ABC Indigenous Affairs editor Bridget Brennan is under investigation after controversial comments on Australia Day

The ABC’s Indigenous Affairs editor’s controversial remarks in a news report are the subject of an ombudsman investigation.

Bridget Brennan reporting on ABC TV's News Breakfast program hosted by presenter Michael Rowland. Picture: Supplied

The ABC ombudsman is investigating controversial comments made by Indigenous Affairs editor Bridget Brennan in an Australia Day news report where she declared to viewers the country “always was and always will be Aboriginal land.”

Managing director David Anderson said on Tuesday the taxpayer-funded broadcaster had received numerous complaints about Brennan’s comments but he stood by her on-air remarks that she made to ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland in a news segment.

“Bridget is a journalist …‘always was always will be’ is a common term that’s been used by companies and been used by many people to reflect that we have the oldest living continuous culture in this country,” Mr Anderson told Senate Estimates.

“It is not a statement of intent, rather it is a statement that is commonly used.

“I think that when that cross happened to Bridget, that Bridget was reflecting the perspective that she was encountering while she was there (at the Wugulora Ceremony at Barangaroo in Sydney).”

Senator Hollie Hughes quizzed Mr Anderson about the comments made by Brennan, a Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta woman, and said they did not reflect the views of all Aboriginal people.

“It’s her view, so I’m trying to understand at what point does the editorial standard of journalistic behaviour kick in,” Senator Hughes said.

“If they want to be commentators, great, let’s just say commentators, they are not journalists, they are not reporting the news … they are reflecting their own opinions.”

In another cross later in the day Brennan said to Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council spokesman Nathan Moran: “It’s been a pretty rough year for our mob hasn’t it.”

Under the ABC’s editorial guidelines it states that independence must apply in the gathering and presentation of news and information to ensure it is impartial.

Brennan was contacted for comment.