ABC boss backs Tingle, but not how she made comments

ABC chief David Anderson says he is “not embarrassed” by 7.30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle’s comments at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in which she claimed Australia was a racist country, but added, “I wish it had not happened”.

Anderson, the managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was responding to a question from Liberal senator and former ABC journalist Sarah Henderson at a Senate estimates committee hearing on Thursday afternoon.

ABC chief political correspondent Laura Tingle and managing director David Anderson.Credit: James Brickwood, Alex Ellinghausen

The ABC has come under sustained pressure since News Corp publications reported that Tingle had criticised Opposition Leader Peter Dutton over his budget reply speech, in which he drew a link between housing shortages and immigration.

“We are a racist country, let’s face it. We always have been, and it’s very depressing,” Tingle said while appearing as a guest on a panel moderated by former Insiders presenter Barrie Cassidy.

She added that for people who might “look a bit different – whatever you define that as”, the comments by Dutton had “given them licence to be abused … in any circumstance where people feel like they’re missing out”. Tingle also said she could not recall another leader of a major party saying “everything that is going wrong in this country is because of migrants”.

Anderson opened his remarks on Thursday by reading a prepared statement in which he said ABC news director Justin Stevens had “reminded Laura of her responsibilities to our editorial policies”.

As 7.30 chief political correspondent, he added, “Laura is required to ensure her comments, even at an external event, have sufficient context to support the statements made”.

The issue over which Tingle had been “counselled”, Anderson clarified, was not her saying Australia was a racist country.

“The issue was the public comments ... did not provide the relevant context and explanation to support her analysis of the opposition’s post-budget policy position on immigration.”

Anderson said Tingle’s reporting, commentary and analysis on the ABC’s various platforms was “candid, honest and accurate”. But the “off-the-cuff” comments made in the context of a panel discussion at the writers’ festival on Sunday did not meet the same standards.

Senator Sarah Henderson during Thursday’s Senate estimates hearing.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The issue was not calling out racism,” Anderson said. “The issue was that the comments did not provide adequate context.”

Anderson conceded that the ABC’s charter – which explicitly states its commitment to impartiality – meant that its journalists were held to a higher standard than those in other media organisations.

Noting that Tingle had been “counselled” by Stevens, and had issued a statement herself offering context for her comments, Anderson said: “Ms Tingle does not deserve the ferocity and frankly vicious attacks she has received this week.”

Her comments on Sunday “would not have passed the tests for our editorial standards if they were on an ABC platform”, he said, adding that he believed it was a misstep for them “to be made the way they were”.

“Summarising them in that way … was a mistake,” he said.

Earlier on radio, Dutton had doubled down on his criticisms of the ABC, describing Tingle as “a partisan, she’s a Greens/Labor supporter”.

“She is political in nature and therefore her credibility as a journalist really is shot ... she’s just now completely destroyed her credibility, but they’ll keep her on because that’s what happens at the ABC,” Dutton said on 2GB.

Asked by Liberal senator David Sharma if the comments and the fallout from them had undermined public trust in the impartiality of the ABC, Anderson said: “In the eyes of some people it will have. For some, it will be confirmation of what they believe.”

He added that comments such as those made by Tingle, “which are reported and misreported by other organisations, are hurtful to the ABC”.

He agreed with a suggestion by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young that the attacks constituted “a News Corp pile-on”.

“I am quite regretful that these statements were made without the usual qualification they would usually have,” Anderson said. “That hurt the ABC, Ms Tingle suffered for it, it allowed other people to take the debate in a different direction. I am genuinely sorry that happened, I wish it hadn’t.”

Asked by Henderson if he would apologise to Dutton, Anderson said: “When political leaders put things out for debate, I can’t be accountable for what happens off-platform.”

Anderson was also asked about the progress of an internal investigation into claims of racism within the ABC. The review began in October, he said, had heard from about 100 people and was due to report by July. Its findings would be shared with staff and made public at an unspecified time after that.

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