Tony Abbott says he’s not demanding an apology from the ABC because he’s “not that kind of person” but “ordinary decency” should prompt the national broadcaster to say sorry after a negative ruling by a media regulator.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has ruled that a news report by the ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, breached the broadcaster’s code for impartiality because he said Abbott was “the most destructive politician of his generation”.
Acma said Probyn’s observation to camera last October, in a report referencing Abbott’s record in relation to climate change and energy, was “not in keeping with the ABC’s requirement to present news with due impartiality”.
The regulator concluded that the ABC was in breach of its code.
Abbott was asked on 2GB on Wednesday for his response to the Acma ruling. He noted that the last time a code breach finding had been made against the national broadcaster “the ABC apologised”.
“Now I’m not asking for an apology … because I’m not that kind of a person, but given the chronic bias in the ABC, given the incorrigible left-liberal cultural position the ABC adopts, you’d think if they wanted to encourage people to have a bit of faith in them, the very least they would do when such a finding has been made against them in respect of a conservative politician, is apologise,” the former prime minister said.
As well as suggesting the ABC should apologise, Abbott contended there were different standards of contrition applied depending upon people’s political leanings.
“I’m sure if such a finding had been made in respect of a progressive social activist, a member of a minority group, for instance, they would have been falling over themselves to apologise,” he said. “I would have thought that ordinary decency would require that of them now”.
The ABC has been contacted for comment.
Abbott also used the interview to criticise Australia’s banks for spending too much time “virtue signalling” on “politically correct subjects” instead of making sure their businesses were being run properly.
After widespread misconduct was revealed by the royal commission into banking and by Apra’s stinging criticism of the Commonwealth Bank this week, Abbott said: “I’m very disappointed in the banks and you wonder how much better the banks would have been if they had been focused on doing their core business honestly and ethically rather than running around the place virtue signalling on any number of politically correct subjects,.”
