Herald Sun’s Nick Papps condemns government department move to ban Mark Knight’s Uluru cartoon

The Herald Sun’s weekend editor Nick Papps has hit back at the unprecedented attempt by a government department to have a cartoon featuring Uluru removed from the internet.

Cartoonist Mark Knight. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The Herald Sun’s weekend editor Nick Papps has condemned an order given by a government department to remove a political cartoon featuring Uluru, describing it as “complete overreach”. The Melbourne newspaper was sent an extraordinary letter last week from government organisation Parks Australia, accusing the publication of breaching media guidelines by publishing cartoonist Mark Knight’s illustration in Wednesday’s print edition.

Herald Sun weekend editor Nick Papps. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The cartoon showed Nationals leader David Littleproud outside Parliament House in Canberra under a floating Uluru with the text “Indigenous Voice to Parliament” written across one side.

Papps, who is the Saturday and Sunday Herald Sun editor, said the instruction given to the masthead was over the top and a dangerous development in the restriction of press freedom.

“Being told Mark needed a permit to draw Uluru in a cartoon was ridiculous,” Papps said.

“Mark is an award-winning cartoonist and this cartoon like so many others was his perspective on an important public debate – he has to be free to express that perspective and we will always fight to make sure he is.”

In the letter received by the Herald Sun from a government media officer, the masthead was directed to remove the artworks from the internet: “These artworks do not have media permits and breach media guidelines,” it reads.

Mark Knight’s cartoon from the Herald Sun.

The letter claimed the illustration did not comply with legislation and media guidelines including Indigenous cultural intellectual property laws and failed to show respect for Anangu land.

It went on to refer the newspaper to a 44-page government handbook that stated organisations wanting to use an image of the rock must first apply for a permit.

Knight told the Sunday Herald Sun he had drawn Uluru many times in his career without any issues and the cartoon was “sympathetic for the voice to parliament, and the reason I used Uluru is because the voice to parliament came from the Uluru Statement from the Heart”.

After the Herald Sun engaged lawyers and refused to follow the order to remove the cartoon from its website, Parks Australia backflipped on its orders and apologised to Knight “for this error – it isn’t a request that should have been made”.

In a statement, Parks Australia said an email sent to Knight about the cartoon “was not appropriate”.