Senator slams ABC’s decision to run Katter documentary before election
A Queensland senator has called for an investigation into the ABC’s decision to air a documentary profiling maverick MP Bob Katter in the lead up to the federal election arguing the public broadcaster has failed the “integrity test”.
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A Queensland senator has called for an investigation into the ABC’s decision to air a documentary profiling maverick MP Bob Katter during the federal election campaign, arguing the public broadcaster has failed the “integrity test”.
But Aunty has hit back, declaring there is “no likelihood” of Mr Katter losing the outback Queensland seat to LNP rival Annette Swaine, despite having previously lost the popular vote in 2013.
On Monday night the ABC aired an episode of its flagship program, Australian Story on the Member for Kennedy which is hosted by award-winning journalist Leigh Sales.
Excerpts of the 31-minute feature have since been posted on several of the ABC’s social media platforms.
The program, which featured LNP candidate Annette Swaine for less than 25 seconds, didn’t uphold the ABC’s editorial policies, Senator for Queensland Susan McDonald said.
“It’s my understanding that the piece was going to be used as a tribute to Bob because they believed he was retiring,” Ms McDonald said.
“When it became apparent that he wasn’t, to do an Australian Story on somebody who’s running for election is not a level playing field.
“I don’t see them rectifying that by featuring the other candidates.”
During the program, contemporaries, staff members and even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese showered praise on the incumbent, with speaker Milton Dick proclaiming it’s “cool to love Katter”.
“It’s an extraordinary decision by the ABC to use taxpayers’ money to feature one politician who’s up for the election,” Ms McDonald said.
“That doesn’t meet the sniff test of what is a fair and equitable representation of the political landscape in that location and use of taxpayers’ money.
“It fails editorial balance and impartiality. The board of the ABC should be examining how that decision was made.”
Mr Katter, who holds Kennedy with a 13.1 per cent margin, was all but guaranteed victory, an ABC spokeswoman said.
“As a deeply entrenched independent we judged the story would have no electoral impact,” she said.
“Nonetheless, main opposition candidate Annette Swaine from the LNP was featured in the story, where she expressed the view (that) Mr Katter had been in federal parliament for 32 years and it was time for a change.”
Throughout his campaign, Mr Katter has fashioned himself as a political kingmaker, using the prospect of a hung parliament as political leverage to demand a $1bn floodproof tunnel and hundreds of millions more for an irrigation dam in his electorate.
“Given a hung parliament is a potential election outcome we made it clear to viewers that as a crossbencher Mr Katter would be in a pivotal position to influence which major party has the balance of power,” the ABC spokeswoman said.
But Ms Swaine challenged that view.
“There are a lot of angry people (in Kennedy),” she said recently. “They say, ‘the government isn’t listening to us’.
“Why aren’t they listening to us? Is it our representation? We need to change what we’re doing and bring Kennedy into the future. They laugh at us down south. They think we’re rootin’-tootin’ cowboys.”
In 2013, Mr Katter barely survived a more than 15 per cent swing against him, with preferences helping him prevail over the late Noeline Ikin.
Ms Ikin claimed more than 40 per cent of the primary vote at that election.
Originally published as Senator slams ABC’s decision to run Katter documentary before election
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