Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The sheer hypocrisy of this motion: it is just a continuation of the culture war of the coalition, led of course by Mr Dutton, the chief disinformation commissioner, the chief who is in charge of continuing to push and peddle mis and disinformation as his only way of being able to try and win any public debate in this country. It doesn't matter whether it is the Voice, it doesn't matter whether it is about the state of the climate and environment, it doesn't matter if it is about the real issues facing everyday people, it doesn't matter whether it is about those who are in peril because of the previous government's refugee policies, Mr Dutton has a track record of dis and misinformation and of colluding with the media when it suits him—over and over and over again. He is the chief operator and his own team just follow like sheep and that is what we are seeing today.

The culture war from the coalition towards the public broadcaster is just so crystal clear. It doesn't matter what the topic is, they will find an excuse to justify their policies of cutting the ABC budget, disrupting the ABC and meddling with its independence. The ABC has already said that it is investigating this issue, will have a review and will report back. This chamber should respect that independent process. But, of course, those on that side have no concern. They don't care about the independence of the public broadcaster; they just want to attack—stab, stab, stab. That is all they care about: cut its budget, stab at its independence. That is all the coalition are good for.

I have moved an amendment to this motion, pointing out that the biggest, most hysterical peddlers of dis and misinformation working with the right-wing activists in this country are News Corp and the Murdoch press. If we want to have an inquiry into the way the press report on climate and environment issues in this country, we should be inquiring into the climate denialism in the reporting of the Murdoch press, over and over and over again. You don't have to take my word for it; James Murdoch himself has called out the climate denialism of his family's own corporation. It is plain to see that this is just another political attack on the ABC, our public broadcaster, by the coalition. They have got absolutely nothing else to do. They attack the right of First Nations and Indigenous people to a voice and to giving constitutional recognition. They fear monger about that. They collude with the right-wing press and now here they are doing the bidding of the right-wing press again, who are simply in a culture war with our public broadcaster.

You would often hear from those on that side that they would be the first to argue about freedom of speech, freedom of the press—when it suits them.

Honourable senators interjecting—

I can hear the screeching from the other side. Let me be clear, there is an investigation into this issue being run by the ABC and we should respect the independence of that.