Jacinta Price slams ABC for ‘divisive’ Noel Pearson interview

The national broadcaster has copped criticism for its coverage of the Voice to parliament after a ‘yes’ campaigner was allowed 16 minutes to attack Peter Dutton unchallenged.

Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has slammed the ABC for its coverage of the Liberal Party’s decision to oppose the Voice to parliament, saying it “lets activists label their opponents racist … while accusing the ‘no’ side of stoking division”.

The comments came just hours after Radio National host Patricia Karvelas conducted a 16 minute interview with pro-Voice campaigner Noel Pearson during which time he was allowed to call opposition leader Peter Dutton “an undertaker” and accused his party of a “Judas betrayal of our country.”

Mr Pearson also went unchallenged when he said that Mr Dutton was “chucking Indigenous Australians … under the bus … just so he can preserve his miserable political hide.”

In the same program, Ms Karvelas also interviewed Liberal MP Bridget Archer, a Voice supporter, who called Mr Pearson’s assessment “devastating” as well as Guardian Australia reporter Amy Remeikis, who said that the Liberals’ call made them an “outlier”.

In February, The Australian newspaper reported that ABC journalists would be forced to undertake a “deep dive” session into “impartiality” to ensure that the Voice was covered in a balanced fashion.

‘Yes’ campaigner Noel Pearson blasted Libera leader Peter Dutton in a 16-minute interview on ABC radio on Thursday. Picture: Sean Davey.

Patricia Karvelas is the host of the Radio National breakfast program. Picture: Aaron Francis

In an all-staff email, ABC management said that this included the principle that “staff do not unduly favour one perspective over another.”

Ms Price, speaking on behalf of the Fair Australia “no” campaign, said that “anytime anyone like me or Peter Dutton asks a question or expresses some scepticism about what would be the biggest ever change to our constitution, the ABC goes straight to their contact list of Voice activists to trot out their divisive political talking points.”

“They let Voice activists label their opponents racist, call them names, and launch into partisan political pointscoring – all while accusing the ‘no’ side of stoking division,” she said.

John Story, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said: “Australians cannot have any confidence that the taxpayer funded broadcaster has the ability to facilitate a respectful and free and fair debate on the proposed Voice referendum.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price blasted the broadcaster over the interview. Picture: Gary Ramage

“The ABC, along with political and inner-city elites, are doing everything it can to stack the deck in favour of the ‘yes’ campaign, which violates a foundational principle of the Australian way of life, that everybody gets to have their say, no matter what their view is.”

Shadow communications spokesman David Coleman said, “It’s very important that public broadcasters deliver balanced coverage of the referendum.”

“This is a critical issue for our nation, and it must be covered in a fair and balanced way.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has faced a difficult couple of days since announcing the his party would be opposing Labor’s plan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

At around the same time as Mr Pearson was on RN Breakfast, Dutton was interviewed by Sabra Lane on ABC Radio where he was asked if he was “happy to be blamed” if the Voice referendum fails and if he was “on the wrong side of history” on the issue.

Ms Lane also challenged Mr Dutton for being “misleading” by calling it a “Canberra voice” and asked if he was “out of step with the community” on the issue.

A spokesman for the ABC said, “Ms Karvelas put forward the arguments of opposition leader Peter Dutton on several occasions during the interview with Noel Pearson.”

“Previous editions of RN Breakfast have featured interviews with senior Coalition MPs and other prominent figures including Julian Leeser, Paul Fletcher, Barnaby Joyce, Sussan Ley, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe and business advisor and commentator Warren Mundine.

“It should also be noted Mr Dutton was interviewed just prior to Mr Pearson on the AM “program.

“RN Breakfast, along with other ABC programs, will continue to canvas all sides of this discussion, as audiences would expect.”