Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (Senator Coonan) to questions without notice asked by Senators Conroy and Moore today relating to Telstra and to the Australian Broadcasting Association.

I would like to address my comments to Senator Coonan’s answer to Labor’s question about the comments by Senator Fierravanti-Wells in relation to criticism of the ABC. I think it is very pertinent and timely to take note of her answer because of the growing audacity of the Howard government in bullying the ABC into conforming and to seeing the world through its eyes. At least five examples come to mind of very blatant attempts to bully and interfere with the institution of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not least being the range of board appointments that have occurred. Clearly, friends and favourites of the Liberal Party have been appointed to the board on a consistent basis.

But that is not all. There is much more. The ongoing monitoring of allegations of bias against the government has imposed an extraordinarily onerous regime upon the ABC, which has many news and current affairs journalists living in fear that they are not conforming to this appalling structure of reporting that the minister referred to in her answer. But that is not all. It gets worse. Today we heard the almost amazing example of a Liberal senator criticising a drama production of the ABC before it has even been completed. Just how outrageous are these Liberal senators and this Liberal government in stating publicly that they are concerned about the ABC’s bias when the series has not even been made? For the record, I think it is very important to note that with respect to the drama in question, Bastard Boysa drama series being produced by the ABC on the 1988 waterfront dispute—the minister was asked to confirm that the Maritime Union won the case in the High Court and the federal government incurred more than $700,000 in legal costs. So let us get this clear. The government is afraid of the facts being told.