Alan Tudge slams ABC’s complaints process, calls for overhaul

Federal Cabinet Minister Alan Tudge has slammed the ABC’s complaints handling process and said it needs to be urgently overhauled.

Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge: ‘For me it’s just a farce, so I hope that they do fix that up.’ Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Cabinet Minister Alan Tudge has labelled the ABC’s independent and internal complaints-handling process a “farce” and called for it to be urgently overhauled.

Audience and Consumers Affairs, a unit separate to and independent from the content-making departments of the ABC, has come under scrutiny in recent months for its handling of external complaints made to the public broadcaster.

One such incident involved Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour, who had a complaint referred to her by the unit involving high-profile reporter Louise Milligan.

Neighbour, Milligan’s boss, cleared her staffer of any wrongdoing regarding a Twitter post, instead of the matter being dealt with by the independent unit.

Mr Tudge, the Education and Youth Minister, spoke last week at an event arranged by the Zionist Federation of Australia to discuss the rise in anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses and also problems relating to the ABC’s complaints process.

During the meeting, Mr Tudge was asked for his views on the ABC’s complaints handling process, to which he responded: “Don’t get me started on the ABC.”

He went on to say: “It does need to be improved.

“Part of the problem with the complaints process at the ABC … is the actual wording of the complaints policy that says that the people who will look after the complaint will be the content producers themselves.

“So if I make a production, Alan Tudge, then the person who reviews whether or not Alan Tudge was biased is actually Alan Tudge, or possibly my supervisor.

“For me it’s just a farce, so I hope that they do fix that up.”

The ABC’s complaints handling procedure outlines that complaints requiring clarification “will usually be referred back to the content divisions for handling”.

“Audience and Consumer Affairs may also clarify complaints on behalf of divisions,” it says.

Mr Tudge’s private life was scrutinised in a Four Corners episode, Inside the Canberra Bubble, last year alongside the then attorney-general Christian Porter, detailing allegations of inappropriate conduct and extramarital affairs.

At the time, the federal government asked the ABC for an explanation on how the alleged affairs involving the ministers were in the public interest.

Mr Tudge said the ABC board – led by chair Ita Buttrose – was paying close attention to the problems arising from the complaints handling process.

“I think the board is listening because there has been a lot of noise over this and I hope they have a more balanced approach in relation to Israel,” he told last week’s forum.

An investigation has been launched by the media watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, into an episode of Q+A that aired on May 27 and extensively discussed the Israel-Palestine conflict.

A complaint was made to the ABC’s independent complaints department by the Zionist Federation and it concluded: “We are satisfied that a range of principal relevant perspectives were presented on the issue, and that no one view was unduly favoured over any other in the broadcast.”

The Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council also complained. Last month an external independent review into the documentary Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire found claims involving former NSW premier Neville Wran in the documentary were unfounded.

The ABC said a review by the Australian National Audit Office into its complaints unit in 2018 found it was effective and easy for the public to access.