Peta Credlin: “My sincerest apologies for these errors.. the hurt, humiliation & offence”

SKY News presenter Peta Credlin has issued a kingsize apology to the South Sudanese community of Melbourne after incorrectly linking outbreaks to the behaviour of its members in 2020.

“In June last year, while commenting on the Covid-19 pandemic, the escalation of new infections in Victoria, and various public health measures, I incorrectly linked the South Sudanese community to a cluster of cases that had developed following an end-of-Ramadan dinner in Melbourne’s northern suburbs,” Credlin told viewers on Friday night.

“This was factually wrong, and I again deeply regret the error. On the basis of that error, I made various other statements that I accept have caused genuine hurt and offence to South Sudanese community members. It was not my intention.

“My statements were understood to mean that the South Sudanese community had been reckless, irresponsible, or even deliberate, in breaching social distancing requirements, that the community had failed to adapt its cultural practices like other Australians, and that this was putting Australians at risk. I do not believe there was any truth to those inferences.”

In June 2020 Credlin issued a first apology but stood by some comments.

“The South Sudanese community’s compliance with Covid restrictions is not affected by a lack of English language skills. Although I said that 15% of the Sudanese-born community speak virtually no English and that many South Sudanese, especially women, were banned from attending school in their former homeland, what the statistics actually show is that the overwhelming majority, 96.5% of South Sudanese-born migrants, speak some English, with around 84% speaking only English or speaking English well or very well,” Credlin said.

“The statistics also show that a large proportion of South Sudanese-born migrants are educated. I also was not clear that I was using statistics of South Sudanese-born migrants, and did not mention that many members of the community were born in Australia, educated here and read, write and speak English perfectly well. Some South Sudanese women felt I particularly singled them out for unfounded criticism, which I deeply regret.”

On Friday, Credlin said that, since meeting with members of the South Sudanese community, she had come to realise her original apology was “too limited and caused further offence which was not my intention”.

“Lastly I implied that the culture of the South Sudanese community is about getting membership, unemployment, and an inability to speak Australia’s national language, to the point of not even knowing about social distancing. That was deeply offensive,” Credlin revealed.

“I extend to the South Sudanese community my sincerest apologies for these errors, and the hurt, humiliation and offence caused by the broadcast.”

In acknowledging too many negative stories around the community, in coming months SKY News will also reflect “the positive contributions many South Sudanese Victorians make to the broader community, as well as those within the South Sudanese community”.

A SKY News spokesperson told Guardian Australia, “Following a separate and more recent complaint over the same broadcast, SKY News and Peta Credlin engaged in extensive consultation with other South Sudanese community members. Peta Credlin made a further apology on last Friday’s episode of Credlin as soon as agreement was reached.”