A FORMER ABC chairman last night backed Tony Abbotts blistering attack on the billion-dollar broadcasters coverage of claims Australian navy staff tortured asylum seekers. Maurice Newman joined the PMs condemnation after exclusive reports in The Daily Telegraph revealed that even some senior figures in the ABC now doubted if the torture claims were accurate. ABC STAFF DISQUIET OVER TORTURE CLAIMS DEVINE: WHY DOES THE ABC HATE OUR NAVY? An angry Mr Abbott said the ABC should stick to straight news gathering and he was also highly critical of the networks role in the Indonesian spying scandal. A lot of people feel at the moment that the ABC instinctively takes everyones side but Australias. I think it dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyones side but its own, and I think it is a problem, Mr Abbott told 2GBs Ray Hadley yesterday. If theres credible evidence the ABC, like all other news organisations, is entitled to report it, but you shouldnt leap to be critical of your own country. You certainly ought to be prepared to give the Australian navy and its hard-working personnel the benefit of the doubt. Mr Newman, the PMs business advisor, added: In relation to the navy, (the ABC has) given credence to the idea that the navy may well have tortured people … 99 per cent of Australians would think thats highly unlikely. I think (the allegations) are inimical to Australias best interests. It casts doubt on Australias reputation and I think its regrettable. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop joined in, calling on the ABC to apologise for airing claims - from unnamed Indonesian police and a Somali asylum seeker - that navy personnel burned the hands of seven asylum seekers on board a boat headed for Christmas Island. If the ABC now finds that these allegations were utterly unsubstantiated then it should come out and say so, Ms Bishop said. Meanwhile, peoples reputations are under question because of the ABCs reporting, so I trust that the ABC will do the right thing. Mr Abbotts criticism of the ABC also included its coverage of documents leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. He said the ABC seemed to delight in broadcasting allegations by a traitor. Mr Newman told The Daily Telegraph last night that he viewed the ABCs treatment of the two stories as regrettable. He went on to say that Mr Abbott was right to call the channel un-Australian. Im looking at it from the outside in now, but in the light of the Snowden affair and what has happened with the navy, what the prime minister said was reasonable, he said. Friends of the ABC spokeswoman Glenys Stradijot said the Prime Minister appeared to be trying to intimidate the broadcaster. We are worried that Mr Abbotts actions may be intended to threaten the ABC about its funding in the lead-up to the federal budget, Ms Stradijot said. ABC managing director Mark Scott declined to comment when contacted at his office yesterday. dailytelegraph.au/news/nsw/prime-minister-brands-the-abc-unaustralian-in-the-wake-of-the-navyasylum-seeker-torture-story/story-fni0cx12-1226813436670
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:20:06 +0000
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