Senate Estimates hearing suspended as pollies fire up over ABC

A fiery Senate Estimate hearing with ABC managing director David Anderson in Canberra today had to be shut down twice when politicians were repeatedly shouting over one another.

LNP Senator Sarah Henderson had quizzed Mr. Anderson over a speech given by ABC journalist Louise Milligan at an ACT Bar Association function, including around approval for payment and referenced a letter by the Head of ACT Bar Association to the ACT Women’s Legal Association, which suggested the speech was “insensitive and political.”

During the session Milligan defended her speech with live tweets, claiming Henderson’s claims were “completely fictitious and the opposite of what I said in my speech.”

“I challenge Senator Henderson to repeat these false claims outside Parliament,” she tweeted.

What Senator Henderson said just now in parliament is completely fictitious. And the opposite of what I said in my speech.

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) November 7, 2022

But the live commentary itself then became the subject of ABC staff social media use, escalating the temperature in the room.

As debate continued, Henderson suggested, “This is why your social media guidelines are a complete joke. This is why they are broken. You’re letting your employees run rogue on social media. That’s another example.”

“I’m responding to the idea that that somehow anything that somebody puts out on Twitter is fact checked by the ABC and the answer is that, no,” Anderson replied.

Anderson maintained staff are responsible for their personal social media accounts, and must not bring the ABC into disrepute.

The hearing also blew up when South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic asked if a Play School Storytime video with Courtney Act, aka Shane Jenek, was an example of ABC “grooming” Australian children?

Storytime features a range of celebrities reading story books including Waleed Aly, Miah Madden, Dave Hughes, Luke McGregor, Michel Theo, Eddie Woo, Dr. Chris Brown, Luke Carroll, Tony Armstrong, Moana Hope, Grant Denyer, Tanya Hennessy. The synopsis for Courtney Act’s “Spectacular Suit” segment is: Dressing up and looking fabulous! The sensational Courtney Act and dashing Humpty share a story by Kat Patrick and Hayley Wells. Glitter and sequins are all on show in The Spectacular Suit: a story about being yourself.

“Mr Anderson, I have got a couple of questions about some programming matters and at the moment the ABC is airing a program called Courtney Act: The Spectacular Suit, in which a male drag actor, Shane Jenek, reads a children’s book called The Spectacular Suit, about a female child wanting to wear male clothing. The program was rated G and has been heavily promoted on TV and on the app. Why is the ABC grooming children with this sort of adult content?” Antic asked.

“Senator, I don’t see that as grooming children with our content. That particular program is reading from a book that is about dressing up,” Anderson replied.

“Female children in male children’s clothing, you think that’s not …” Antic said.

“You mean young girls wearing pants? Seriously” SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young interjected, “I…. it is deeply, deeply offensive.”

She continued, “Grooming is a really serious matter! It is not for being played with by conservative senators to make headlines.”

“That is what grooming looks like,” Antic suggested.

“My answer is we are not grooming Australian children,” Anderson repeated.