Nine’s decision to grant Taliban platform slammed by MP Phillip Thompson

Federal MP and former soldier Phillip Thompson has excoriated Nine Entertainment for its decision to commission an interview with the Taliban’s spokesman.

Federal MP Phillip Thompson: ‘It’s a slap in the face to every serviceman and servicewoman who has put their lives on the line in protection of this nation.’ Picture: Alix Sweeney

Federal MP and former soldier Phillip Thompson has excoriated Nine Entertainment for its decision to commission an interview with the Taliban’s spokesman, describing the subsequent stories that ran on the media organisation’s television, print, radio and online channels as a “slap in the face” for Australian military personnel.

Last week, senior editors at the company’s TV division commissioned 9News reporter Jonathan Kearsley to interview Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen via videolink, with the story going to air during the network’s flagship 6pm bulletin on Wednesday.

The following day the story was picked up by Nine’s metro newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, its most popular website nine.com.au, and it also aired across its radio network.

During the interview, Shaheen said Australian soldiers “committed some of the worst and the brutal kind of human rights violations, by hacking fingers off dead bodies and killing farmers in Uruzgan and other provinces they were based”.

The stories that were published by Nine in relation to the Taliban interview made no reference to the current defamation battle between the media giant and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith. The former soldier is suing Nine over reports published in 2018 that alleged he committed murder during deployments to Afghanistan. He denies the allegations and says the reports portray him as a murderous war criminal.

Mr Thompson, the LNP member for the Queensland seat of Herbert, said he was “disgusted” by Nine’s decision to publish the interview.

“To have an Australian news outlet think it’s appropriate to do a soft interview with the Taliban … I think it’s horrendous. It’s a slap in the face to every serviceman and servicewoman who has put their lives on the line in protection of this nation,” he said.

“They silence and oppress people so why should we give them a platform and a voice?

“Nine just went to a terrorist organisation in a cheap bid for some subscriptions for their company.”

Mr Thompson was wounded in Afghanistan while on tour with the Townsville-based First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

Senior Australian military figures, who asked not to be named in this story, said the decision to run the story was “appalling”.

Other military figures were ambivalent about the Taliban interview. Former SAS soldier Mark Wales, who also toured Afghanistan, said: “It’s painful to look at but this is what happens when you lose a war, you have to deal with that sort of shit.”

A 9News spokeswoman said: “After the fall of Kabul Australia’s legacy in Afghanistan has had significant examination. Examination by our own forces and to hear what the Taliban have to say is to inform the debate here and we believe Australians have the right to hear this. We do not believe it diminishes our forces or the work done by them on the ground to support the Afghan people for over 20 years.”