Sky News ban: Victorian Transport Minister Jacinta Allan not aware of basic facts

The decision by the Victorian state government to ban Sky News from its metro rail network has been poorly sold and doesn’t actually solve the problems it claims to be addressing.

In an absolute train wreck of an interview (ironic wording), Transport Minister Jacinta Allan attempted to argue that content from a Sky interview with neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell was so repugnant that she had little choice but to act.

The only problem is that the Sky content that is aired on the rail network only includes news and weather bulletins, not opinion programs which interview controversial figures. The Cottrell interview never aired on the rail network.

The minister also expressed concerns about other content which airs on Sky of an evening — opinions which have been labelled as hard right and out of touch with community standards.

Victoria's Public Transport Minister @JacintaAllanMP: I am aware that longer-form interviews do not screen on the Sky News service provided to @metrotrains. The advice I had was that the interview was screened.

MORE: https://t.co/jTJuRZu8uk #newsday pic.twitter.com/2JsMe4IhiR

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 9, 2018

Even if that’s the case (and I’ve be critical of such content in this paper, on social media and while presenting on Sky News), none of the evening programs are aired on the rail network either.

Had the Victorian government wanted to send a message that is banning Sky for its broader editorial decisions, to punish the company, that’s one thing. But that wasn’t the justification given and the minister didn’t even seem to be aware of the basic facts that the very interview she’s used to justify the ban wasn’t even shown. At one point in the interview she gave she claimed incorrectly that it was.

The likes of Cottrell should never be given a platform, which is why it’s a good thing that having made the mistake of doing so, Sky has now banned him. It’s a stronger response than we’ve seen from other networks, which have previously allowed him on but haven’t announced bans into the future.

Peter van Onselen is a professor at The University of Western Australia and Griffith University and a former Sky News presenter