Senator David Van calls for independent review of ABC complaints

The Australian
By Lilly Vitorovich
15/02/2021

An independent complaints organisation should be set-up to handle complaints against the ABC amid growing concerns about the public broadcaster’s political bias, according to a Liberal senator.

David Van, who sparred with ABC managing director David Anderson during Senate Estimates in November over ABC journalist Virginia Trioli’s incorrect claim that the Morrison government had cut the public broadcaster’s $1 billion-plus annual budget, wants ABC journalists to be held more accountable.

“I believe an independent complaints body — separate to the ABC — would give a better perception of fairness than the ABC handling complaints themselves,” he told The Australian. The ­Liberal senator from Victoria says ABC journalists are always questioning how the police, Australian Defence Force or any public organisation can investigate themselves, and the same applies to them.

“I think there just needs to be a bit more examination of both editorial and journalistic standards,” Senator Van said, adding that he raised the issue with Mr Anderson during a meeting in Melbourne on Friday. “There needs to be a better way to do complaint handling, that is both independent and perceived to be independent.”

Senator Van expressed his concern during the meeting with Mr Anderson that one of the challenges “for all media, not just the ABC” is that the public has lost respect for news journalism “because all too often reportage and commentary and/or editorial gets blended as one”.

Written complaints are currently referred to ABC’s Audience and Consumer Affairs unit, which the broadcaster says are independent of its program areas.

If a member of the public is unhappy with the ABC’s response or doesn’t receive a response within 60 days, they may seek a review by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The ABC doesn’t refer matters to ACMA.

During Senate Estimates last November, Senator Van questioned Mr Anderson over Trioli’s “representation of funding on the show” — a reference to her claim on Q&A in June that the Morrison government had cut the ABC’s budget.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher rejected Trioli’s claimon-air, adding that the ABC had “secure funding” which continues to rise annually.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the 2019 Budget confirmed a freeze on the indexation of the ABC’s $1 billion annual budget allocation, which meant $83.7m in expected funding increases over the next three years would not be given to the broadcaster.

However, the ABC was allocated an extra $43.7m to continue the Enhanced Newsgathering measure, which supports local news and current affairs.

The Australian understands that shortly after Mr Fletcher’s appearance on Q&A, he sent a personal letter to Trioli, who was filling in for regular host Hamish Macdonald at the time, explaining the government’s tri-annual budget funding for the ABC.

It is understood that the host of ABC’s radio breakfast show in Melbourne didn’t respond to the letter and forwarded it to the Audience and Consumer Affairs unit at the ABC. The ABC’s Audience and Consumer Affairs unit investigated 1583 editorial complaint issues in 2020, up until December 13.

Of those, 81, or five per cent, were upheld in cases where the unit determined that “ABC editorial stands had not been met”, the ABC said in response to questions put on notice during Senate Estimates. “Of these 81 upheld complaints, 50 were distinct breaches and 31 were multiples where more than one complaint was upheld for the same issue.”

In response to Senator Van’s questioning about Trioli’s interview of Mr Fletcher during the Q&A episode, the ABC said that the Audience and Consumer ­Affairs unit had “carefully considered the complaint” and found no issue.

“It found that the issue is a matter of contention and observed that the minister instantly responded to Ms Trioli’s comments during the program and was afforded ample opportunity to make the government’s position know to the audience.

“It was satisfied that both sides of the debate over funding were presented and that no view was unduly favoured.

“It found the program was in keeping with editorial standards.

“Editorial decisions taken by journalists when reporting budget documents and decisions made by ABC management on funding are separate.”

An ABC spokesman said the ABC received 17 complaints about the Q&A episode last year on June 29, of which 13 warranted ­investigation.

No breach of editorial standards were found.

He said the Audience and Consumer Affairs unit is independent of all content teams and is “authorised to issue its own determinations of whether content has breached the ABC’s editorial ­standards”.