GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG

ISSUE – NO. 714

7 February 2025

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Gerard Henderson discusses the media 9.30PM every Friday on Foxtel Channel 600

It was more of the same on Monday 3 February when the ABC TV’s Media Watch program returned after what some journalists like to call a WEB (aka a Well Earned Break) of some nine weeks. Meaning that Media Watch was home-abed (to borrow an old phrase) in the lead-up to and immediately in the aftermath of the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United  States.

The taxpayer funded broadcaster’s Media Watch first went to air in 1989.  Since then it has had 7 presenters. Namely, Stuart Littlemore, Richard Ackland, Paul Barry, David Marr, The Late Liz Jackson, Monica Attard, Jonathan Holmes, Barry (again) and now Linton Besser.

Now what does this lot have in common?  You’ve got it.  All are leftist or left-of-centre types.  And all are current or former ABC presenters.  There’s not a conservative among this lot.  In other words, in a third of a century, the powers that be at the ABC have not been able to find one conservative to front its main media program.  And the likes of Paul Barry maintain that the ABC is not a Conservative Free Zone.  Tell that to the Marines – as the saying goes, or went.

In The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, a somewhat gushing Jacqueline Maley commenced her review of Linton Besser’s inaugural program on 5 February as follows:

Linton Besser does not think Media Watch is broken, and consequently, he doesn’t want to fix it. “The honest truth is I don’t want to break it, the formula works really well and has for a long time,” he said on Monday before the broadcast of his first show as host.

The Monday night program is an Australian broadcasting institution – a tasty mix of schadenfreude and media analysis beloved by viewers who want to see journalists in glass houses have stones thrown at them, so to speak. Institutions, cultural, governmental and otherwise, are currently being disrupted all over the world, so it was comforting that in his first outing as the program’s new host, Besser displayed reverence for Media Watch tradition.

[Interesting.  It is just so comforting that your man Besser does not just speak the truth but, rather, “the honest truth”.  Sounds like a promising start, don’t you think?  MWD Editor.]

Comrade Maley presents as a “progressive” (i.e. left-of-centre) type who gets invited to lotsa left-of-centre literary festivals.  No surprise then, that she seems to believe that the ABC’s Media Watch is “beloved by viewers” who want to see “journalists in glass houses have stones thrown at them”.

In fact, Media Watch has viewers who regard the program as yet another example of the ABC as a Conservative Free Zone.  As to “schadenfreude” – well, “that’s a big word for Grade 3” as Hendo’s primary school English teacher Bob Irish used to say.

The ABC’s Media Watch must be one of the few current affairs programs which have not changed its format in 35 years.  In this sense, it’s a bit like the late Bob Santamaria’s Point of View which ran on Channel 9 (between late 1963 and late 1991, usually after the Wrestling).

This is the ABC Media Watch formula – which Besser is intent on preserving.  From the days of Stuart Littlemore until today (meaning last Monday) Media Watch has consisted of the presenter (i.e. Vicar) preaching a sermon to the Congregation (i.e. viewers) concerning which there is no right of reply.

In her Apologia Pro (Media Watch’s) Vita Sua – to mangle a John Henry Newman book title – Comrade Maley declared that Media Watch runs “the kind of blue on-blue attacks that former host Paul Barry said made for awkward trips to the staff canteen” – where he came in contact with ABC staff.  What a load of absolute tosh.

For sure, on occasions, Media Watch criticises ABC journalists (i.e. what Maley terms as “blue-on-blue” attacks). Borrowing a term from real military conflicts where military forces accidentally fire on their own troops due to error.  Talk about hyperbole.

The fact is that no Media Watch presenter since 1989 has ever criticised the ABC’s central weakness.  To wit, the lack of viewpoint diversity.  Why not? – MWD hears avid readers cry.  Well, because the likes of Messrs Besser, Barry and their predecessors are an example of the taxpayer funded public broadcaster’s lack of viewpoint diversity.  That’s why. They are all part of the ABC left-of-centre family.

In his initial show, Comrade Besser’s first blue-on-blue “kill” was to out Chas Licciardello – one of the original ABC Chaser Boys (average age 491/2).  These days Comrade Chas is an ABC bit-player – who presents Planet America on ABC TV.  Your man Licciardello last “starred” in Media Watch Dog on 13 December 2024 when it was revealed that on 12 December 2024 on Late Night Live he had described President Donald Trump as a “lame duck president”.  This is the sort of “insight” that gets you a gig on ABC TV as an “expert” on American politics.

However, Linton Besser’s gotcha moment occurred when it was revealed that Chas is double dipping, so to speak.  In that by presenting a podcast titled Planet Extra Podcast which has nothing to do with the ABC but until recently was filmed in the ABC studios.  It seems that Chas is using the podcast to flog his own merchandise.

According to your man Besser, you can purchase “T-shirts for $35, hoodies for $50 and a cap for 30 bucks”. He did not mention the cups – perhaps mugs is a better word. All this, according to Besser, is “advertised via the ABC’s Facebook page where there’s even been a useful link to the shop”.

Shame, Chas, Shame. And so on.  And so, from his pulpit, the Rev Besser told the Media Watch faithful that  Chas has sinned and should repent of his (commercial) transgression.  Here is a piece from the Rev Besser’s Sermon on the (Taxpayer funded) Mount.

Linton Besser: Chas…we believe that in pumping up your podcast on national TV, and pushing merch on an ABC Facebook page, you’ve been in violation of a swathe of rules. Not least that “editorial decisions are not improperly influenced by … personal interests”. And, of course, the ABC’s strict prohibition on advertising.

After we put questions to the ABC, Chas’ plugs for PEP merchandise were scrubbed from the ABC’s Planet America’s Facebook page. And we noticed there have been no promos for the podcast since then either, with a spokesperson telling us.

Well done Rev Besser and so on.  But Chas is a soft target. Sure, he has acted unprofessionally. But flogging new poor-quality T-shirts, caps and hoodies is of scant importance.   As to the Rev Besser’s claim that the ABC has “a strict prohibition on advertising” – this is bollocks.  After all, the ABC advertises publications by ABC Books on the ABC. Including books by ABC authors published by ABC Books.  In fact, when he was at the ABC, Comrade Glover’s books were published by ABC Books and advertised on the ABC.

As to the rest.  Well, MW’s lead story was titled “Asylum visa error”. Here’s the background.  The Daily Telegraph reported on 28 January that 21,581 partners and family members of asylum seekers who arrived in Australia unlawfully by boat prior to 2013 have been granted permanent visas.  The figure should have been 2,158 – the number “1” was added due to the incorrect downloading of a footnote.  Now let’s go again to the transcript:

Linton Besser: Over on Sky, Peta Credlin, formerly chief of staff to Tony Abbott, couldn’t resist the story either but by then, the number had changed:

Peta Credlin : … news today that some 2,000 partners and family members of illegal asylum seekers have been granted visas …

– Credlin, Sky News Australia, 28 January, 2025

Comrade Besser implied that the asylum seeker story should have been resisted. Why?  He did not say.  And there was reference to Peta Credlin as Tony Abbott’s chief-of-staff. Why?  After all, Credlin last worked for Abbott a decade ago.  A decade or so after one-time ABC presenter Barrie Cassidy worked for Bob Hawke – this was not mentioned on ABC TV’s Media Watch.

In any event, The Daily Telegraph and other media outlets corrected the error.  Besser complained that the correction appeared “at the bottom of the Telegraph’s letters page in tiny, tiny font”.  This overlooked the fact that the ABC TV Media Watch program does not carry on-air corrections or clarifications.

And there was the story that Network Nine has ceased its Northern Territory news bulletin.  Besser describes this as a “terrible shame”.  And so it is.  However, unlike the ABC, which receives over $1 billion of guaranteed taxpayer funding each year, Network Nine and the like have to compete in a very competitive market.  It’s a lot harder than receiving bucketloads of money from Canberra.

By the way, Linton Besser concluded their segment by describing the Northern Territory News as “the world’s finest newspaper”. That’s Besser the Ironic.  To Media Watch Dog it is just Zzzzzzzz. At least the Northern Territory News’ front page is invariably funny and devoid of the Besser-like sneering which is commonly found on Media Watch over the past 35 years.

  • NINE’S NIKI SAVVA FIRES ABUSE AT PETER DUTTON WHOM SHE DEPICTS AS “LITTLE SIR ECHO”

In recent weeks the powers-that-be at Nine’s Sydney Morning Herald have reflected in public as to why it is that so few political conservatives write for its Letters Page.  Could it be, perhaps, that over recent years many political conservatives have junked the SMH and do not care what its Green Left/Teal journalists write?

These days Niki Savva is described as a “regular columnist” for The Age and SMH.  She is also a regular critic of Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party.  Comrade Savva is one of those members of the Canberra Bubble who does not mind who leads the Liberal Party – provided their name is Malcolm Turnbull or someone of similar views.  But Savva will not tolerate Liberal Party leaders like Tony Abbott or Peter Dutton.

On 6 February, Savva’s column was titled “Dutton may rue his copycat routine”.  It was accompanied by a cartoon by Dionne depicting the Liberal Party leader wearing a MAGA (Make America Great Again) cap and displaying an “I Love Trump” medallion on his left lapel.

And there was the sneering so beloved of the contemporary left.  According to Savva, Dutton is a “Little Sir Echo” of President Donald J. Trump. Funny, eh?  After all, Dutton is very tall and he was advocating border protection well before Trump entered the White House.

It would seem that, after spending some time working for political conservatives in Canberra after she had been treated badly by The Age and needed a job – Savva has returned to her original leftist faith.  She is now an eco-catastrophist stating the “fact” that “we are in the race of our lives” – that is, to Save the Planet.

Moreover, Comrade Savva accused “white settlers” of “taking or destroying everything Indigenous Australians possessed – their land, their lives and their culture”.  However, at last report, Comrade Savva has not given her “stolen” Canberra abode to those Australians who identify as Indigenous – or to the government to re-distribute on her behalf.

Yes, Savva also wrote that Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians and Shadow Minister for Government Efficiency, is “another echo of Trump”.  This is just abuse.  In any event, like Dutton, Price was saying much the same as she does today before Trump became a serious item in American Politics circa 2015.

Comrade Savva is such a Dutton antagonist that she cannot accept that the Liberal Party leader does not need Trump to be himself. Nor does Price. Savva’s  rant concluded by stating that Dutton is treating “voters like mugs”.  A cliché, don’t you think? And here’s another question. Can You Bear It?

[No, not really, now that you ask.  I expect that it will not be very long before Comrade Savva is back venting her Dutton-protagonist spleen on the ABC TV Insiders panel. – MWD Editor.]

  • NINE’S SEAN KELLY DESCRIBES PRESIDENT TRUMP AS UNSERIOUS

While on the topic of The Age and SMH columnists who appear on the ABC TV Insiders couch (presenter David Speers, executive producer Samuel Clark), did anyone read Sean Kelly’s column of 3 February?

It was another anti-Dutton rant by another Dutton antagonist, this time headed “Fog lifts to cast Dutton in harsh light”.  There was another Nine cartoon – this time by  Joe Benke – which depicted Dutton doing what is called “the Trump Dance” – suggesting that Dutton is channelling Trump. And Comrade Kelly – whom Ellie’s male co-owner admires because he managed to work for both Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard – ran the line that Dutton imitates Trump.  Groan.  This is just lazy journalism.

In short, Kelly’s piece was the rant of a Dutton antagonist. He described the Opposition leader as engaging in “the unimaginable adoption of a series of policies borrowed from an unserious man”.  And Comrade Kelly added: “Is this really all there is?”

There is a lot that can be said and written about the 47th President of the United States. But it’s over-the-top to describe Trump as “an unserious man”. And this is the best that Nine newspapers can do for political comment.  Can You Bear It?

  • NINE’S ROSS GITTINS DECLARES THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL NOT LEAVE A MARK ON HISTORY

Isn’t it grand (to borrow a line from The Clancy Brothers) that Ross Gittins – the Sydney Morning Herald’s economics editor – finally got back to work circa 5 February.  This was after what journalists like to call a (very long) WEB (aka Well Earned Break). How does Media Watch Dog know this?  Well, this is how  Comrade Gittins commenced his Back to Work column – under the heading “In 50 Years, Trump will be remembered as just a puzzling footnote”:

I know I’m a bit late, but welcome to 2025. Before we get on with a year of absolutely gratuitous economic angst courtesy of a great American conman’s second coming, let’s take a breath and realise we’re already a quarter of the way through what many still think of as the “new” century.

How time flies while you’re preoccupied with one crisis – one damn thing – after another. I hate to undercut the media’s business model, but old age has taught me that most of the things we find so momentous at the time don’t leave much of a mark on the course of history.

So, there you have it.  According to the SMH’s economics editor, President Donald J. Trump is just a “great American conman” engaged in a Second Coming.  This is just abuse.  Also, according to Comrade Gittins, it’s “unlikely that Trump will leave much of a mark on the course of history”.  Or, as the SMH headline writer interpreted The Thought of  Gittins, by 2075 President Trump will be just a “puzzling footnote” in world history.

What a load of absolute tosh. Agree with Trump or not, it’s most unlikely that he will be forgotten in half a century.  This is just Comrade Gittins in wish-fulfilment mode.  Can You Bear It?

[You wonder why the smart people who run the SMH publish such sludge. But, then, these were the very same folk who ran that 8-page (or was it 18?) tribute to Gittins in its 7 February 2024 edition on the occasion of his half-century at the Sydney Morning Herald.  Enough said.  – MWD Editor.]

  • TIM COSTELLO FINALLY COMES OUT OF THE LEFTIST BUBBLE AFTER WEARING A MAGA CAP DOWN A MELBOURNE SUBURBAN STREET

It was Hangover Time on the morning of Saturday 1 February, when Hendo turned on Saturday Extra on ABC Radio National.  It was one of those oh-so-familiar “debates” on the ABC where everyone agrees with everyone else in a left-of-centre way on almost everything.

Nick Bryant was in the presenter’s chair – and his panel comprised the Rev Tim Costello (senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity) and Anthea Hancock (CEO of Scanlon Foundation Research Centre). The topic chosen by producer Belinda Sommer was “Is social cohesion at risk in Australia”.  Yawn. By the way, your man Costello is the former CEO of World Vision Australia.

The one spark in the boring discussion occurred when the fashionably left-of-centre Costello discussed his Make America Great Again moment Down Under. Let’s go to the transcript:

Tim Costello: There’s a distant member of my family that gave me a Trump MAGA cap for Christmas. I put it in the bin. And then I thought, ok, maybe I can do something more creative. So, I took it out. I’ve worn it sometimes down the street and I’ve been fascinated that people have come up to me and started telling me – they don’t recognise me – why they support Trump, what their fears are.  And, actually, it’s been really useful because I’ve never quite understood why they support Trump, what their fears are here. And who would’ve thought a MAGA hat could be redeemed – given my political views.

But getting out of the Bubble and crossing the line and maintaining civility is so important. Not seeing people as enemies or friends with this political wiring. So I really see my mission as trying to stop the polarisation we see in America coming to Australia. And I think all of us have a responsibility to cross the line and do that.

How about that?  It was only when the oh-so-loquacious Rev Costello walked down the street in disguise – wearing a MAGA cap – that he came to realise why some Australians – like many Americans – support Donald Trump.  Moreover, Costello acknowledged that he has just got out of “the Bubble”.

The Melbourne-based Rev Costello is 69 years of age. And he’s finally realised why some people do not share the Thought Bubble views that prevail at The Age, the ABC, The [Boring] Saturday Paper, The Monthly, The Guardian Australia, the Wheeler Centre, the United Nations and so on. Can You Bear It?

MWD EXCLUSIVE

  • “COURAGEOUS” JOHN LYONS DECLARES THAT HE IS NOT SCARED OF ISRAEL’S SUPPORTERS IN AUSTRALIA

Media Watch Dog’s  “An ABC Update” segment in this issue makes reference to the ABC Radio National Breakfast program on Thursday 6 February when virtually all the talent invited to discuss the Israel-Gaza situation fanged Israel.  One of this lot was John Lyons – the ABC global affairs editor – who doubles as a consistent critic of Israel.  As a reading of his books Balcony Over Jerusalem (2017) and Dateline Jerusalem (2021) will attest.

Towards the end of his (regular) Israel criticism, Comrade Lyons said this to RN Breakfast presenter Sally Sara following a discussion about President Trump:

…So I think the challenge for journalists is to listen to what people say, but look at what’s factual and out there on the public record and put it in context – and not be scared about the inevitable complaints that always happen, that always come after me.  If you try to report the facts, they’re going to target you, certain of Israel’s supporters.  I think you’ve just got to report the facts as they are.

How about that?  Courageous John Lyons is busy reporting “the facts” for the ABC in spite of the (alleged) fact that he is targeted by “Israel’s supporters”.  They cannot be very successful – since Comrade Lyons is the ABC global affairs editor who reports frequently from Jerusalem and who is a member of the ABC staff collective which effectively runs the taxpayer funded public broadcaster.

As avid Media Watch Dog readers will have worked out by now, Ellie is the very model of a modern canine (to re-work the line from Gilbert & Sullivan). As such, Ellie (who is a junk professor at the Canberra Bubble Institute) readily takes offence despite being a Blue Heeler, if the offence comes from humans. Whereas Ellie’s (male) co-owner, on the other hand, occasionally causes offence.

  • LISA MILLAR’S MUSTER DOGS PROGRAM DENIES THE EXISTENCE OF BLUE HEELERS LIKE ELLIE

The Sydney Institute’s Media Watch Dog – Ellie – whose (male) co-owner is Gerard Henderson – is a Blue Heeler or Cattle Dog or Queensland Heeler.  In other words, she has an obsession with heels – not, say, toes.

Blue and Red Heelers are tough canines – bred for herding cattle in the tough terrain of Northern Australia.  In other words, the Blue Heelers are a breed, consistent with their part Dingo heritage.  Unlike, say, such Muster Dogs as Kelpies and Collies.

In other words, MWD fave Kelpie – named Missy who is based in Canberra – is just a wimp when compared to Ellie.  As to the ABC’s Bluey – she is what you would expect from the taxpayer funded public broadcaster.  Namely, a Fake Bluey from the Australian homeland of Fake News.

But MWD digresses, once again.

On 1 February, the ABC’s very own Lisa Millar appeared on ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra to flog the latest in her Muster Dog series on ABC TV.  This is what she had to say:

Lisa Millar: …So, what we’ve done in the first two series is follow pups through the first year of their life and given them to graziers and dog handlers around Australia to work out whether it’s nature or nurture that creates a great working dog. And the best working dogs can go for upwards of thirty thousand dollars. So, we’re talking about very valuable assets here. The first series we did Kelpies, the second series we did Border Collies. So, of course, third series – drumroll – it’s the Kelpies versus the Collies. Which is the best breed for properties in Australia? And of course, it was going to be slightly controversial, and everyone is either Team Kelpie or Team Collie. It’ s a bit like back in the old days…when you were either a Holden Family or a Ford Family in Australia and you never switched, that was your car. And so, it is the same with Kelpies and Collies and it’s been fascinating seeing these two breeds of dogs being tested throughout the year.

Turn it up.  Compared with Blue Heelers, Kelpies and Collies are scaredy-cats. Look at it this way.  Kelpies and Collies round up sheep – who are all mild-mannered types. Whereas, Heelers round up tough cattle who can kill them.

Comrade Millar’s error was to regard Kelpies and Collies as the only Working Dogs.  Then she made a comparison with Team Kelpie Holden and Team Collie Ford.  Whereas, Blue Heelers are Team Abrams Tank.

Let it be known to Lisa Millar that Ellie took offence at her comment and has spent much of her time of late in bed with a cold towel over her head.

Missy, Ellie and Bluey

DOCUMENTATION

  • AN UPDATE ON THE ORIGINS OF COVID – FEATURING NORMAN SWAN AND PAUL BARRY

It has been some time since MWD checked in on the ABC’s former COVID point man Dr Norman Swan. Avid readers will recall that on the cover of his latest book Dr Swan identifies as merely “one of Australia’s most trusted doctors”, a demotion from his previous self-appointed title as “Australia’s most trusted doctor”. All this despite not practising medicine in decades.

So, how goes the good doctor? Well, with the pandemic behind him (and us), Dr Swan has settled back into his regular gig as the ABC’s lead health reporter. That means his Coronacast podcast, which he records with Tegan Taylor, has been redubbed What’s That Rash? and now focuses on answering listeners health questions. He has also continued his regular appearances on Radio National, including co-hosting the long-running Health Report, alongside Dr Preeya Alexander. Business as usual for an ABC lifer (if you ignore his embarrassing stint as the resident doctor on Network Ten’s controversial weight loss reality show The Biggest Loser).

One recent health-related news story seemingly missed by Dr Swan was the announcement on 25 January 2025, by the newly appointed Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, that the agency had reassessed the evidence concerning the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and decided that it was more likely than not to have originated with a lab leak. This new investigation originated during the Biden administration under Ratcliffe’s predecessor Bill Burns.

The CIA’s opinion on the matter now concurs with that of the FBI, which in 2021 concluded that a lab leak was more likely, and a similar report by the Department of Energy (which has responsibility for some of the US Government’s own laboratories). None of the agencies claim to know for sure the origin of the virus, which may never be known due to the Chinese government’s secrecy around the initial outbreak in Wuhan.

Dr Swan was initially dismissive of the lab leak theory, telling the ABC TV News Breakfast audience in May 2020 that it had: “Really, very little evidence. It’s on the outer bounds of possibility, but really so unlikely that you could say pretty definitely that it’s not the case”. His reporting has since shifted back and forth. In 2021 Swan acknowledged that “there are increasing signs that the Institute of Virology may well be the source”. But by 2023 he seemed to have switched back to being sceptical of the theory.

Still, your man Swan’s coverage of the origins of COVID is not as embarrassing as that of his ABC comrade Paul Barry.

The Rev Barry, who recently left his post as presenter of Media Watch, waged a campaign to discredit the reporting of News Corp journalist Sharri Markson, who has covered the origins of COVID extensively for the News Corp newspapers. As well as on her Sky News show Sharri and in her 2021 book What Really Happened in Wuhan?.

Barry devoted several segments (or as MWD liked to calls them, sermons) of Media Watch to fanging Ms Markson. First in May 2020 when he claimed the theory was not likely to be true and lumped her in with conspiracy theorists who claimed the virus was an escaped bioweapon. Then again in May 2021 when Barry referred to Markson’s reporting as her “latest coronavirus scare story”.

After it became clear that the lab leak was not just a conspiracy theory, but was being taken seriously at the highest levels of the US intelligence community, The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth asked Barry if he would be doing a follow up to correct the record on the lab leak and Ms Markson’s credibility. Barry’s response was that he would only do so if the lab leak theory was ever proven correct. A high bar considering the Chinese government is unlikely to ever allow the release of information proving a pandemic that killed millions was the result of a security failure at a Chinese laboratory.

With Barry now departed from the ABC airwaves it seems as if Sharri Markson will never receive an on-air correction from him. Nor is she likely to receive an off-air one considering the lenient rules Barry established for himself.

  • SALLY SARA AND THE ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST SOVIET PRESENT ONE SIDE (GUESS WHICH?) IN THE ISRAEL-GAZA DEBATE

As ABC Media Watch Dog has maintained since Moses was in short pants, the essential problem with the ABC is that it lacks viewpoint diversity.  The recently appointed ABC chair Kim Williams has made some criticism of the taxpayer funded public broadcaster.  Speaking out about bias and journalists who want to be political activists. But your man Williams has avoided the central problem – which extends back to the late 1960s. Namely, the ABC’s lack of viewpoint diversity.

Here’s an example of the guests who appeared on the influential ABC Radio National Breakfast program – presented by Sally Sara – on Thursday 6 February.  The topic was the Middle East in general and the Israel-Gaza war in particular.

5.30 am

Tovah Lazaroff – Former Deputy Managing Editor, The Jerusalem Post.  (Ms Lazaroff gave an objective overview of the political debate in Israel over Gaza etc.)

6.30 am

Nabil Fahmi – Former Egypt Minister of Foreign Affairs

6.45 am

Ben Saul – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

7.30 am

Francesca Albanese – UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967.

8.00 am

Mustafa Barghouti – Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council

The Italian Francesca Albanese and the Australian Ben Saul are long standing vehement critics of Israel.  Nabil Fahmi and Dr Mustafa Barghouti are players in the Middle East conflict who oppose contemporary Israel.

Oh yes. Before the 8am News, John Lyons – the ABC’s global affairs editor – received a soft interview from Sally Sara. Lyons is also a vehement critic of contemporary Israel. Re which see MWD Exclusive.

So, there you have it.  On RN Breakfast on 6 February it was a case of virtually wall-to-wall criticism of Israel.

If the ABC was a commercial operation relying on subscribers, advertisers or other financial support – it could do what it wanted.  But the ABC is taxpayer funded. And the ABC Act requires that it be politically balanced.

Radio National Breakfast’s program on Thursday 6 February demonstrates that the ABC is not performing in accordance with the ABC Act and the ABC Charter.  Over to Mr Williams and the ABC Board (which, believe it or not, includes the left-of-centre Laura Tingle – of the Morrison government into “ideological bastardry” fame).

HISTORY CORNER

  • HISTORIAN SELWYN CORNISH DEMOLISHES THE CLAIM THAT ROBERT MENZIES WANTED TO NAME AUSTRALIA’S CURRENCY “THE ROYAL”

Thanks to the avid Media Watch Dog reader in Nowra who drew attention to Richard Glover’s column in The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 25 January 2025. Titled “The History Every Aussie should Know” Comrade Glover commenced his piece as follows:

Australia has a sandcastle culture, according to Jim Davidson, one-time editor of Meanjin. His point: we suffer from cultural amnesia. Every incoming tide wipes out the memories of what came before, both our achievements and failures. Ahead of Australia Day, here are 20 of the weirdest facts about Australian history – a list of all those sandcastles that should not be forgotten.

“Fact” No 17 reads as follows:

In the run-up to decimalisation, Robert Menzies proposed that our new unit of currency should be called “a royal”, as in the phrase “Could you lend a couple of royals – I need to buy a beer?” The Reserve Bank produced designs, the proposal abandoned after months of ridicule.

This is a “non-fact” fact. The evidence refutes the claim that, with the introduction of decimalisation in 1966, Liberal Party Prime Minister Robert Menzies proposed that the new unit of currency should be called the Royal – as in Royal Family.

The economist and historian Selwyn Cornish presented a paper at a conference of the Robert Menzies Institute in Melbourne late last year. It will be published later this year. In his talk titled “Menzies and The Adaptation of Decimal Currency”, Cornish had this to say:

It is often assumed that Menzies was the major proponent of the name “royal”. John Murphy, the Reserve Bank’s Art Curator, wrote on the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of decimal currency in 2016 that “Pounds, Shillings and Pence were associated affectionately with British culture throughout the world. For the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, who was a renowned monarchist, the change was softened by the initial decision to call the new unit of currency the “Royal”. In this way a link with the British Crown was maintained.”

CB Schedvin, in his history of the Reserve Bank, claimed that the “Prime Minister was coy about his involvement in the selection, but there is no doubt that the choice was his”. The minutes of the cabinet meetings when various names were considered do not support the claim that Menzies was the principal advocate of ‘royal’. When it became clear that a majority of Australians were opposed to ‘royal’ and the government would have difficulty receiving parliament’s approval for that name, he had no difficulty endorsing “dollar”.

The matter was discussed at the Cabinet meeting on 5 June 1965. Some Coalition ministers favoured the Royal (including William McMahon). But, according to Cornish, “the minutes of the meeting do not indicate that Menzies revealed a preference”. For a time, Menzies had a predilection for “Auster” – but this did not last long.

There was widespread support in the Australian community for the unit to be named “Dollar”. The changeover to decimal currency took place on 14 February 1966.

As indicated, there is no evidence that Robert Menzies ever proposed the main unit of Australia’s decimal currency should be the Royal. So at least one of the “facts” that Richard Glover maintains that “every Aussie should know” is not a fact at all.

As to Jim Davidson’s view that Australia suffers from cultural amnesia – this is just bunk.

 

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Until next time

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