2021-11-23
The Senate has today voted to suspend the senate inquiry initiated by the Morrison Government through a backdoor process to attack and undermine the independence of the ABC.
Greens media and communications spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young announced after the inquiry was established last week that the Greens would move to terminate the inquiry when parliament resumed. Today a Greens and Labor motion was backed by the crossbench suspending the inquiry.
“This inquiry was a partisan attempt to use the Legislation Committee to undermine the independence of the public broadcaster," Senator Hanson-Young.
“It was another tactic in a long line of attacks from the Liberals and Nationals who have spent eight years trying to crush the ABC.
“An independent review of the ABC’s complaints system is underway. A senate inquiry established outside of normal processes and running in parallel was inappropriate. It is nothing more than political interference by the Morrison Government.
“The Greens will always defend the independence of our ABC. The ABC’s independence is integral to our democracy and politicians should not be dictating what it reports on.
“Ironically, the biggest trust deficit in the country right now lies with the Prime Minister. Australians trust the ABC, they know how important it has been during bushfires and the covid pandemic, and partisan attacks only serve to undermine the PM’s credibility even further.”