The Sky’s the limit when it comes to hypocritical sermons by Aunty about neo-Nazis
Shameful! abc.net.au, August 6:
Sky News Australia says it was wrong to air an interview with far-right nationalist Blair Cottrell. Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane called it a “shameful low”. “We’ve come to not expect much from the nocturnal programming at Sky News but featuring a neo-Nazi with a history of crime and violence is a shameful low,” (he) tweeted. “It also highlights how extremists are being dangerously accommodated by sections of the Australian media.” Greens MP David Shoebridge said he would boycott going on Sky News until it provided a full apology and clear commitment never to air Cottrell’s views again.
Host of ABC’s The Weekly with Charlie Pickering tweets, August 5:
Hey @SkyNewsAust — I have enough national pride to remember that my grandfather fought Nazis … in Tobruk. You invite them on and give them air time. Maybe call a staff meeting and talk about national pride.
Benjamin Law, co-host of ABC RN’s weekly pop culture show Stop Everything, tweets, August 5:
Gold frequent flyer here. Your lounges play @SkyNewsAust who tonight invited an anti-Semite who says Mein Kampf should be mandatory school reading, celebrates Hitler’s birth & promotes violence against women. Your customers shouldn’t have to watch this.
Normalising racism. Amanda Meade, The Guardian, August 6:
Former Labor minister Craig Emerson has quit as a commentator for Sky News after it broadcast an interview with the far-right extremist Blair Cottrell. “My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred (sic) in a German POW camp,” he wrote on Twitter. The decision to put Cottrell on Sky News was “another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country”, Emerson said.
No boycott, apology, shame? Hack Live, abc.net.au, September 22, 2016:
Tonight, Aussie patriots were in the spotlight on our most intense Hack Live TV special yet. Tonight we asked the big question: what does it mean to be an Aussie patriot? With a delay on our live broadcast in case things got too out of hand, lots of warnings before the show, and a shirt that would stop the nation, we always knew that things were going to get HEATED. Here’s what went down … First up, UPF leader Blair Cottrell … (said) he believes Australians feel ostracised in their own country. People who are proud to be Australian are “immediately made to feel racist, or uneducated bogans”, Blair said.
Dog-whistling hurts. Paul Karp, The Guardian, August 6:
Tim Soutphommasane … (says) “race politics is back” and criticises Turnbull government ministers for their rhetoric on African gangs … in a fiery final speech as race discrimination commissioner … (he says) there has “never been a more exciting time to be a dog-whistling politician or race-baiting commentator in Australia” … there is a concerning “mixing of race and politics” with politicians “seeking debates about immigration, multiculturalism and crime” … the rhetoric is causing “much hurt and dismay” to African-Australians …
Carjacking hurts? Cait Kelly, Daily Mail, August 4:
Seven African thugs allegedly threatened a man with a gun before taking off with his vehicle during a dramatic daylight carjacking in Melbourne … A woman who lives … (nearby said) “it’s extremely disturbing to think it’s going on right where we live. It’s frightened me enormously.”