Australian Monarchist League calls for apology from ABC chair Ita Buttrose and inquiry into coronation coverage

More than 10,000 people have signed the Australian Monarchist League’s petition for an apology from the ABC for its ‘outstandingly bad’ coverage of the King’s coronation last month.

More than 10,000 people have signed the Australian Monarchist League’s online petition for an apology from the ABC for its “outstandingly bad” coverage of King Charles’s coronation last month.

The league is also demanding an independent inquiry into the controversial broadcast.

The ABC was heavily criticised for airing a 45-minute discussion just prior to the crowning of the King on May 6, which featured a panel dominated by pro-republic figures including Q+A host Stan Grant who spoke at length about colonisation and the damage the monarchy has inflicted on Indigenous Australians.

The ABC’s coverage was panned by thousands of people on social media on the night of the coronation, while several high-profile media commentators such as 3AW’s Neil Mitchell and 2GB’s Ben Fordham – as well as the public broadcaster’s own Media Watch program — also criticised the timing of the panel discussion.

Last week, the league sent a letter to ABC chair Ita Buttrose and the six other members of the broadcaster’s board, calling for an apology for the decision to “hijack such a momentous and historic occasion”.

The letter was signed on behalf of 10,000 people from across Australia and around the world who had signed the league’s petition.

Australian Monarchist League chair Eric Abetz. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

The league called for an apology to the “taxpayers and people of Australia” for the manner in which the coverage of the coronation was presented; an acknowledgment that the coverage “was in clear breach of the ABC’s own editorial standards which require independence and integrity together with impartiality”; and an admission that the coverage was not “fair and honest” and that it “substantially undermined the trust the viewing public may have had in their taxpayer funded national broadcaster”. The letter also demands that ABC staff “responsible for this outstandingly bad decision to hijack such a momentous and historic occasion” receive counselling.

Furthermore, the league has called for an independent inquiry into the broadcast to “ensure that such an egregious abuse will not be repeated”.

Last month, ABC managing director David Anderson told a Senate hearing that the coronation coverage had prompted more than 1800 complaints from the public.

Mr Anderson told Senate Estimates: “I think it (the coronation coverage) was justified, relevant and appropriate,” he said. “We will need to keep holding difficult and uncomfortable conversations on behalf of the Australian people; that’s what we do.”

In the days following the coronation, the league’s campaign chair, Eric Abetz, told The Australian: “This was history in the making. Instead of celebrating the occasion and informing viewers of who was arriving and their position and the traditions associated with the various elements of the coronation, viewers were subjected to a diatribe of monologues by ABC personnel peddling their pet subjects backing each other’s views.

“Knowing there would be a huge audience for the coronation, it appears the occasion was deliberately used to pursue an agenda to denigrate the constitutional monarchy which has served Australia so exceptionally well for well over a century.”

The ABC was approached for comment on Sunday.