opinion of former ABC editorial director Alan Sunderland. This is what he had to say:
Alan Sunderland: The fact that it was not only passed on but acted upon by program teams who felt pressured to change their editorial judgement, indicates a significant failure of process and judgement, both on the part of the Chairman and senior management. - Email, Alan Sunderland, Fmr ABC Editorial Director, 27 April, 2025
Turn it up. Media Watch approached Sunderland for comment knowing full well what he would say. No other view was heard.
Comrade Besser told his viewers that an anonymous South Australian ABC staffer was 'outraged'. And the newly appointed ABC managing director Hugh Marks had this to say – as reported by Besser.
Hugh Marks: The matters raised by Media Watch are important. I have been at the ABC a short time but I am vigilant to ensure the proper delineation of responsibility between the board and management, and will act appropriately to ensure the best interests of the ABC, its people and audiences as we move forward. - Phone, Hugh Marks, ABC Managing Director, 26 April, 2025
The ABC House Committee then joined the pile-on against Kim Williams stating that 'journalists at the ABC are beyond disappointed' by the incident. It is not clear what it means to be 'beyond disappointed'. According to Calum Jaspan of Nine Newspapers, anonymous 'uncommissioned staff' are 'shocked' by the ABC's chair's 'arrogant attitude'. Then, on 30 April, Nine columnist Jenna Price called for Williams to step down. Oh yes, she described Linton Besser as 'lovely'. Really.
Talk about overkill. MWD has been critical of some of Kim Williams' speeches as ABC Chair. But in this instance, Williams believed that the talented Gutman was getting knockbacks on some regional stations and suggested that he might be interviewed for some 10 minutes on 10 separate occasions. Certainly, this is not the role of the ABC Chair. But this is hardly a major indiscretion.
What Kim Williams is yet to fully understand is that the ABC is a staff collective where, in the final analysis, staff run the joint. Not the Chair, not the board and not even the managing director.
In the 'ABC House Committee statement on editorial standards', the anonymous signatories had this to say when quoting from a February 2025 staff meeting's resolution: 'ABC staff work tirelessly to build and maintain the ABC's independence and integrity. It is the board's legal duty to protect that independence and integrity. But time and again we see ABC chairs and managing directors do the opposite.'
In other words, according to ABC staff, not even the ABC managing director is entitled to 'interfere' with ABC journalists' 'independence'. Despite the fact that the ABC managing director is also the ABC's editor-in-chief.
In the Australian Financial Review on May Day 2025 , Kim Williams upped his mea culpa to state that he had experienced 'an enormously stern learning experience'. The MWD score board reads:
ABC Soviet: 3
ABC Chair: Zip
Last Monday ABC Media Watch ignored important media stories to focus on what was a trivial occurrence of scant long-term importance.
Meanwhile, ABC Media Watch has only ever had left-of-centre presenters. And the ABC is a Conservative Free Zone with scant viewpoint diversity. This is a more important issue than whether Austen Tayshus appears on Port Pirie ABC Radio Station for ten minutes or so on a Monday afternoon. At least Sandy Gutman can be funny – unlike many who present as comedians on the ABC year after year. A LATE NIGHT LEFT MOMENT LA TINGLE BAGS PETER DUTTON WHILE IAN DUNT PRAISES MARK CARNEY
Media Watch Dog has always liked ABC Radio National Late Night Left program since, over the years, it has provided great material demonstrating the ABC's lack of viewpoint diversity. This was so when, until relatively recently, LNL was presented by Phillip Adams – one of Australia's wealthiest socialists. And it remains so when presented by MWD fave, David Marr.
As avid readers will be aware, Ellie's (male) co-owner listens to the Voice of Marr on his Late Night Walk with the said canine.
Look at it this way. Australians are probably most interested in the politics of Australia, Britain and the United States.
Every Monday on LNL , the ABC's Laura Tingle discusses Australia. Every second Tuesday, Ian Dunt discusses British politics. And every second Wednesday, Bruce Shapiro discussed United States politics. All are left-of-centre comrades – as is your man Marr.
Take this week, for example. On Monday, La Tingle joined Comrade Marr in bagging Peter Dutton over his views on (i) Welcome to Country, (ii) Electric Vehicles, (iii) the (so-called) culture wars, (iv) his relationship with John Howard, (v) Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu and (vi) nuclear energy.
Let's go towards the end of the interview where the following exchange took place:
Laura Tingle: In general, he's [Dutton's] basically avoided the Teal seats, except for going to Mackellar on the weekend. And I think some people in the McKellar campaign would have preferred if he hadn't come. And of course, he hasn't been going to any of the sites of his proposed nuclear power stations either. So –
David Marr: Oh, now, Laura, don't be picky. He's been quite near some of them, he's been quite near 60 kilometres, I think was the measured distance. When you're talking about a nuclear power station, 60 kilometres can be under certain circumstances, much too close. [Laughing]
Funny, eh? Sure, Peter Dutton has not been to any of the seven possible nuclear energy sites. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not been near any of the 'solar farms' and 'wind farms' which – along with the construction of transmission lines – are deeply opposed in parts of rural and regional Australia.
As to nuclear matters. Comrade Marr broadcasting from the ABC studio in inner city Ultimo seems blissfully unaware that there is a nuclear reactor in Sydney Lucas Heights – a mere 39 kilometres from the Sydney CBD. Which, in the Marr world-view, should be considered 'much too close'.
Then on Tuesday, David Marr interviewed Ian Dunt. He ran the all the fashionable left-wing lines on 'the gender wars', House of Lords reform, and so on. And Comrade Dunt was oh so excited that Prime Minister Mark Carney had just taken the Liberal Party of Canada to victory in last Monday's Canadian election.
Comrade Dunt declared that he was 'having champagne for breakfast' – describing Carney's victory as 'a beautiful thing to see'. Dunt also praised Carney's handling of Brexit when governor of the Bank of England. Not everyone agrees. Writing in The Daily Telegraph in London on 29 April, Matthew Lynn pointed out that on Carney's watch inflation spiked in Britain 'way above the rise of our competitors' and politicised the Bank of England.
But don't expect to hear Matthew Lynn on Late Night Live anytime soon. Or to hear a right-of-centre commentator on Australian or American politics. THE NINE NEWSPAPERS: AN UPDATE TEN OUT OF TEN SMH LETTERS BAG PETER DUTTON IN ONE DAY
Avid Media Watch Dog readers have been so focused on the coverage by Ellie's (male) co-owner of the Sydney Morning Herald's Letters Page that they have called for MORE. Being well-brought up, Gerard Henderson always attempts to respond to polite requests. So here we go – again.
Reviewing the SMH's Letters Page for the previous week on Saturday 26 April, Ivan Hemens in his 'Postscript' column referred initially to Letters submitted about the late Pope Francis. A couple of readers liked Francis because of his political views and 'anti-war stance'. As distinct from other pontiffs who, apparently, were not opposed to war. No names were named.
A certain Bob White was quoted by Hemens as referring to the Catholic Church as 'an all-male, misogynistic institution that…doesn't reflect the society in which we live'. The 'postscript' ended with a Neville Williams being quoted as calling on us all to 'give peace a chance'. To which Comrade Hemens responded, 'Pope Francis would have agreed'. How would Hemens know? Does Vladimir Putin care?
And then there was this reference by Hemens: 'Not to let sadness get in the way of some Aussie humour, Dave Pyett noted how soon the Pope's passing came after meeting US Vice President J.D. Vance. 'Maybe we could get Vance to visit Putin next', he quipped'. How funny is that?
Now let's go to the SMH's Letters Page on Tuesday 29 April which led with this: 'Trump's clown car has backfired on Dutton again'. Get the picture? Donna Wiemann (of inner-city Balmain) described President Donald J. Trump as a 'maniacal clown' and declared that Opposition leader Peter Dutton had initially emulated him. Then it was time for a cliché – a form of writing much admired by the SMH Letters Page: 'When it was pointed out to him [Dutton] that, by far, the majority of Australians dislike Trump intensely, he tried to change tack. But a leopard can't change its spots'. Cliché over, Comrade Wiemann went on to praise the ABC. And then Graeme Finn (of Campsie) attacked the Opposition leader's criticism of the ABC. Then Gary Stowe (of Springwood) also criticised Peter Dutton's reference to the ABC and The Guardian as the 'hate media' and concluded that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'might come back with 'Peta Credlin, Andrew Bolt, Chris Kenny – the Flower Children'. I throw it open to suggestions'.
Ellie's (male) co-owner's suggestion is that Comrade Stowe should not write such incomprehensible sludge. Then Bill Gillis (of Hallidays Point) attacked the Coalition and defended the ABC before winding up with 'words fail me'. Which explains, perhaps, why his fanging of the Coalition only took 48 words. Then Coral Button (of North Epping) wrote that 'Peter Dutton's Trumpian labelling of the ABC and the Guardian as 'hate media' adds one more to the list of reasons I would never vote for the Coalition'. Was this really necessary? Then Tim Parker (of inner-city Balmain) joined in the Dutton-antagonist-choruses by throwing the switch to abuse. He claimed that Peter Dutton sounds like 'a roar of impotent rage from a dinosaur sinking slowly into the swamp'. How about that? Perhaps your man Parker should enrol in the late Nancy's Courtesy Classes. Just a thought. Then Tony Bennett (of Broke) went for broke commencing his letter with reference to 'poor, desperate Peter' – and ended with the cliché, 'You reap what you sow.' Groan. Then James Tulloch (of Westleigh) pitched in with a defence of the ABC. Yawn. Then Wendy Atkins (of Cooks Hill) did much the same. Yawn Squared.
And then Bob Roobottom (of Taree), with a sideways move, managed to compare the Opposition leader with the late Barry Goldwater – who said something in 1964. Barry who? – and does anyone care?
There was no other view expressed – as 10 out of 10 SMH Letters Page writers bagged the Peter Dutton-led Coalition. And Nine Newspapers claims to be 'Independent. Always.' Turn it up. NEW FEATURE: MWD FACT-CHECK ABC ONLINE MANAGES TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF THE RUDD/GILLARD/RUDD GOVERNMENT FROM 2 TO 3 TERMS
Due to popular demand, MWD has established a Fact-Check Unit. Based in Ellie's kennel and sponsored by the deaf Blue Heeler. As avid readers are aware, MWD does not focus on verbal or print 'typos', misspellings, simple mistakes and the like – since everyone makes such errors. But MWD is interested in errors which show an absence of current or historical knowledge.
Lotsa thanks to the reader who noticed this comment by Paul Johnson and Kate Ainsworth in an article on ABC Online titled 'Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attacks Peter Dutton and calls on Australia to vote for stable leadership'. It's hard to become excited about a Prime Minister attacking an Opposition leader – but there you go.
In any event, this is what Comrades Johnson and Ainsworth had to say, among other things on Monday 28 April:
Mr Albanese said that if he is re-elected he intends to serve his full-term and called on Australia to end the revolving door of prime ministers. Since Kevin Rudd was elected for his first term in 2007, Australia has not seen a leader serve two consecutive terms, even though Labor served three terms straight in the Rudd-Gillard years and the Coalition had three consecutive prime ministers from 2013--2022 in Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. "It's been a revolving door," Mr Albanese said.
In fact, the Labor Party, under the Kevin Rudd/Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd governments served two terms – not three. Labor formed government after the 2007 and 2010 elections. That's two times – not three. ABC Factual please note. DOCUMENTATION ABC'S COMPASS DEMONSTRATES LACK OF VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY IN ITS COVERAGE OF FRANCIS' PAPACY No Viewpoint Diversity in Coverage of Pope Francis on ABC TV's Compass
When Pope Francis died on Monday 21 April, ABC TV junked some of its scheduled programs and ran a Compass special presented by Geraldine Doogue titled ' Pope Francis: The Disrupter '. The producer was Noel Debien. Research was done by Mary Tran and Susie Jones was listed in the credits in her capacity as the ABC's Head of Factual. The following were interviewed by Geraldine Doogue and given these titles:
Paul Collins – Religious historian
Shane Mackinlay – Catholic Bishop of Sandhurst
Francis Sullivan – Former CEO, Truth, Justice and Healing Council
Qwayne Guevara – Youth leader
Sebastian Duhau – Youth leader
Berta Antonieta – Timorese Activist
Sr Jeannine Gramick – New Ways Ministry
Kate McElwee – Women's Ordination Conference.
There was not a Catholic conservative among this lot – as befits the taxpayer funded public broadcaster as a Conservative Free Zone. Everyone on the program – including Geraldine Doogue – was a progressive Catholic. Especially those who had most to say, i.e. Geraldine Doogue herself, Paul Collins, Bishop Mackinlay and Francis Sullivan along with producer Noel Debien. No surprise, then, that the Compass program was very much a Case for the Progressive Catholic Prosecution.
The views expressed by Geraldine Doogue along with those of Paul Collins and Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst were of considerable interest. However, it is not clear how Francis Sullivan has suddenly become an 'expert' on the Catholic Church in Australia – or elsewhere. Unlike Doogue, Collins and Mackinlay.
Media Watch Dog is not aware that Sullivan has ever written anything of substance on theology or history. MWD understands that his past career was as a teacher, then a Labor Party staffer followed by time in the private sector bureaucracies – i.e. Catholic Health Australia and the Australian Medical Association – before being appointed chief executive officer of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council.
As pointed out above, the three Australians who were interviewed at length – Paul Collins, Shane Mackinlay and Francis Sullivan – were all progressives. A conservative voice would have added some balance to the discussion. The likes of Monica Doumit or Philippa Martyr come immediately to mind as conservatives who might have had something useful – and different – to say. But then, as the saying goes, the ABC is a Conservative Free Zone which is virtually devoid of viewpoint diversity.
There was one factual error in the Compass program which, it would seem, the ABC's Head of Factual Susie Jones missed. Let's go to the transcript:
Geraldine Doogue: In Australia, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sex Abuse exposed systemic crime and corruption within religious and secular organisations.
This is not correct. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's exposure of secular organisations excluded government schools. It did not do a Case Study of any existing government school in the whole of Australia. Despite the Royal Commission being extended from three to five years with a budget of some $342 million and around 300 staff at any one time.
Royal Commissioner Peter McClellan KC has denied this. But he could only reference three instances of sexual assault in government schools examined by the Royal Commission. And the three examples involved the sexual assault on students by other students. In other words, the Royal Commission did not examine paedophilia in government schools – contrary to the implication in what Geraldine Doogue told Compass viewers.
The likes of the ABC's Louise Milligan and Sarah Ferguson – who focused on paedophilia in Catholic schools and, to a lesser extent, other Christian schools – have never addressed this issue. Despite the fact that, since the Royal Commission, the governments in Victoria, Tasmania and, in a minor way, New South Wales have set up inquiries of their own.
Archbishop George Pell (as he then was) set up the Melbourne Response with respect to child sexual abuse in the Melbourne Archdiocese in 1996. The Towards Healing process was established in the other Archdioceses and Dioceses in 1997. The Victorian Education Department commenced an inquiry into paedophilia in Victorian State Schools in 2023 – a quarter of a century later.
Attached is an email which, along with a letter by post, was sent by Gerard Henderson to Peter McClellan on 12 July 2023. See link. Mr McClellan did not reply. No surprise there since a study of the Royal Commission's various reports will validate Henderson's claims. In this respect, the Royal Commission was a significant failure concerning the largest school cohort in Australia. Francis Sullivan has never drawn attention to this.
It is also notable that the Victorian Inquiry – set up by the Ted Baillieu-led Coalition Government in March 2013, which was directed not to inquire into government schools, was formally titled Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry Into The Handling Of Child Sexual Abuse By Religious And Other Non-Government Organisations. This Victorian Inquiry flowed into the Peter McClellan-led Royal Commission in late 2013. What the two inquiries had in common turned on the fact that neither examined pedophilia in government schools. A Note on Francis Sullivan – an Antagonist of Cardinal Pell and Pope Francis
Let's now go to the transcript of what was said on Compass immediately after Geraldine Doogue's (incorrect) statement that the Royal Commission exposed systemic crime and corruption within religious and secular organisations – commencing with a grab of Francis Sullivan at the Royal Commission.
Francis Sullivan [at the Royal Commission hearing]: It is vital that the culture of the Church that enabled the abuse of privilege and power that led to the crimes and cover up be confronted head on.
Francis Sullivan [to Geraldine Doogue]: Pope Francis has a patchy record on child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.
Note that Compass ran this criticism of Pope Francis by Francis Sullivan without anyone being invited to put a different view with respect to the deceased pope.
The fact is that Sullivan is a long-time critic of conservatives within the Catholic Church. Gerard Henderson wrote this about Francis Sullivan in his book Cardinal Pell, The Media Pile-On & Collective Guilt (Connor Court, third edition, 2023):
The overall impression given by the Royal Commission during its five years of hearings was that clerical child sexual abuse remained a problem in the Catholic Church and that it had done virtually nothing over the years to address the problem. This view was not contested by Sullivan, who was a Catholic critic of Pell. A few examples illustrate the point.
On 10 June 2014, Sullivan was interviewed by Philip Clark on ABC Radio Canberra. Clark made a number of inaccurate and defamatory remarks about Pell. Sullivan did not contest the claims. Later he apologised – saying: 'This was a mistake. I should have responded to these claims because there is no evidence the cardinal has covered up anything and he has certainly not defended pedophiles'. Clark made an on-air apology on 18 June 2014 and the online ABC's Corrections & Clarifications segment briefly covered the apology on 25 June 2014.
On Monday 1 June 2015, Sullivan was the recipient of a very long interview by Virginia Trioli, a Pell-antagonist, on ABC TV News Breakfast program. It took place in the morning after the 60 Minutes program where Peter Saunders had called on Pope Francis to move Pell from his Vatican position, describing the cardinal as 'almost sociopathic'. Saunders had never met Pell.
First up, Trioli asked Sullivan whether Pell had maintained Pope Francis' approval. Sullivan responded that the cardinal's position was 'very tight'. During the remainder of the interview, Sullivan used the words 'very tight' twice more – along with 'pretty tight' (also twice) and 'tight'. Sullivan did not say what he meant by this – but it was evident that he was not supporting Pell. So much so that Trioli put this question: 'Francis Sullivan, you're not strongly defending Cardinal George Pell against these criticisms – why not?'
Sullivan went on to criticise Pell for not openly expressing his feelings and implied that Pell knew of Ridsdale's crimes when he was in Ballarat – in spite of the fact that, as at 1 June 2015, Pell had not appeared before the Royal Commission on this issue to state his own position. Most viewers of the interview would have come to the conclusion that the TJHC was distancing itself from Pell.
On 10 March 2017, Sullivan addressed a function at the Villa Maria parish in the Sydney suburb of Hunter's Hill concerning the Royal Commission's final hearings in its 'Catholic Wrap'. His speech was a withering criticism of the historical and contemporary Catholic Church. There were references to Catholicism's 'scandalous history' and 'spiritual bankruptcy'. But Sullivan made no mention of the Melbourne Response or Towards Healing – nor did he quote the comments of Gail Furness, made just three weeks earlier, that the vast majority of alleged incidents of clerical child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church had occurred in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
That is, few complaints had been made in the previous quarter of a century when Pell was a significant figure in the Catholic Church. Sullivan's disinclination to mention the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing (which Pell inherited when he moved to Sydney in 2001) had the consequence of implying that the Cardinal had not acted on this 'scandalous' matter when, in fact, he had. This further blackened Pell's name. The approach adopted by the TJHC was consistent with an attempt to discredit the 'Old Church', as represented by Pell, and to proclaim the TJHC's role in the 'Modern Church' for finally tackling clerical child sexual abuse.
By the way, in his 15-minute interview with Virginia Trioli, Francis Sullivan failed to state what he meant by saying that Cardinal Pell's situation in the Vatican was 'tight'. The fact is that Francis always stood by Pell with respect to the allegations against him – both before he went to trial in 2018 and after his conviction was quashed by an unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia.
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Until Next Time
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Gerard Henderson is an Australian columnist, political commentator and the Executive Director of The Sydney Institute. His column Media Watch Dog is republished by SkyNews.com.au each Saturday morning. He started the blog in April 1988, before the ABC TV's program of the same name commenced.