Release: ABC unsure if race and gender based violence is wrong

Release: ABC unsure if race and gender based violence is wrong

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy group representing taxpayers, today condemned the ABC’s probe into whether last Monday’s episode of Q&A, in which a high profile feminist activist declared “violence is ok...let’s burn stuff”, as a needless waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

“The idea that a broadcaster needs a review to determine whether inciting violence and claiming an entire race in Australia has no morality breaches editorial standards would be laughable if it wasn’t so disrespectful,” said ATA Communications Manager, Emilie Dye.

“It simply doesn’t pass the pub test. The host, the producers, and ABC’s editorial board needed to act immediately and decisively shut down an inappropriate violent attack on Australians based on race and gender. By suggesting that it’s unclear and requiring a taxpayer-funded probe, ABC is ducking responsibility.

“For an organisation dependent on $1 billion of taxpayer money every year to survive, the fact that they are unsure if giving racially based hatred a national platform breaches editorial standards is alarming.

“The ABC must do better, it must be better, or else it must relinquish its claim on the wallets of Australian taxpayers who don’t deserve to have such vile comments broadcast into their living rooms at their own expense.”