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Former PM accuses ABC of bias

Former PM says govts should not respond in panic to TV programmes, following a Four Corners report.

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Just before one former Prime Minister turns ABC TV presenter, another one has accused the broadcaster of bias again.

Tony Abbott has accused Four Corners of bias over its recent report on the Don Dale youth detention centre telling 2GB radio, “Yes, it was a shocking report but it was only telling one side of the story and, when the rest of the story started to come out, it appeared that things were not not nearly as black and white as the ABC presented them.”

He told host Alan Jones that PM Malcolm Turnbull had responded “in panic” when he announced a Royal Commission into the Northern Territory juvenile detention.

“I’m confident this royal commission, given its terms of reference, will come up with a reasonable report. But you’re right, Alan, normally governments should not respond in panic at TV programs.”

Former Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles also accused the ABC of political motivation, whilst former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett also criticised it.

But Four Corners producer Sally Neighbour previously rejected the claims.

During his term as PM Tony Abbott questioned “whose side” the ABC was on and placed a ban preventing ministers from appearing on Q&A.

Later this month former Prime Minister John Howard will present a 2 part documentary on former Liberal PM Sir Robert Menzies.

Source: Fairfax

10 Responses

  1. We all know how TA feels about the ABC….old news…move one…nothing new to see..or hear from him.
    ‘But you’re right, Alan’….it appears he was also encouraged in his comments….the radio shock jock got the reply he was looking for…..it appears to me.

  2. Watching shows like Insiders & The Drum during the last few months yeah there is bias. Favouring the Libs.
    Whatever those kids did, nothing justified that treatment of them. Even the most hardened criminals like murderers & rapists in adult jails are treated as badly as that.

  3. There is no “other side of the story” where mistreatment of children is concerned. It matters not one whit what they have done, it’s simply wrong and illegal to place children in restraints and hood them, keep them in solitary confinement, knee them and assault them, etc. They’re children! By definition children cannot be held to the same standards of behaviour and punishment as adults (and what was done to these individuals would be illegal even if they were adults in many cases). These children were tortured, that’s way, way beyond “the full extent of the law”. And that’s why it’s such a scandal.

    That a former PM could even suggest such an pitiful excuse shows how utterly unfit for the office, indeed how unfit to be a Member of Parliament, he is. Turnbull has his problems but compared to Abbott he’s a saint.

  4. Agree, way too much of a knee jerk response, quite honestly if I were a victim of Dylan Voller (the one who was in the hood) I would want the full extent of the law to apply to the punishment, I could care less about his background or skin color etc etc, do the crime, do the time, and if you are going to spit on corrections officers, then I believe they are well within their right to protect themselves.

    Turnball is way too wishy-washy and reactive, too much like KRudd!

    1. Perhaps you didn’t see the full report. There was nothing to suggest that children should not be punished “fully” for their crimes. This report exposed the systemic abuse of them by adults. It depicted children being assaulted and tortured.

      You’ve latched onto small aspect – the spit hood – to justify the mistreatment of children, while failing to acknowledge them stripped naked, punched, kneed in the groin, or sprayed excessively with capsicum spray.

      I think Abbot’s attack is as much about trying to destabilise Turnbull as it is about his eternal emnity for the ABC.

    1. Did you actually watch the Four Corners Program….a picture is worth a thousand words…one cannot deny what you see….and it was very plain to see….

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