Triple J Hottest 100: ABC trying to ‘delegitimise’ Australia Day: Fifield

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield will ask the ABC board to overrule Triple J’s decision to move the Hottest 100 from January 26.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield will ask the ABC board to overrule Triple J’s decision to move the Hottest 100 from January 26 as he accused the ABC of trying to “delegitimise Australia Day”.

Senator Fifield this morning said the national broadcaster was “making a political statement” in its decision to shift the traditional Australia Day countdown, calling the move “bizarre”, “dumb” and “strange”.

“There is nothing wrong with Australia Day, it is the 26th January, the ABC is through this sanction seeking to delegitimise Australia Day,” Senator Fifield said.

“They shouldn’t, they should embrace it, they are the national broadcaster, they get the best part of $1 billion a year, the ABC shouldn’t have an issue on Australia Day.

“The ABC, Triple J, have sought to make this a political issue, they are seeking to make a statement by this. I think most Australians just think: ABC stay out of this, just leave things as they are.”

He also told ABC TV he would tell the board of the ABC to overrule the decision.

“I already have made my view clear to the ABC and I’ll be asking the board of the ABC, who have the ultimate programming and editorial responsibility to reconsider this,” he said.

The station ran listener surveys and talked to music industry professionals and indigenous groups, saying a majority favoured a change of date. The Hottest 100 has run on Australia Day since 1998.

“You told us how much you love the countdown and most of you are up for a new day,” Triple J said yesterday. “The only debate should be about the songs.” The station said it would hold a “Hottest 100 Weekend” on January 27-28.

The Greens welcomed the move while Bill Shorten said he didn’t mind what day the Hottest 100 was played.

Labor senator Jenny McAllister called for a little perspective, reminding reporters in Canberra the discussions were about a “top of the pops music countdown”.

Nevertheless the conversation was worth having. “There are many indigenous Australians who feel their culture, their story, their experience prior to European settlement and since is not captured in the national discourse,” Senator McAllister said.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert said Triple J’s decision would be celebrated by many Australians. “Many of those listeners are young Australians. They’re the future and they’re saying we want change,” she said. “We have heard so loudly from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community that January 26 is a day of mourning and of grief.”

But Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm says changing the date of the Hottest 100 won’t make a difference to indigenous Australians. “I don’t think indigenous people give a rat’s arse about what Triple J does on Australia Day,” he told reporters.

The senator admitted he did not hold Australia Day to be all that sacred. “Australia Day is the day Captain Cook... Captain Cook or the First Fleet?” he said.

“What are we celebrating? No, I think that answers your question.”

ABC boss Michelle Guthrie and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield at a Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. Picture: Kym Smith