GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG

ISSUE – NO. 789

28 August 2026

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The Latest – Sally Sara fails to contest Greens Senator’s climate change rant

On Friday 28 August, Sally Sara interviewed David Shoebridge, the Greens senator for New South Wales, on ABC Radio National Breakfast.

The interview commenced with what Sara referred to as the unfolding tragedy, particularly in Nepal. Shoebridge declared that “all our thoughts are with the people in Nepal”.

The Greens senator was asked to reflect on whether the Australian government’s response had been enough so far. Shoebridge replied in the negative and then used the occasion to throw the switch to climate catastrophe. Let’s go to the transcript:

David Shoebridge: …And I think we should also take a moment and reflect upon all of these disasters that seem to be now happening at such a repeated scale around the world. We’ve seen the dreadful heat waves in Europe. We’ve seen devastating fires in in North America. We’re facing a potentially devastating summer here, and you look at the climate impacts on the glaciers in the Himalayas. We, we also have an obligation to do what we can to meet our targets for carbon and to keep coal and gas in the ground. These things are connected, as much as we don’t want them to be. These things are connected, and unless we address that, these kinds of disasters will continue to happen at a more rapid scale.

Sally Sara: Let’s look at the issue of migration.

How about that? Rather than focus on the dead, missing and injured – Senator Shoebridge used the occasion to do a rant about climate change. He implied that all natural disasters were a product of global warming. Including the disaster in the Himalayas. In fact, it is too early to determine the cause of the disaster. The same river system experienced a major flash flood event in 1981. Experts had previously warned that another such event would be more destructive due to increased development in the area, especially on the Nepalese side of the border. Efforts to establish early warning systems evidently failed.

Despite the recent statement by ABC managing director and editor-in-chief Hugh Marks that ABC presenters should contest controversial comments by interviewees – Sally Sara let the Greens Senator rant without evidence and challenge-free.

  • John Lyons’ non-news news from Washington DC

It’s expensive for an Australian news media organisation to base correspondents overseas. Or to create, as the ABC has done, new positions as Editor Americas and Global Affairs Editor – currently held by John Lyons and Laura Tingle respectively.

It was – and remains – far from clear why these positions were created or how they have added to the quality and depth of the ABC’s reporting from foreign lands. Especially since in Comrade Lyons’ case the ABC already has a Washington DC bureau. And the ABC declined to say whether Comrade Tingle had been to Israel, Gaza or the West Bank before she got the prestigious gig of the ABC’s Global Affairs Editor. Apparently, this is a state secret.

Take John Lyons, for example. He appeared on ABC News and the radio’s AM on 26 August, and was interviewed by Rachel Mealey about the current trade dispute between the United States and Canada which had led to both nations increasing tariffs against each other. This was the main take from what Lyons had to say:

John Lyons: Well, Rachel, we really are again with Donald Trump in uncharted territory. What we know about Donald Trump is his nature is that of a pugilist. He doesn’t mind having fights. He knows how to start them, often better than how to finish them, for example the war that he and Israel decided to begin against Iran…. He’s now entering a new trade war with one of their closest allies, Canada, and we really don’t know. The interesting thing is the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney appears to be very strategic, very calm, but very determined.

Lyons’ insight that President Donald J. Trump is a “pugilist” and that leftist fave Mark Carney is “very strategic” is hardly surprising in view of the fact that he is a Trump antagonist. But he overlooked the fact that it was Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney who broke up the trade negotiations which led to what the ABC’s man in Washington DC terms President Trump’s “new trade war”.

Well, that was John Lyons’ assessment from Washington DC – but there was nothing fresh in Lyons’ non-news news report which could have been done by an Australia-based ABC journalist who is a Trump antagonist and a Carney admirer. Or by one of the taxpayer-funded public broadcasters based in the US. Can You Bear It?

John Lyons in Washington DC

  • ABC’s Tom Crowley’s obsession with immigration misses the boat

On Monday 24 August The Australian led with this: “Fat Frigates: defence blowouts”. The story, by Cameron Stewart, commenced:

“The full weight of the navy’s future Hunter-class frigates has ballooned to 10,500 tonnes, raising doubts about the speed, range and endurance of the warships in an era of growing Chinese naval firepower. News of the new full displacement weight of the frigates comes ahead of a major milestone in the $27bn construction program with the keel-laying ceremony in Adelaide on Monday for the first of the Hunter-class frigates, due to be delivered in 2032.”

It so happened that Pat Conroy, the Minister for Defence Industry, was scheduled to be interviewed on ABC Radio National Breakfast by Tom Crowley that very day. Here’s how the interview commenced:

Tom Crowley: Pat Conroy, welcome to Radio National Breakfast.

Pat Conroy: Thanks for having me, Tom.

Tom Crowley: Let me flip this issue around. Is there a difference between Labor’s approach to migration and One Nation? And if so, what is it?

Pat Conroy: Well, what we’ve seen from One Nation is policy incoherence. …

Talk about missing the lede (in journalistic jargon) by Comrade Crowley and his producer. Tom Crowley spent most of the interview on immigration with the rest on the role of lobbyists. Conroy is not the minister responsible for either area. Yet he did not receive one question on defence industry matters – including the future Hunter Class frigates. Can You Bear It?

  • The Australia Institute’s inaccurate claim re its “scientist” supporters

Lotsa thanks to the avid Port Hedland reader who drew attention to this Open Letter which was published in the Australian Financial Review on 13 August (see below). The letter was so open that it was not addressed to anyone – so nobody is expected to reply, MWD assumes.

Here’s how it commenced:

“Open letter on Gas Imports. Leading scientists call for a 25% tax on gas exports to make Australia a scientific powerhouse again.”

The signatories called on “the Australian government to implement a 25% tax on gas exports to properly fund efforts to support infrastructure and public services essential to Australia’s wellbeing including scientific research and protecting our environment.”

How frightfully interesting. Scientists are calling on the Commonwealth government to properly fund, among things, “scientific research”. Quelle Surprise!

The first signatory was Professor Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA FAHMS (What do all these post-nominals commencing with “F” stand for? MWD Editor.]

Scaling down the list of signatures, MWD noticed the following names including – Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO, Emeritus Professor John King (La Trobe University), Emeritus Professor Russell Lansbury AO (The University of Sydney) and Professor Emerita Carmen Lawrence AO. The latter is a former Labor premier of Western Australia and one-time Minister for Women in the Keating Labor government.

An impressive quartet, to be sure. But, according to MWD’s research, not one of the four has a degree in science or medicine or engineering.

Professor Chapman has a Ph.D. in medicine relating to the relationship of advertising to smoking. Professor King has a Bachelor of Arts honours degree. Professor Lansbury has a Ph.D. in industrial relations. And Professor Lawrence has a Ph.D. in psychology. None would call themselves scientists in the accepted sense of the term.

The advertisement was authorised by the avowedly leftist The Australia Institute which claims to uphold “research that matters”. However, it appears that to the comrades at The Australia Institute research did not matter too much in this instance. Can You Bear It?

  • Elite private school alumnus Peter FitzSimons neglects to mention his background when expressing concern at elite private school contact sports

Whatever happened to Peter FitzSimons? — Media Watch Dog hears avid readers cry. It’s true that in recent times Ellie’s (male) co-owner has not focused all that much on Fitz — aka the Red-Bandannaed one – who wore a red rag on his head for a decade. In due course, it had to be sent to the dry cleaner – for obvious reasons. Where, alas, the red bandanna was lost.

To return to the question as to why your man FitzSimons has not appeared much of late in MWD. Well, Hendo regards Fitz’s written sludge each weekend in his “Five Minutes With Fitz” Sun-Herald column, as well-nigh unreadable. So he rarely reads it. And then there’s Nine Entertainment’s coverage in the Sun-Herald and Sydney Morning Herald of Fitz’s scaling down from his $26.7 million pile on Sydney Harbour to a multi-million dollar apartment on Sydney Harbour. It’s just crass wealth-flashing, and so, zzzzzz.

However, an avid reader has drawn MWD’s attention to Peter FitzSimons’ opinion piece in the SMH on Saturday 22 August and reckons that a MWD reference is warranted. It was titled “Elite school sports culture has much to answer for this week, but school sport can still be a force for good.”

Early on, your man Fitz referred to recent allegations of sexual assault with respect to male students at two Sydney private schools. He supported a view that this was due to the relentless pursuit of victory in contact sports. He also referred to the allegations against some Sydney Swans footballers’ disrespectful behaviour towards women in the Australian Football League. And then there was this:

The win-at-all-costs stuff, particularly at elite schools – with scholarships, performance managers, etc – does go way too far and does breed entitlement. After a week like this, you have to figure we have seriously stuffed up.

Fitz did not produce any evidence that the schoolboys against whom the allegations of sexual assault have been made were involved in contact sports. Or, indeed, in any sports. What’s more, the column implied that what he referred to as “elite institutions” have a special responsibility in this regard. This overlooked the fact that one of the two schools cited by FitzSimons is not an “elite” private school/institution.

The one point missing from Fitz’s piece is that he himself attended an elite school – Knox Grammar in Sydney’s affluent North Shore. And that Mr & Mrs Fitz sent their three children to elite private schools – the two males to a Christian school. Despite the fact that the Red Bandannaed One is an avowed atheist who regularly mocks the Christian religion. How’s that for a double standard? And here’s another question: Can You Bear It?

[No, not really – now that you ask. By the way, it might be worth remembering that The Red Bandannaed One was – once upon a time – engaged in contact sport. Playing several games for Australia’s Rugby Union team – commonly called the Wallabies. In his 1991 book On a Wing and a Prayer, one-time Wallaby star David Campese wrote this:

Too many families have told their youngsters they are not to play Rugby Union any more in the light of some of these unfortunate accidents. They say it is too violent. Mothers watch the news and see film of violence on a rugby field and it turns them off the sport. That is why it was totally unacceptable for a guy like the Wallaby international lock Peter FitzSimons to get involved in that massive fight at the start of the first Test against France at the Sydney Football Stadium in June 1990. While Fitzie was having his own private war he was doing the game and its reputation enormous damage. …Test matches are tough and you want to win, but brawls like that one risk a whole lot more than just the outcome of one match. If they turn even one family away from the game, then they have been too costly.

So, there you have it. There was a time when Fitz was so violent on the field of play in contact sport that David Campese felt he was bringing Rugby Union into disrepute. Perhaps this was all due to the toxic masculinity learnt when playing contact sport at an elite private institution like Knox Grammar? – MWD Editor.]

  • Comrades Ferguson and Jones and the Sentient documentary saga

As avid Media Watch Dog readers know, the ABC is a member of the Right to Know Coalition – whose aim is to ensure that the media get access to information from government, businesses and the like. However, the taxpayer funded public broadcaster is very reluctant to provide information about itself or to answer questions.

The ABC’s Communications department frequently declines to communicate. Likewise, ABC management.

In recent times, The Australian’s “Media Diary” section has been attempting to get information from the ABC about 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson’s role as an executive producer of the film Sentient.

As Steve Jackson put it in The Australian on Monday 24 August 2026:

“The Diary can reveal Ferguson failed to disclose her involvement in the anti-vivisection film Sentient to the ABC for more than two years – in direct violation of the public broadcaster’s conflict of interest procedures – despite the fact it was heavily bankrolled by animal rights activists who campaigned for Labor and the Greens at the last federal election, and that she had been pitched to external funding bodies as the documentary’s ‘executive producer’.”

MWD has not seen Sentient but has been advised by one viewer that it is balanced. Even if this opinion is correct, Ferguson would not necessarily have been aware of this when she became involved in the film – which is directed by former ABC presenter Tony Jones. It is widely known that Ferguson and Jones are married.

It turned out that Ferguson only advised senior ABC management late in November 2025 about her involvement in Sentient – when she found out that it was to be screened at the Sundance Festival. She advised Justin Stevens, the (then) ABC director of news and current affairs, that she had “co-developed… an idea for a series”. That’s all.

It is known that Stevens was close to main ABC “stars” such as Ferguson, Laura Tingle and Leigh Sales — part of the staff collective (or soviet) which dominates the ABC. Stevens thought that the request was so significant that he emailed the managing director and editor-in-chief Hugh Marks seeking permission directly to get a Sentient co-producer at 6 am on a Saturday. Marks agreed within three hours. As Jackson wrote on 24 August:

“The ABC has previously told The Australian Ferguson ‘was not involved in the production of the film’ and that the credit ‘reflects her work in the co-development of the original concept’ and ‘was disclosed to the ABC before the film was launched’.”

This information was incorrect. It turns out that the high-profile ABC journalist Ferguson was involved in obtaining a $200,000 grant from the taxpayer funded Screen Australia to support the project which was directed by former high-profile ABC journalist Jones. Ferguson was not paid for her role as Sentient’s executive producer. But, no doubt, Jones would have been paid in his role as director.

Indeed, according to Jackson, Ferguson’s pitch to Screen Australia included reference to her ABC documentary Revelation. Ferguson won an award for this documentary – despite the fact that its final episode contained allegations about the late Cardinal Pell which were withdrawn by the prosecutors and never tested in court.

Revelation was temporarily withdrawn by the ABC after Pell was acquitted by a unanimous High Court decision. It was soon returned with minor amendments to the script. But it is no longer available on the ABC website. Revelation did not report that the allegations against Pell by the source “Bernie” were heavily contested by Pell in an interview he did with Victoria Police. Pell pointed out that Bernie claimed that the assault had taken place in public at the indoor YMCA pool in Ballarat at a time when Pell never attended.

Senator Sarah Henderson, the shadow minister for communications, has had this to say about Sarah Ferguson as reported in The Australian:

“`When I was hosting the Victorian edition of the 7.30 Report, there is no way that I could have been the executive producer of a documentary funded by an activist organisation which is highly political which campaigned against the Coalition, and it doesn’t actually matter who they campaigned against,’ Senator Henderson said.

“`How could the standard be set that the ABC would permit one of its leading current affairs presenters to be the executive producer of a documentary funded by an activist organisation which completely undermines trust in the ABC when it comes to issues of impartiality?’”

The ABC runs constant programs calling for accountability, full disclosure and all that.

Moreover, Mr Marks told Senate Estimates on 28 August that Sarah Ferguson was not involved in fund raising. She was. Marks was not ABC Managing Director while Ferguson was involved in raising finance for Sentient. But clearly, he has been inadequately advised about the circumstances of the case.

Stephen Rice and Steve Jackson concluded their report in The Australian on 25 August as follows:

“There is no suggestion Mr Marks knew at the time of Senate estimates that Ferguson’s profile had been used in the funding submissions.

“A series of questions on notice by Senator Henderson about Ferguson’s involvement, including whether she had ‘been counselled in relation to failing to disclose her role’ to the ABC, remain unanswered.

“The Australian on Monday asked the ABC whether Ferguson had been counselled regarding her failure to disclose her connection to the project for more than two years, given the potential conflict of interest it could have caused in her current role as host of the ABC’s 7.30 program, but the broadcaster said only that it had ‘nothing to add to the previous comments on this’.”

Then on Wednesday 26 August 2026, Steve Jackson and Stephen Rice reported that the ABC had declined to air Sentient. No official announcement has been made by ABC as yet.

But it would seem that ABC management is concerned about its Ferguson/Jones controversy. It is yet another example of the taxpayer funded public broadcaster having problems with its “stars” – such as Louise Milligan, Laura Tingle, Sarah Ferguson, John Lyons and so on. MWD will keep avid readers posted.

Sarah Ferguson & Tony Jones at Sundance Film Festival

Ellie’s Fun-Fact of the Week – Malcolm Turnbull runs a “love your enemies” line – so does he still believe Peter Dutton is a thug?

There was an enormous positive response to the introduction of this segment last week. Avid Media Watch Dog readers just loved hearing about how, in August 1988, some trade union radicals who took part in a violent invasion of Parliament House in Canberra, ran out of ammunition. So they stole copies of Paul Kelly’s 755-page weighty tome The End of Certainty from the Parliament House Book Shop and threw them at police, internal windows, doors and so on. MWD advised readers that, if there is another leftist assault on Parliament House, the angry comrades might seek ammunition reinforcements by purchasing copies of Paul Kelly’s latest weighty tome The Twilight of Exceptionalism.

As avid Media Watch Dog readers already know – due to the fact that Ellie’s (male) co-owner is oh-so-busy before and after his Gin & Tonic Time – the task of choosing the fun-fact of the week has been delegated to Ellie herself.

Malcolm Turnbull ceased to be prime minister when he lost the support of his colleagues in the Liberal Party room in August 2018. Since then, he has become a media star with ready access to ABC TV and radio. Also he has an active website. There was a time when your man Turnbull mocked former politicians who involved themselves in the political debate, after they leave politics as “miserable ghosts” – but he has joined this “miserable” lot himself.

Recently, on 12 August, Turnbull delivered the McCosker Oration for Catholic Social Services Australia 70th Anniversary Dinner in Parliament House. He chose as a topic “The Politics of Love”. Really.

This may have come as a surprise to some members of the audience who recalled the former prime minister’s time in business and politics. But there you go.

Malcolm Turnbull told his audience that “it is easy, almost reflexive, for people (especially politicians) to blame the media for the troubles of their times”. Forgetting, apparently, that he blamed Rupert Murdoch and News Corp for his loss of the Liberal Party leadership in 2018. See MWD Issue 784, 24 July 2026.

And then there was this:

Malcolm Turnbull: Again and again, Jesus tells us to love strangers, sinners, enemies, to love unconditionally and without seeking anything in return.

And this is how Australia’s 29th prime minister expressed “love” when he appeared on Episode 2 “The Turnbull Years” of the ABC TV documentary Nemesis on the Liberal Party of Australia in February 2024.

Mark Willacy: If I say the word Peter Dutton, what one word springs to mind?

Malcolm Turnbull: Thug.

Not much love there.

Malcolm Turnbull delivering his “give love a chance” speech at Parliament House, Canberra on 12 August 2026

 

  • Bevan Shields gives some support to the view that the NSW ICAC is unfair to NSW Liberal Party leaders

Media Watch Dog’s Five Paws Award was inaugurated in Issue Number 26 (4 September 2009) during the time of Nancy (2004-2017). The first winner was ABC TV presenter Emma Alberici.  Ms Alberici scored for remembering the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 23 August 1939 whereby Hitler and Stalin divided Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union.  And for stating that the Nazi-Soviet Pact had effectively started the Second World War, since it was immediately followed by Germany’s invasion of Poland from the West (at a time when the Soviet Union had become an ally of Germany). Soon after, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the East. Over the years, the late Nancy’s Five Paws Award has become one of the world’s most prestigious gongs – rating just below the Nobel Prize and the Academy Awards.

Bevan Shields was editor of the Sydney Morning Herald – until he wasn’t (as the cliché goes). He edited the SMH for four years until November 2025 and, after what journalists call a well-earned-break, is now the newspaper’s senior writer.

Currently Comrade Shields is covering the hearings of the NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), involving the Liberal Party, titled Operation Rosny.

Appearances at, or reports by, ICAC led to the early resignation of former successful NSW Liberal Party premiers Nick Greiner, Barry O’Farrell and Gladys Berejiklian . Messrs Greiner and O’Farrell were subsequently cleared of by the NSW Supreme Court and Ms Berejiklian lost her appeal case before the NSW Supreme Court in a majority verdict. None were ever charged by NSW Police with any crime.

On 27 August, the SMH senior writer commenced his report at the ICAC hearings as follows:

“The Independent Commission Against Corruption has plenty of enemies. Their constant refrain is that public hearings are a show trial, that Liberal Party leaders are unfairly targeted for investigation, and the agency leans too heavily on vibes rather than hard evidence.

“Until today I didn’t have much sympathy for that view. NSW is a better, cleaner place for the ICAC…”

Bevan Shields objected to the fact that former NSW Liberal Party minister David Elliott had been allowed to make an unproven allegation against former Liberal Party premier Dominic Perrottet. Elliott and Perrottet were in rival sub-factions of the NSW Liberal Party right-wing. The SMH’s senior reporter had this to say:

“The ICAC alleges one of former premier Dominic Perrottet’s brothers, Charles Perrottet, was involved in the plot and stood to share in a $2 million bribe from the disgraced builder.

“Elliott appeared to relish his time in the witness box. While other witnesses have rightly been shut down from providing answers that divert from a question, Elliott was given much more leniency.

“Elliott is no fan of the Perrottets, and vice versa. The rivalry — Elliott is from the Centre Right faction, while the Perrottets are on the more conservative Right — has been toxic for years, with blame on all sides. Elliott believes the then-premier should have done more to keep him in parliament after his seat was abolished in a redistribution.

“Elliott gave evidence about the appalling intimidation campaign [Jean] Nassif waged against him. He deserved his day in the witness box to share that experience.

“But he then proceeded under the legal safety of an ICAC appearance to allege Nassif was behind a decision to dump him from the police portfolio.

“Elliott said Perrottet had assured him before the December 2021 cabinet reshuffle he would not be moved out of the police portfolio but later backtracked and moved him to transport.

“Asked by counsel assisting the commission Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, whether being dropped as police minister was the result of ‘factional dealings’, Elliott replied: ‘Yeah. I think Nassif had probably made it clear to the hard Right that because he’d got arrested for cocaine, that I wasn’t to be trusted with the police force.’

“Elliott had earlier told the ICAC Nassif had been arrested on a cocaine charge at The Star casino in 2019, and had blamed the police minister for being caught.

“One potential imputation from Elliott’s evidence is that Perrottet’s decision to punt him was motivated to benefit a criminal.

“Dwyer has been a force of nature in Operation Rosny but inexplicably did not ask Elliott questions about the claims he had just made. Commissioner Patricia Gleeson, SC, also said nothing.

“The imputation is now sitting there on the public record, unchallenged. Operation Rosny is seriously uncomfortable for Dominic Perrottet, given two of his brothers are key persons of interest. But he has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has not been called as a witness so far, and people should keep that in mind when joining dots.

“Beyond not offering any supporting evidence to back his claim, Elliott overlooked a key political convention that explains why Perrottet replaced him as police minister with Nationals MP Paul Toole. Toole told me yesterday afternoon: ‘As the leader of the Nationals and the deputy premier at the time, I had first choice of portfolios and I wanted police. It’s as simple as that’.”

It would seem that Operation Rosny, as ICAC current hearing is called, appears to have decided to believe what it wants to believe. Hence it appears to have accepted Elliott’s claim without challenge. There is no doubt that Elliott believes that he was removed as NSW Police Minister due to an unwarranted decision by Dominic Perrottet. But as Shields has pointed out, there was a compelling reason to do so due to the Coalition agreement between the Liberal Party and the Nationals in NSW at the time. Shields concluded an article as follows:

“Elliott may well believe in the theory he offered yesterday. But the blame here lies with the commission. Yes, the ICAC is an investigative body, not a criminal court. But by allowing such a serious claim to be made without being interrogated for even one minute, it has only thrown red meat to the haters who would love nothing more than to see the place shut down.”

There is a wider view that, over the years, ICAC has unfairly targeted NSW Liberal Party leaders. Bevan Shields is no Liberal Party supporter. But he is correct in drawing attention to ICAC’s unfair treatment of Dominic Perrottet who has not been called as a witness and, consequently, has not had an opportunity to respond to David Elliott’s assertion against him made without supporting evidence.

Bevan Shields – Five Paws

 

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Until Next Time.

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