An Abbott government backbencher has spoken out against the “petulant” idea of a blanket boycott of the ABC’s Q&A program, saying such “groupthink” would be counterproductive.
Queensland Liberal National party MP Ewen Jones also said the government and the media had spent too long talking about the Zaky Mallah controversy.
“Q&A made a grave error, but only the impotent are pure,” Jones told Guardian Australia. “If we’re going to do this groupthink [a blanket ban] I think it would smack of petulance.”
Government members and News Corp have led the criticism of Q&A for including Mallah – a former terrorism suspect who was convicted of threatening to kill Asio officers – in the studio audience last Monday to ask a question of the panel live on air.
Some Coalition MPs have suggested a blanket boycott of Q&A appearances and others called for the program to be suspended or its executive producer be fired. Alan Tudge, who is parliamentary secretary to Tony Abbott, announced that he was withdrawing from Monday night’s program, citing the pending Communications Department review of last week’s decision making.
In the past week, Abbott has described Q&A as a “lefty lynch mob”, publicly demanded the ABC declare whose side it was on, accused the broadcaster of betraying the country, and insisted that “heads should roll” over the incident.
The ABC’s managing director, Mark Scott, fired back in a speech in which he said he hoped that “no one seriously wants the ABC to be a state broadcaster” like those that operated in North Korea, Russia, China and Vietnam.
Jones said Q&A used to be compulsory viewing but it was no longer balanced and a review was justified – yet he added that a government-wide boycott would only worsen the problem.
“If you’re not part of the discussion you can’t win anything. The only way to guarantee a result is if you’re not there,” the MP for Herbert said on Monday.
“If we’re on the TV and we’re offering an alternative view than we’re half a chance of someone listening and saying that makes a bit of sense. I think that’s what we’ve got to do … I stand by what Tony Abbott said: it [Q&A] is a lefty lynch mob. But by us not being there we’re going to guarantee it’s a lefty lynch mob. We’re going to guarantee they don’t include a different point of view.”
Jones, who earlier told Fairfax Media that “nothing is served by being silent”, suggested that Tudge would have been an effective advocate for the government if he had proceeded with his attendance in the Q&A panel.
“Alan Tudge is a good mate of mine; he’s a very, very clever man and he’d be a good guest on Q&A. I just don’t think we serve any purpose in this groupthink,” he said.
“I just think if you cede the ground, if you don’t go on there, you’re guaranteeing the result.” Jones added that the government should not think “that we are that important that that they won’t proceed without us”.
Jones made a broader observation about the need for the government to successfully prosecute its arguments in all media including the ABC. “You have to be able to make your case. We are salespeople – we have to be able to close the sale and make the case,” he said.
Menzies Research Centre director Nick Cater also pulled out of Monday’s program, and was hastily replaced by Paul Kelly, the editor at large of The Australian.
