ABC’s Laura Tingle Issues Statement Explaining Comments on Racism

Laura Tingle told the Sydney Writer’s Festival that Australia was a ‘racist country.’

President of the National Press Club Laura Tingle listens to Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor during his address at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra, Australia on May 22, 2024. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

ABC 7.30 Report’s Chief Political Correspondent Laura Tingle has attempted to explain a comment at the Sydney Writer’s Festival last week where she said Australia is “a racist country. Let’s face it. We always have been and it’s very depressing.”

When news of her original statement broke, the public broadcaster distanced itself from the reporter.

News Director Justin Stevens described it as “lacking context, balance, and supporting information” and said she had been “counselled over her remarks.”

There were also many calls for her to resign or be sacked from her role.

Her public comments will likely be on the agenda of the national broadcaster’s next board meeting in June, and Ms. Tingle—the staff-elected director—will be required to recuse herself when the matter is discussed.

In a statement released late on May 29, Ms. Tingle pointed to surveys, including those conducted by the ABC, that “repeatedly found the majority of Australians of non-European backgrounds reporting experiences of discrimination and racism in their lives, sometimes starting as early as primary school.

“Is it relevant to raise this record of Australian racism in political analysis? Absolutely, if it becomes an issue of controversy in our political contest.

“In my writing and broadcasts over the past two weeks I have observed on several occasions that there were considerable dangers for the way our political discourse would unfold—and for social harmony—in linking migration to the housing crisis.”

Criticising the Opposition

During her festival speech, the veteran reporter criticised Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s policies on migration and housing.

Ms. Tingle said that at the time, she had been asked a question and was responding it in a “much less formal and more free-flowing than a piece of analysis on an ABC platform and ... where adding detailed context to the discussion wasn’t really possible.”

She quoted Mr. Dutton’s assertions that increasing migration had a range of effects, from limiting school placements, childcare, access to GPs, to causing traffic congestion, which she “truncated” during her talk as the reason for “everything that’s going wrong in this country is because of migrants.

“That was simply a result of trying to summarise a point in a much less structured forum and was not intended to imply he had said that verbatim.”

However, she defended the need to scrutinise the opposition leader’s statements.

“As the alternative prime minister, with an election approaching within a year, Mr Dutton’s comments deserve rigorous scrutiny and examination,” Ms. Tingle said in her statement.

The federal opposition, along with the Labor government, have both unveiled policies aimed at cutting migration into the country.

Meanwhile, the journalist also said the furore around her comments “created the opportunity for yet another anti-ABC pile-on. This is not helpful to me or to the ABC. Or to the national debate.”

Mr. Stevens responded to Ms. Tingle’s statement with one of his own, reiterating that she had been “counselled” over her remarks and described her as “one of Australia’s most experienced, knowledgeable and accomplished journalists.”