The inquiry,announced by Senator Bragg last Thursday,has triggered a major split in the communications committee,with deputy chair Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young calling it a “witch hunt”. She plans to move a motion to scuttle the inquiry when Parliament resumes next week,but without government support it has little prospect of success.
“Scott Morrison has said that nobody is above the scrutiny of the Senate,yet his own government has attempted to use a backdoor to establish an inquiry into the ABC and SBS that has not been supported by the majority of the Senate,” she said.
“It is the latest step not only in a long-running witch-hunt against the ABC but also in the contempt that this government shows for proper process and accountability.”
Ms Buttrose,who was hand-picked by Mr Morrison to chair the ABC in 2019,doubled down on her criticism on Monday,accusing Senator Bragg of trying to subvert an ongoing external inquiry commissioned by the ABC board last month. She described the broadcaster’s relationship with the federal government as “strained”.
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“Senator Bragg has chosen to use the device of the legislation committee,where the government has a majority,to force an inquiry into the ABC’s complaints handling,” Ms Buttrose told ABC radio.
“Why is he spending taxpayers money on a review that is already underway? Does he agree with the notion of an independent public broadcaster and an independent board? Or does he believe that politicians should be able to meddle in and dictate to the national broadcaster about content because that’s where this is leading.”
Ms Buttrose commissioned a review – to be led by former Commonwealth ombudsman John McMillan and former SBS,Seven and Ten news boss Jim Carroll – after scrutiny from federal and state politicians about how the broadcaster’s internal division reviews complaints about programs such as theGhost Train series into the 1979 Luna Park tragedy. The findings are expected in April,while the Senate inquiry is scheduled to report by February 28.
Senator Bragg used a Senate standing order to establish the inquiry,breaking from the typical procedure under which inquiries are established and led by a references committee following a vote on the floor of the Senate. While the government controls the communications legislative committee,it does not control the communications references committee.
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Defending his decision on Monday,Senator Bragg said the inquiry was “my idea”,describing it as a “pretty run of the mill thing for the Senate to do”.
“My view is the Senate has stronger powers to look into these issues and to do it in a more independent fashion,” Senator Bragg told ABC radio.
Labor Senator Nita Green,a member of the Senate committee,said she opposed the inquiry and dismissed Senator Bragg’s characterisation of the inquiry as non-partisan as “untrue”.
“It’s not a run of the mill inquiry,that’s why he used a government majority committee instead of taking it to the floor of the Senate,” she tweeted.
A spokesman for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said:“This is entirely a matter for the Senate. The minister has not been involved.”
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