Nationals Leader Joins Dutton, Says ABC Should Focus on Facts Not Opinion

David Littleproud also said the ABC had not probed Labor’s costings hard enough.

A woman walks past Australia's public broadcaster ABC's head office building in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 27, 2018. Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images

Nationals Leader David Littleproud says the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) needs to bolster its regional coverage and focus more on news than opinion.

“In much of my electorates, people have dropped off listening to the ABC, and that’s a shame, because I think it should be more about news, and less about views,” he said.

The comments come a few days after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton publicly criticised the ABC for its past coverage of the Coalition and its policies, calling the broadcaster “hate media.”

During his visit to the electorate of Hawke in Victoria, a key target of the Coalition this election, Dutton told voters to listen to people on the ground instead of to left-leaning media.

“Forget about what you have been told by the ABC, in The Guardian and the other hate media. Listen to what you hear [at] the doors, listen to what people say on the pre-polling, know in your hearts we are a better future for our country,” he said.

“We stand up for the values that are more important than ever for families and small businesses, if we stay true to our values and have a strength of leadership.”

Later, the opposition leader advised people to turn the ABC off on election night.

Not Enough Journalists in the Regions

In an interview with the ABC on May 1, Littleproud was asked whether he would follow Dutton and call the broadcaster “hate media.”

The Nationals leader did not directly answer the question, but said that people in regional areas had turned their back on the ABC.

Nationals leader David Littleproud speaks to the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 30, 2023. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

“I think ABC is important to me, particularly in regional Australia. I work very well with [ABC Managing Director] David Anderson in making sure that we got extra journalists out into places like Alice Springs, but even in my electorate, in places like Charleville, so that our Australian story can be told.

Littleproud also noted that if the broadcaster could change its direction and stick to that, it would have a future not only in regional areas but the whole country.

Nationals Leader Questions ABC’s Coverage on Labor’s Nuclear Plan

At the same time, the Nationals leader said the broadcaster could do more to probe the Labor Party, and its claims about the cost of the Coalition’s nuclear program.

“It’s been disappointing that organisations like the national broadcaster hasn’t asked the prime minister about this blatant lie about a $600 billion (US$385 billion) cost to nuclear energy,” Littleproud said.

Littleproud also rejected an ABC host’s argument that the broadcaster had carried out its due diligence on the topic.

“You’ve edited it all into sound bites. There has been no challenging that, and there’s no credible source,” he said.

“And I would have thought even the ABC would make sure that the sources they use to hold politicians to account is challenged, and the veracity of that is challenged.

“The Smart Energy Council is not a credible source. Frontier Economics, who modelled ours and costed our plan, [said it] comes nowhere near $600 billion.”