‘That’s disgusting’: ABC boss defends journalist’s ‘racist’ comments
ABC boss Hugh Marks has refused to apologize for on-air comments made against turncoat Senator Jacinta Namatjira-Price, who Coalition senators claimed was a “racist”.
Isabella Higgins’ comments about Insiders earlier this year “crossed the line”, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday afternoon.
“In addition to calling Senator Namatjira-Price a de facto racist, I find these comments so disgusting because they are so degrading to another senator,” he said.
Senator Namatjira-Price, who was at the hearing, told Mr Marks that Ms Higgins’s remarks were “offensive”.
“You are a taxpayer-funded broadcaster, and I implore you to do a better job so that people like me, representatives like me, feel that we can do our job without being belittled, without being painted in a negative light, without trying to paint us as racists,” he said.
“To be portrayed as a racist when addressing the issue of mass immigration, which is causing concern in this country, is utterly ridiculous.”
The comments stemmed from an Insiders post in September in which Ms. Higgins claimed Senator Namatjira-Price’s comments on Indian immigration were “racist.”
“When it comes to selling a vision or talking about complex or nuanced policy areas, he can’t really do that,” Ms. Higgins said.
Mr Marks said the comments were about Senator Namatjira-Price’s statements, not his own, and that he was “open to (Ms Higgins) doing the analysis”.
“There was no comment about the Senator in the context of this particular comment. There was comment about the comments,” he said.
“So there was no way this could call Senator Namatjira-Price a racist.”
Senator Henderson claimed the comments were “fueled by impropriety”.
“This does not reflect proper research. It shows no understanding,” he said.
He said those who commented were “wrong” and “not impartial and not accurate.”
Senator Namatjira-Price and Mr Marks have clashed repeatedly over content on the ABC, namely allegations about net zero and space reserved for so-called conservative voices.
In one conversation, Senator Namatjira-Price asked Mr. Marks to name conservative individuals on the platform whom he had remained silent on.
Addressing Ms Higgins’ remarks, Senator Henderson called on Mr Marks to reconsider the ABC’s position.
“If we leave this issue where you say there is a satisfactory and acceptable type of analysis on the ABC, then I think we have reached a very, very low point in terms of the standard of journalism that Australians should expect from the ABC,” he said.
Senator Namatjira-Price faced swift backlash over her comments claiming that “large numbers” of Indians were allowed to immigrate to Australia by the federal government because “the (Indian) community voted Labour”.
As a result he was fired from his shadow ministry.
