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Govt to now review Q & A

PM turns up the castigation of ABC as Communications Minister confirms a departmental review.

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In the latest development following Monday’s Q & A episode, the government has ordered a review of the ABC series.

Fairfax reports Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised the ABC for replaying the episode yesterday and said, “heads should roll.”

“We’re not satisfied with an internal ABC inquiry because so often we’ve seen virtual whitewashes when that sort of thing happens,” he said.

“Frankly the ABC ought to take some very strong action.”

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed his department would look further into the incident, which has attracted ongoing criticism this week.

“As far as I’m concerned, as the portfolio minister, I want to get a better understanding of exactly what occurred because there are conflicting reports and I’ve asked my department to investigate it and report back to me,” he said.

But he did not support calls by Cabinet minister Kevin Andrews to boycott the show.

“Most of the leading figures in this building have been on the show plenty of times and from my point of view I think we are in the business of getting the message of the government across,” he said.

“And so we need to take advantage of every platform that’s available. So I’ll continue to appear on ABC programs, including Q&A, if I’m invited to be there.”

Earlier this week ABC Director of Television Richard Finlayson acknowledged including Zaky Mallah as part of the show was an “error of judgment” and confirmed an ABC investigation.

  • Tagged with Q&A

26 Responses

  1. So are they going to go after Channel Ten’s The Project too? They put him on the following night. I haven’t watched since. Boycotting that show for doing it. It just makes my blood boil. The government do one thing but then when its another network they don’t care. They need to leave the ABC alone!!! It’s double standards. We should do an inquiry into the government.

    1. Guy”The government do one thing but then when its another network they don’t care.’

      When the Government funds channel 10, I am sure they will care……

  2. It’s about time something was done with the ABC. Sell it off to the Unions and Labor party seeing it caters to them anyway.

    My Tax dollars shouldn’t go to this disgraceful mob.

    1. You should see whatelse your tax dollars go towards

      I am sure you’ll be more disgusted and then thankful that something like the ABC exists to ensure you properly know about it

  3. Abbott’s real gripe with ABC goes way back, when 4 Corners revealed the Iraq wheat deal, the currency printing bribes, and others. It is not for the government to dictate what ABC can and can’t air. It’s the “public” broadcaster, not the “government” broadcaster. The “government broadcaster” is 2GB, Andrew Bolt and their networks.

  4. Tony Abbot is a disgrace.

    A knob said something stupid on a show that’s core theme is debate. Wow, what a scandal!

    The fact the government is pursuing this as it is doing is appalling. The public should be very concerned with a government so openly condemning free speech and attacking the primary public broadcaster.

  5. I was happy for them to let ABC of with a warning but when they go and put it on iview we have a problem. They already said it was wrong and a error in judgement but still gives it more views. Nothing wrong with free speech but saying the gov is making terrorist shouldn’t be put on prime time. He can have that view but don’t give it a platform

  7. This government’s hysteria about anything to do with terrorism is turning into McCarthyism. How about something useful, like a government inquest into domestic violence, say, oh ‘minister for women’, where one women dies each week on average, compared to zero people dying from terrorism in Australia each week?

    1. Hear, here! @Gaz – Absolutely spot-on! The ABC has nothing to apologise for in this instance. It wasn’t Zaky Mallah at fault here, it was Steven Ciobo’s taunts about wanting to throw Mallah out of Australia. Mallah was not advocating in favour of Islamic State, rather he was advocating against(emphasis on “against”) them, and had been doing so for some time before, and after his Q & A appearance. He was right when he said it was comments like Ciobo’s that would trigger recruitment in that obscene group, IS.

  12. What a ridiculous overreaction from the Government. An enquiry? Get over yourself man and start spending time dealing with our real issues.

  15. Imagine if there was an a Government review every time Abbott or Hockey said something stupid and out of line. The reaction to what happened on Q & A has been over the top in the extreme .

  16. So the Government is angry at the ABC for their poor judgement with the choice of a guest speaker. Fair enough.

    But didn’t this same individual make an appearance on The Project the following night?

    Will Tony and Malcolm order a review of The Project?

    Oh, that’s right, I believe there may be a Murdoch associated with Network TEN.

  17. How quickly things change, last week the PM was praising the ABC for The Killing Season.

    Also weirdly you can still legally down load a copy of this show on the official Q&A web site, it does come with a warning but it’s free for every one to view online.

  18. So predictable….the government has been looking for any excuse to get stuck into the ABC.
    Of course they were going to pounce on this one…

  19. “Most of the leading figures in this building have been on the show plenty of times”, but Tony? Never. Didn’t someone once say “I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.” ― Oscar Wilde, and “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” ― Harry S. Truman

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