‘Activists taking over ABC’: Dutton complains about Four Corners

Peter Dutton has taken aim at the Four Corners program, saying he will write to the ABC managing director to complain.

Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has warned the ABC was being taken over by political operatives.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has taken aim at the Four Corners program, saying he will write to ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie to formally complain about what he says is a political crusade being waged by the public broadcaster.

Mr Dutton today warned the ABC was being taken over by political operatives, accusing them of running stories without doing fact checks or providing a balanced perspective on the government’s border protection regime.

He said that refugee activists had “completely taken over” and now “owned and operated the place.”

ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie.

The Australian has revealed that Monday night’s Four Corners episode about refugee children on Nauru was found to have included old photographs of facilities no longer in use and random footage of brawling adults, previously published on YouTube by a user known as “NoRulz.”

“The ABC has a lot to answer for here,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio. “We had offered to provide information to Four Corners, to the ABC. They didn’t run it.

“We had offered to provide answers to questions, and to provide them with information that they could use as part of their program. They didn’t take up the offer.”

Mr Dutton also said his offer to do a live interview on the program was denied. “They decided that that wasn’t acceptable to them.

“It was so one-sided and slanted I think the managing director of the ABC has a lot to answer for here and I think it was shabby journalism to say the least.

“They’ve turned themselves into political operatives and it’s unacceptable for the national broadcaster.

“They should be factually based, these stories, and they shouldn’t be based on emotions and lies ... It’s an embarrassment that our national broadcaster would carry on the way that they have.

“I’m going to write to the managing director and detail our concerns ... but downloading stories off YouTube and running them as somehow factually based is just a nonsense.”