James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Hughes. It's governed by legislation that's gone through this parliament. It is important that it upholds the standards which it requests other people to uphold. The ABC is becoming one of these organisations which operates along the mantra, 'Do as I say but not as I do.' The ABC is becoming one of these organisations who are falling into the trap of failing to uphold standards, because the standards that you walk past are the standards that you accept. It is disappointing that the many good people who do work for the ABC across Australia are being let down by the management, by the board and by those who are failing to act ethically when it comes to the treatment of our fellow Australians.

If it comes to a choice between taking the words of our veterans, those men and women who have put their lives at risk to defend the freedoms that define this country, or taking the ABC at its word, every single time I will take the word of our veterans. I will take the word of those men and women who are about service, about belief in this country and about putting their lives on the line.

Heston Russell—someone who did stand at the last election in Queensland against my own party, so he's not a supporter of the Liberal National Party—is one of those people who has put his life on the line. He is someone who has done things, along with many other men and women who serve this country, so people in this chamber and in that gallery can sleep safe at night. He has gone overseas. He has defended freedom. He has fought for all that is good and right.

But what do we have with the ABC? We had the ABC defame him. Indeed, the ABC had to settle—actually they didn't settle. Mr Russell sued the ABC in the Federal Court for defamation and was awarded $390,000 in damages. The ABC went out of their way to defame a special forces commando, someone who has defended the freedoms that the journalists employed by the ABC ironically used to then defame him. It wasn't just a good old-fashioned defamation; it was clearly, I want to say, a conspiracy to libel and defame Mr Russell. There was a conspiracy to doctor the number of shots that could be heard in an audio recording.

That is why it is so disappointing that, when questions were put to the Minister representing the Minister for Communications in this chamber, asking whether the minister will condemn the actions of the ABC, the minister failed to do so. We have a Labor Party in power who are running a protection racket for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. We have a Labor Party in power who are refusing to condemn the actions of the ABC in relation to the doctoring of an audio recording. We have a minister and a Labor Party who are more than happy to allow the ABC to have a leave pass to continue with their actions.

The ABC is funded by the taxpayers of this country. It is funded to the tune of $1.1 billion. We deserve better from the ABC, but we also deserve a lot better from the ministers in their answers in this chamber.