Tony Abbott’s press office has been criticised after excluding journalists and camera crew from Sunday’s surprise visit to Iraq.
Pool television crews had accompanied the prime minister to the United Arab Emirates, expecting to follow when he went to visit Australian troops stationed in the Middle East.
But camera crews were left behind in Dubai when Abbott travelled to Iraq, where he addressed troops and made joint statements with the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.
Media organisations typically send “pool” crews who shoot the event for all networks and share the cost. The trips are often attended by pool reporters or producers and agency reporters.
However, no journalists were invited on this trip. Only Iraqi journalists were present for the prime ministers’ joint statement.
The exclusion of independent Australian journalists and camera crew meant that the only vision and on-the-record statements came from paid members of the prime minister’s office.
A spokesman for Abbott said the prime minister had wanted to keep the travelling party small to avoid security issues in Iraq, as parts of the country continue to battle Islamic State (Isis) rebels.
Labor criticised the decision to exclude Australian media.
“This government, from the moment they came in, have adopted a culture of secrecy and I don’t think it’s helpful, I don’t think it’s smart, I don’t think it’s fair to the Australian people,” the acting opposition leader, Tony Burke, said.
Prime ministers John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard have in the past taken pool crews and journalists when they visited Australian troops in the Middle East.
The prime minister’s media office provided news outlets with transcripts of the Iraqi visit, including a corrected account of the joint press conference, in which Abbott accidentally referred to Abadi as president instead of prime minister.
Independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, whose call for greater pay for defence force personnel led her to resign from the Palmer United party (PUP), said Abbott’s trip “was designed to boost his political ratings, rather than our troops’ morale”.
“I can’t imagine any Australian diggers’ spirits being boosted after having their photo taken with, or listening to a politician who has denied them a fair pay rise and delivered them an effective pay cut,” Lambie said.
In 2011, Channel Seven aired footage obtained under freedom of information laws of Abbott saying “shit happens” in relation to the circumstances surrounding a soldier’s death in Afghanistan.
Abbott defended his comments, saying the statement was taken out of context, and insisted he would never make light of the death of a soldier.
