{"id":16433,"date":"2026-05-22T07:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16433\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:05:26","slug":"push-for-probe-into-abc-sbs-prejudice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16433\/","title":{"rendered":"Push for probe into ABC, SBS prejudice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash, communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson and arts spokeswoman Angie Bell have revealed they have made a united representation to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, urging the body to examine the public broadcasters when the commission enters its third round of hearings later this year.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, the trio said \u201cAustralians are entitled to expect that institutions funded by taxpayers uphold the highest standards of fairness, accountability and social cohesion\u201d and it was incumbent to fully investigate any suggestion of impropriety at in the public entities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Coalition has made representations to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion that it establish a dedicated block of hearings into Australia\u2019s arts institutions and public broadcasters, including the ABC and Creative Australia,\u201d the frontbenchers told The Australian on Thursday night. <\/p>\n

\u201cPublicly funded cultural institutions do not operate outside the\u00a0national conversation. They shape public debate, influence cultural norms and carry significant responsibilities to foster social cohesion and combat hatred in all its forms.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent events have raised serious questions about whether some institutions have responded with sufficient urgency, consistency and transparency to rising antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal politicians said it was concerning to see questions repeatedly raised about the ABC\u2019s news coverage of the war in the Middle East and the deterioration of public confidence in the public broadcaster\u2019s existing complaints process. <\/p>\n

They said it was critical the ABC and SBS\u2019s decision to refusal to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s definition of antisemitism, citing a preference for developing their \u201cown editorial policies\u201d and standards, was fully explored. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABC has faced sustained criticism and public concern over aspects of its Middle East coverage, complaints handling processes and broader editorial app\u00adroach, including evidence and submissions now before the royal commission alleging that its coverage has contributed to social division and diminished confidence among sections of the Jewish community. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABC and SBS have also declined to adopt the Special Envoy\u2019s IHRA antisemitism definition and the approach adopted by the royal commission itself, arguing that existing editorial standards are sufficient. That decision has intensified public debate about whether publicly funded broadcasters are meeting community expectations in confronting antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move follows calls by the opposition for the nation\u2019s chief public arts funding official to resign<\/a> after he repeatedly declined to denounce comments by an artist his organisation had funded who, after the Bondi terrorist attack, published an essay titled \u201cWe don\u2019t mourn fascists\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreative Australia should also be examined. The arts sector has become a flashpoint for division and controversy, raising broader questions about whether publicly funded bodies have clear and consistent frameworks to identify, respond to and prevent antisemitism while maintaining artistic freedom,\u201d the Coalition frontbenchers said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there will be hearings dedicated to the role of universities and social media in promulgating antisemitism, arts and public broadcasting institutions also require close scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe antisemitism envoy has proposed that public funding for cultural organisations be terminated where they facilitate antisemitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposed hearing block should examine governance settings, complaints processes, funding decisions, editorial standards, cultural leadership and whether publicly funded institutions have appropriate safeguards to identify and address antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Jackson is The Australian’s media diarist. He has spent more than two decades working across the most-read mastheads and most-watched television current affairs programs in Australia and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash, communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson and arts spokeswoman Angie Bell have revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16206,16183,16193,22,23,133,21,16197,16187,11243,16192,16191,16185,16205,16208,16190,16178,16203,16202,16194,16207,16200,16186,16196,16189,120,16184,16204,16188,16199,16182,16201,16179,2585,16195,16181,16180,16198],"class_list":["post-16433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-angie-bell","tag-antisemitism-definition","tag-arts-institutions","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-austrlia","tag-combat-hatred","tag-communications-minister-senator","tag-community-expectations","tag-complaints-handling","tag-complaints-processes","tag-cultural-institutions","tag-cultural-organisations","tag-editorial-approach","tag-editorial-policies","tag-editorial-standards","tag-federal-politicians","tag-federal-shadow-attorney-general","tag-foster-social-cohesion","tag-governance-settings","tag-highest-standards","tag-michaelia-cash","tag-national-conversation","tag-news-coverage","tag-oceania","tag-official-representation","tag-public-concern","tag-public-debate","tag-public-entities","tag-sarah-henderson","tag-shadow-arts","tag-shadow-communications-minister","tag-social-cohesion","tag-steve-jackson","tag-sufficient-urgency","tag-terrorist-attack","tag-urgent-probe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}