'Unaccountable organisation flush with taxpayers' money': Senator responds to Sky News investigation into ABC's 'ridiculous' DEI policies
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has criticised the ABC's internal diversity policies, accusing the public broadcaster of wasting taxpayer money on 'ridiculous' identity-based targets instead of prioritising quality journalism.
A Sky News Freedom of Information investigation revealed on Friday the ABC expects its journalists to meet sweeping diversity targets across race, gender, culture and disability in news content.
Under the broadcaster's '50:50 Equality Project', reporters have been expected to assess news stories and choose talent based on a range of diversity markers and log the data in a centralised system to be reviewed at editorial meetings.
'This DEI nonsense is becoming ridiculous,' Ms Hanson told Sky News on Friday.
'This is exactly what happens when you have an unaccountable organisation flush with taxpayers' money it does nothing to truly earn. The ABC needs to be reined in.
'Talent for news interviews should obviously be based on relevance and expertise, not arbitrary characteristics like race, gender or disability,' she said.
'Australian taxpayers are being forced to pay for a sub-standard news service that prioritises identity politics over quality and objective reporting, and the ABC's audience is deserting the public broadcaster as a result.'
Ms Hanson also accused the ABC of hypocrisy, claiming its approach to inclusion rarely extended to politically conservative Australians.
'It's also fair to say the ABC's idea of 'inclusion' will rarely if ever include white conservative men and women – particularly redheads!'
The internal documents obtained by Sky News under a FOI request revealed that journalists had been expected to estimate the identity status of talent based on how they look, sound, or what names they have.
ABC staff were then told to enter that data into a central application for team-wide analysis.
Targets include 50 per cent women, 15 per cent culturally diverse people, 3.4 per cent indigenous representation and 8 per cent people with disability.
Staff have been encouraged to reflect on whether they were achieving sufficient diversity and were provided with discussion prompts such as 'what could we do better/differently next time?' and 'what has been our biggest win this week?'
Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs Scott Hargreaves said the revelations proved the ABC was out of step with its obligations as a public broadcaster.
'ABC management simply do not get it. Warping the news the ABC presents to meet woke DEI goals is completely inconsistent with its charter,' he said.
'DEI is a cancer that eats out organisations from within by distracting it from its actual purpose and tying up staff with pointless tasks,' Mr Hargreaves added.
He argued that the ABC's obsession with identity had replaced its former commitment to newsworthiness and balance.
'The definition of news is what is of interest to the public and what is important. DEI goals for representation have nothing to do with achieving this aim," he said.
'The ABC is no longer an institution of cultural importance in Australia as it once was. Too often the ABC fails to represent the diverse views of the community.
'While the ABC's taxpayer funding increases every year, its ratings continue to fall. It demonstrates the deep structural and cultural problems at the taxpayer funded broadcaster.'
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