COMPLAINT – ABC Q&A PROGRAMME

Subject: Absolute Bias in Selection of Panel & Presentation

Comments: Re- Q&A 9/11/20

The Q & A session of 9 November 2020 was listed as: “On the agenda: the US election, implications of the Queensland election, the 45th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s dismissal, the Commonwealth Integrity Commission proposal and national secrets. Jenny Hocking ‘s long campaign finally forced the National Archives to release correspondence between Sir John Kerr and Buckingham Palace, letters the Queen had intended be kept secret. Her book The Palace Letters raises questions about the role of the monarchy in Australia, and the public’s right to know our own history. Time for a Republic?”

Even though the matter of the Queen and a republic was to be discussed at this session, no representative of any monarchist organisation was invited to join the panel. Instead the entirety of the panel was composed of openly declared republicans.

The show host, Hamish MacDonald, posed the question: “Does any of this change the way you feel about Australia having a foreign head of state? A direct question inviting comments relating to the Queen and Australia’s constitutional monarchy by a panel dominated totally by republicans without, as I have said, any representation from a non-republican.

There are other comments made by panellists which went unchallenged.

This is indicative of an example of extreme prejudice by a corporation owned by and responsible to the Australian people which has a statutory duty to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism.

A large proportion of Australians support the constitutional monarchy and yet the ABC has blatantly ignored this entire section of the community and refused it a voice on what is also supposed to be ‘their ABC’.