Carla McGrath’s day of reckoning: time to GetUp! and go?

Carla McGrath faces a vote to remove her from the nation’s press complaints watchdog because of her role with GetUp!.

GetUp! deputy chairwoman Carla McGrath.

Carla McGrath faces a vote ­tomorrow aimed at removing her from the nation’s press complaints watchdog because of her leadership role with GetUp, an organisation that campaigns for left-wing causes.

Ms McGrath, GetUp’s deputy chairwoman, has rejected an invitation from the Press Council to resign. She has been served with a written notice she will face a resolution to remove her because of what the council considers a conflict of interest.

The vote will be the culmination of more than a year of ­turmoil over Ms McGrath’s ­appointment, which led to the resignation of council chair­man David Weisbrot, who had nominated her as a “public” member with a three-year term.

It also follows growing evidence of GetUp’s involvement in left-wing politics and recognition it is “a significant political actor”.

Australian Electoral Commission data shows GetUp’s political expenditure in the year to the 2016 federal election was $10 million — a figure GetUp says is misleading.

Even though it had described all its disclosed spending as political expenditure, a significant portion was not political expenditure under the Electoral Act, a GetUp spokeswoman said today.

“We are a significant political actor — we do run significant campaigns — but this figure, when used alongside the figures disclosed by other third parties, is misleading,” she said.

GetUp distributed how-to-vote cards at the federal election that said: “The Liberals are holding us back.” At July’s Longman by-election it distributed a how-to-vote card advocating either Labor or Greens for the No 1 vote. The spokeswoman said GetUp was “an advocate for progressive policies and our how-to-vote cards let voters know where the parties stand on key issues”.

Under Professor Weisbrot’s successor, Neville Stevens, the Press Council put in place new ­arrangements in December for dealing with conflicts of interest.

On April 19, he told the Melbourne Press Club Ms McGrath’s appointment, and the reaction to it, had thrown into question the independence of the council. “While there is no question that Carla is an outstanding Australian, the issue revolves around whether her position as deputy chair of GetUp is compatible with her role as a council member,” he said.

Four weeks later, the council decided her GetUp position was incompatible with her role. A resolution asking her to resign ­attracted almost unanimous backing, but Ms McGrath told the Press Council she did not believe her resignation was necessary.

The plan to remove her has triggered provisions in the council’s constitution that mean tomorrow’s resolution must be supported by at least 75 per cent of those who take part in the vote.

As well as the council’s 25 members, those entitled to vote include the 31 media companies, publishers and broadcasters who make up its constituent bodies.

When Ms McGrath’s appointment was announced on May 25 last year, The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Paul Whittaker, said it made a mockery of the Press Council’s role as an independent adjudicator.

The appointment triggered a wave of criticism across the media industry that led to a boycott by The Australian of investigations and adjudications in which she was involved. Newspapers in every state joined that boycott.

Paul Murphy, chief executive of the media union, the MEAA, said the conflict of interest had to be dealt with but it was sad a person of Ms McGrath’s calibre had been placed in such a position. Her appointment has been described as “bizarre” by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and “ill ­advised” by former Press Council chairman Julian Disney.