ABC’s Laura Tingle launches attack on Australia: ‘We are a racist country’

One of the ABC’s most senior reporters has launched an extraordinary attack on Australia, also accusing Peter Dutton of encouraging abuse towards migrants | LISTEN

The ABC’s chief political correspondent and staff-elected board member, Laura Tingle, has launched an extraordinary attack on Australia, declaring it is a “racist country”.

One of the public broadcaster’s most senior reporters made the controversial remarks at the Sydney Writers Festival on Sunday during a panel discussion moderated by Barrie Cassidy, a former ABC Insiders host and Labor staffer to Bob Hawke.

During the discussion, Tingle voiced her repeated criticism of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and bizarrely accused him of encouraging abuse towards migrants looking to buy or rent property in Australia. “We are a racist country, let’s face it. We always have been, and it’s very depressing,” Tingle told the audience at Sydney’s Carriageworks.

Tingle criticised Mr Dutton, telling attendees she didn’t recall a leader of a major political party “to be saying … everything that is going wrong in this country is because of migrants”.

Tingle said that after listening to Mr Dutton’s budget reply speech earlier this month, where he discussed migration and housing issues, she “had this sudden flash of people turning up to try and rent a property or at an auction, and they look a bit different – whatever you define different as – (and) that basically he (Dutton) has given them licence to be abused, and in any circumstance where people feel like they’re missing out”.

The writers festival event, titled Barrie Cassidy and Friends: State of the Nation, included a panel comprising Tingle, former Liberal staffer and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Niki Savva, Guardian Australia political reporter Amy Remeikis and ABC Indigenous affairs reporter Bridget Brennan.

Brennan, a Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta woman, told the audience the failed voice referendum was fuelled by a “feral, nasty campaign”, and reiterated Tingle’s comments that Australia is a racist nation.

“When there is so much racism embedded in this country … (during the voice) it was really horrible as an Aboriginal person,” Brennan said. “We know what exists in Australian society, we see it every day.”

From left: Niki Savva, Amy Remeikis and Laura Tingle at the Sydney Writers Festival on Sunday.

In 2023, Tingle was appointed to the ABC board as the staff-elected director. Under ABC board obligations, directors “must act in good faith at all times and in the best interests of the ABC”.

Following her election to the board, Tingle received widespread praise from reporters at ABC including Four Corners journalist Louise Milligan, who described her on social media platform X as a “beacon of decency, intelligence and integrity”.

So absolutely delighted for @latingle and so delighted for the ABC, that she is our new staff-elected director. Laura is a beacon of decency, intelligence and integrity.

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) March 31, 2023

ABC global affairs editor John Lyons said shortly after Tingle was elected that she was a “very strong addition to an important national institution.”

Breaking: Laura Tingle elected to the Board of the ABC. There were some strong candidates, from a range of backgrounds, with Laura’s win just being declared. With Laura a very strong addition to an important national institution @latingle

— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) March 31, 2023

The Australian asked the ABC whether Tingle’s comments were appropriate or brought the ABC into disrepute but received no response.

On Sunday, Tingle also accused Mr Dutton’s move to slash migration and fix the housing crisis as “so much dog whistling … it doesn’t make rational sense”, before attacking shadow treasurer Angus Taylor after he gave a National Press Club address on Wednesday – which she moderated.

“I said to him (Taylor), ‘so you are saying we’re relying on migration for growth … what does that imply about growth if you are going to cut migration?’,” she told the writers festival.

She said she was a “bit mischievous” about the Coalition’s move to reduce migration and ban foreign investors in order to make housing more affordable.

“He (Taylor) said something about Labor and the unions buying up all the houses, which I really didn’t follow,” she mused.

Tingle has been doing the rounds at writers festivals around the country – at the Melbourne Writers Festival this month she offered advice on how journalists should do their jobs and accused them of framing up “questions that are simply unanswerable, in the name of political or media sport”.

Tingle praised the government under Anthony Albanese and said: “It’s not just about whether they got rid of Scott Morrison, they are actually trying to govern, they are trying to run a government, they are actually trying to do policy. Whether you think the policy is shit or not, that’s another issue.

“We are not running the sort of stupid ideas that we are seeing out of the Coalition now from the platform of government. All of this absolute crap that used to run from government on a day-to-day basis, don’t underestimate the value of not having to put up with that.

“Sorry, it’s a little rant.”