Dick Smith receives an apology over ABC RMIT Fact Check unit’s report on renewable energy

Australian businessman Dick Smith has received an apology after the ABC RMIT Fact Check unit ran a report full of errors about renewable energy that he said was published to ‘discredit’ him.

The ABC has issued an apology to businessman Dick Smith just hours after he wrote to managing director David Anderson demanding corrections to an RMIT ABC Fact Check report on renewable energy that he claimed was “full of lies”.

Just one day after the fact checking unit repeatedly told The Australian it stood by its work, in an embarrassing backdown the ABC published an online apology at 8.03pm on Tuesday and made changes to the report, conceding it was riddled with errors.

Furious with his treatment by the ABC, Mr Smith wrote a letter to Mr Anderson and said the fact check was published to “discredit me and my comments so people will not trust me”.

Mr Smith said the RMIT ABC Fact Check report said: “Businessman Dick Smith has thrown his support behind calls to introduce nuclear generated power to Australia, rejecting renewable-led electricity generation in the process.”

He told Mr Anderson in his letter that this was false.

The ABC’s corrections and clarifications page said: “The first version of this article was based on the inference that in Mr Smith’s interview was only referring to electricity grids.

“After publication Mr Smith clarified that he was referring to full energy mix.

“The article has been updated to reflect that and to add information on the full energy mixes of four countries whose grids are 100 per cent renewable.”

In the apology the ABC also said: “The article also previously incorrectly stated that Mr Smith had rejected renewable-led electricity generation; this has been amended and the ABC apologises to Mr Smith for the error.”

Mr Smith sent a three-page letter to the ABC boss on Tuesday after he conducted his own fact check on the report which was published last week and circulated on social media.

In the detailed letter seen by The Australian, Mr Smith hit back at numerous claims by the taxpayer-funded fact-checking unit in the report titled, “Can a country run entirely on renewable energy?”

Dick Smith’s letter to ABC managing director David Anderson.

Mr Smith said the claims were “full of lies”.

“I have never rejected renewable-led electricity generation. I am pro-renewables,” Mr Smith wrote.

Mr Smith says he is “pro-renewables”.

“I drove in the first solar vehicle race and my current electric vehicle is fully solar powered.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check is funded by the two taxpayer-funded organisations and is headed up by director Russell Skelton and editorial lead Matt Martino.

The Fact Check report was edited by Ellen McCutchan and it is understood that Mr Martino approved it.

Mr Smith said he was not contacted about the fact check report before it was published.

The fact check also said Mr Smith has been “pouring cold water on suggestion that wind and solar – and renewables more generally – could instead lead the nation’s energy transition”.

Mr Smith rejected this claim. “I have never said or believed that wind and solar could not lead our nation’s energy transition,” he said.

Businessman Dick Smith has sought redress from the ABC.

Mr Smith also rejected claims in the fact check report that, “there are four countries running on 100 per cent wind-water-solar (WWS) alone for their grid electricity”.

“MISLEADING. Once again this is clearly intended to mislead the readers of the press release,” Mr Smith said in the letter.

“I am referring to a country running ‘entirely on renewables’ not ‘for their grid electricity’.”

The RMIT Fact Check said the “four countries running on 100 per cent WWS in 2021 were Albania, Bhutan, Nepal and Paraguay”.

Mr Smith told Mr Anderson in his letter that this comment was, “HIGHLY MISLEADING. “These are very poor countries where the people mainly rely on firewood for heating and cooking, and all use large amounts of fossil fuels for transport”.

ABC managing director David Anderson. Picture: Martin Ollman

On Monday a RMIT spokeswoman told The Australian it “stands by the accuracy of its work” and the ABC declined to comment.

But by Monday night Mr Martino had written an email to Mr Smith and said, “we would like to give you the opportunity to comment”.

Mr Smith told The Australian the fact check was “wokeness” by the ABC and “they’ve intentionally taken my really important statement that you can’t run a country completely on renewables to change that to just electricity”.

“I want him (Mr Anderson) to issue a correction saying ‘Dick Smith was correct with his statement that no country has run completely on renewables’,” he said prior to the apology and correction being issued.

“And the statement that I’m against renewables is completely untrue, I’m a supporter of renewables.”

On Monday, billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, weighed into the fact checking fiasco and posted, “Having government ‘fact checkers’ is a giant leap in the direction of tyranny.”

Having government “fact-checkers” is a giant leap in the direction of tyranny!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2024

Mr Smith said in his letter that “This is very serious as it damages my name, after having worked for many years to be accepted as an honest person.

“David, the document has been written to discredit me and my comments so people will not trust me. There can be no other reason for it.

“That’s why you must take action.”

Mr Smith had said if the fact check was not corrected he would launch defamation action against the ABC.