Q&A: ABC admits ‘error’ in asking Zaky Mallah to appear as guest

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the decision by the ABC to allow Zaky Mallah a live platform was “disgraceful”.

Tony Abbott is considering a government-wide boycott of the ABC’s Q&A program, branding it a “lefty lynch mob” after a “convicted criminal and terrorist sympathiser’’ invited onto the show claimed Muslims were “justified” in joining Islamic State.

Amid outrage over the appearance of Zaky Mallah in the audience of last night’s program, the Prime Minister said the public broadcaster had “betrayed’’ Australians.

“What our national broadcaster has done is give a platform to a convicted criminal and terrorist sympathiser — they have given this disgraceful individual, a platform — and, in so doing, I believe the national broadcaster has badly let us down,’’ Mr Abbott told a press conference.

“I think many, many millions of Australians would feel betrayed by our national broadcaster right now, and I think that the ABC does have to have a long, hard look at itself.

“Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on here? Fair enough, we all believe in free speech, but in the end we have to make judgments and I think that the ABC made a very, very serious misjudgment last night.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the ABC got it wrong and Labor expects the broadcaster to fully investigate the program, reports AAP.

“There’s no excuse for allowing someone convicted of such serious offences airtime to peddle this kind of extremism,” he said.

Watch the full exchange between @zakymallah and @steveciobo on @QandA. The ABC will now review Mr Mallah's appearance http://t.co/0neRuNkRx3

— ABC News (@abcnews) June 23, 2015

Q&A has ‘lost the plot’: Dutton

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says the ABC’s Q&A program has “lost the plot” but he won’t rule out appearing again on the program’s panel.

“From my perspective, I enjoyed going on Q&A at one point but, frankly, I think in the last few months they’ve lost the plot, and to give a platform to this individual last night, I think, is quite disgraceful,” he said.

Mr Dutton said he would consider returning to Q&A’s panel but wanted to see “significant changes”.

“It’s a good format but, frankly, it’s been hijacked in terms of the audience.

“I think the producers and the host (journalist Tony Jones) have a lot of questions to answer, and I think that’s what the ABC board has pointed to today,” Mr Dutton said

Beggars belief

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull used Question Time to criticise the ABC for jeopardising the safety of its Q&A audience members by inviting Mr Mallah into their presence without security screening.

The ABC will coordinate with police on a comprehensive review of the controversial panel show. In parliament today, Mr Turnbull described Mr Mallah as “a very, very known quantity” and the ABC should have known better than to include him in last night’s audience.

“He had served a term of imprisonment for threatening to kill ASIO officers. He had been charged with threatening suicide attacks and preparing for terrorist attacks in that context, although had been acquitted. He had travelled to Syria in the pursuit of what he described as ‘jihad’. His social media presence is vile, abusive and violent,” Mr Turnbull said.

“It beggars belief that he was included in a live audience, whether it is on the basis of what he might say, given his clear track record of intemperate and violent language, but also, Madam Speaker, just as worryingly from a physical security point of view.

“I mean, surely we have learned to take threats of this kind, to take people like this, extremely seriously. The idea that there was no physical security checks on that audience or that this man was allowed into it is extraordinary.

Mr Turnbull said he had relayed his concerns to ABC managing director Mark Scott and chairman Jim Spigelman.

“I’ve asked the managing director to make sure that security arrangements are appropriate for the live audiences at the ABC and I’m grateful to the Minister for Justice (Michael Keenan) for facilitating the Australian Federal Police to assist the ABC in making sure that their arrangements are absolutely correct and appropriate to protect the live audiences and the guests and the production team and so forth in the studio.”

Tony Jones on last night’s Q&A.

Standards of impartiality

Addressing the Coalition party room earlier today, Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull faced calls to take greater action to ensure the ABC’s standards of impartiality and objectivity are observed.

Liberal backbencher Alex Hawke raised concerns about the repeated failure of the show’s producers to ensure it did not become a platform for outlandish claims about Islam or terrorism.

Mr Hawke is understood to have told colleagues about Mr Mallah’s past, including an obscene tweet in January when he branded two prominent female journalists “whores” who “both need to be gang banged on the Sunrise desk”.

Another Coalition colleague then raised the idea that government MPs boycott the program, to which Mr Abbott replied: “We all know that Q&A is a lefty lynch mob and we will be looking at this and we will bring something back when we return.”

Mr Turnbull told the party room he had been lobbying the ABC board’s members privately and publicly to exercise their powers of intervention when it comes to programming choices.

Mallah unrepentant

Mr Mallah defended his appearance and repeated his accusation that the “harder the Abbott government pushes its counter-terrorism agenda, the more radicalised some young people feel’’.

“The Abbott government has no one to blame but themselves for the new recruits that Isis is attracting here in Australia,’’ Mr Mallah wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.

“Fortunately, I am not a dual citizen. So stripping my citizenship is unlikely to ever happen (well, not in the near future). I am strongly standing up for Australians who are under threat from this outrageous, Islamophobic government that is weakening the rule of law and replacing it with a dictatorial system like that which exists in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad and his ministers have the power to do whatever they like to people without trial. This a very dangerous step Australia is taking.’’

Mr Mallah was the first Australian charged under former Prime Minister John Howard’s anti-terror laws and spent two years in prison for pleading guilty to threatening ASIO and department of foreign affairs workers.

He was acquitted of plotting a terrorist attack on federal government offices in Sydney in 2005.

Zaky Mallah on last night’s Q&A.

Mr Turnbull said he has been told Mr Mallah applied to be a member of the Q&A audience but producers were well aware of his background.

“I understand Mr Malaki (sic) sought to be a member of the audience and he nominated a question but there was clearly awareness on the part of Q&A who he was, what his background was and that should have raised issues both about the propriety of having him in a live audience, both from a point of view as to what he might say but also in terms of physical security,” he said.

“The circumstances of Mr Mallah’s appearance will be reviewed by the ABC.”

Last year the Prime Minister said he was concerned the ABC takes an anti-Australian stance in its reporting and wants the broadcaster to stick to straight news-gathering. “It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone’s side but our own and I think it is a problem,’’ Mr Abbott said over ABC reports of alleged mistreatment of asylum-seekers by naval personnel. “You would like the national broadcaster to have a rigorous commitment to truth and at least some basic affection for the home team, so to speak.’’

Mr Turnbull said he had spoken to Mr Scott, Mr Jones and had corresponded with Mr Spigelman, who is overseas, about a review that had already commenced into the editorial standards of the Monday night panel show.

The review of Q&A is part of the board’s responsibility for ensuring under the ABC charter that its news and current affairs is accurate and impartial.

An external reviewer will look at the program in its entirety including the composition of the audience and whether the panel and topics discussed are balanced.

“This was initiated prior to this program but I guess it is of increased relevance given this program,” he said.

Mr Turnbull refused to elaborate on his conversations with the ABC executives but admitted he expressed concerns about security around the show.

“I don’t want to go through it other than to say what the company has said, acknowledging it was an error of judgement is acknowledged across the board,” he said.

“That’s why I’ve said to the ABC chairman that in conducting this review I would encourage the ABC board to contact and consult with the Australian Federal Police because I am concerned that there has been inadequate attention made to issues of physical security in assembling these studio audiences for Q&A.”

Liberal MP Steven Ciobo reacts to a question from Zaky Mallah on Q&A.

Error of judgement

The ABC this morning admitted an “error of judgment” by allowing Mr Mallah to appear on last night’s Q&A program, where he claimed Muslims were “justified” in joining Islamic State.

Mr Mallah, who was acquitted of plotting a suicide attack against government buildings in 2005, challenged Liberal frontbencher Steven Ciobo over whether his citizenship should be revoked.

Mr Ciobo replied he would “sleep very soundly” knowing that his government would attempt to disown Mr Mallah, who served two years’ jail for threatening to take ASIO and Foreign Affairs officials hostage.

Mr Mallah initially won applause from the Q&A audience by heatedly arguing Mr Ciobo should be exiled from Australia, but then continued: “The Liberals now have just justified to many Australian Muslims in the community tonight to leave and go to Syria and join ISIS because of ministers like him.”

Host Tony Jones interrupted: “I think that’s a comment we’re just going to rule totally out of order.”

Zaky Mallah insists he went to Syria to observe, not fight, in the conflict.

In a statement issued today, ABC Television director Richard Finlayson said: “In attempting to explore important issues about the rights of citizens and the role of the Government in fighting terrorism, the Q&A program made an error in judgment in allowing Zaky Mallah to join the audience and ask a question.

“Mr Mallah has been interviewed by the Australian media on a number of occasions. The environment of a live television broadcast, however, meant it would not be possible for editorial review of the comments he might make prior to broadcast, particularly if he engaged in debate beyond his prepared question.

“Tony Jones correctly and immediately ruled a statement made by Mr Mallah as out of order.

“Q&A will continue to raise issues that are provocative and controversial. There is always risk in undertaking live television. That is the nature of the Q&A program since it first aired in 2008.

“As has been the case in the past on Q&A, circumstances will happen that are not anticipated. The critical question is whether risks could have been managed and the right editorial judgments made in advance.

More recently, Mr Mallah came to prominence for going to Syria to support, observe and film — but he insists not fight with — rebels trying to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and urged other Australian Muslims to take up similar “non-combatant” roles.

Mr Mallah has previously denounced Islamic State. He has affiliated himself with the Islamic Front, which believes Islam should be “the principal and only source of legislation” in Syria and “the integration and mixing of religions and sects” should be prohibited.

Mr Mallah was acquitted in 2005 on terror charges after allegedly threatening to carry out a suicide attack on federal government offices in Sydney.

But he was jailed for almost two years after pleading guilty to threatening ASIO or department of foreign affairs workers, and had his term extended after assaulting a prison officer.

The sentencing judge described him as a loner who craved media attention.

He admonished the media for encouraging him by giving Mr Mallah undeserved and unnecessary exposure.

Immediately after his appearance last night, Mr Mallah took to Twitter, saying he “would pay to see that Minister dumped on #ISIS territory in Iraq’’.

The majority of the #qanda audience tonight was pro Libs and pathetic. I would pay to see that Minister dumped on #ISIS territory in Iraq!

— Zaky Mallah (@ZakyMallah) June 22, 2015

This morning he was revelling in the media coverage again on Twitter boasting: “Good to know I’m making headlines this morning. Ha! Expect to see me again tonight on TV in your living room . Ciggi?’’

Good to know I'm making headlines this morning. They don't call me 'Mr pot stirrer' for no reason! Ha! Good morning Australia. 💅

— Zaky Mallah (@ZakyMallah) June 22, 2015

Rightwing d@ckheads and NewsCorp having a go at me this morning. Ha! Expect to see me again tonight on TV in your living room . Ciggi ? 🚬

— Zaky Mallah (@ZakyMallah) June 22, 2015

Appearing on Sky this morning, Mr Ciobo labelled Mr Mallah a “sick individual”.

“He tweeted subsequently that he would like to pay money ... to have me kidnapped and taken to Iraq,” Mr Ciobo said.

He said it was “extraordinary” that audience members on the program had applauded Mr Mallah’s comments.

“I was a little surprised frankly that a guy who openly admitted on the floor of the audience that he had worked to look at trying to murder Australian officials, in particular officers of the law, who actually put their lives on the line to protect Australian values.

“I mean, seriously, people were applauding it? I just found that extraordinary.”

Members of the audience also applauded Mr Ciobo’s comment that knew many good Muslims who would “be recoiling” at Mr Mallah.

Liberal MP Alex Hawke said the ABC had “crossed a line” by allowing Q&A to become “a platform for people who threaten to kill Australians to grandstand”.

Mr Hawke, who represents the northwest Sydney seat of Mitchell, said the program has previously drawn fire for putting “extreme views on terror to air” and there was “more than a review needed”.

Last September, panellist Randa Abdel-Fattah was criticised for claiming recent counter-terrorism raids were a “spectacle” to soften the electorate for “draconian” national security laws.

Mr Hawke tweeted Q&A “has really become more like an absurdist play more than anything else, which would be funny, if it wasn’t taxpayer-funded”.

With AAP

#qanda has really become more like an absurdist play more than anything else. Which would be funny, if it wasn't taxpayer funded.

— Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) June 22, 2015