Laura Tingle under fire after declaring Australia "a racist country"
One of the ABC's most senior journalists Laura Tingle has caused outrage after declaring Australia is "a racist country".
The political reporter made the claims while speaking on a panel at the Sydney Writer's Festival on Sunday at an event hosted by former ABC TV Insiders host and Labor staffer Barrie Cassidy.
Her comments were in response to the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's pledge to slash permanent migration to just 140,000 a year, as well as the ABC's coverage of the war in Gaza.
“The Opposition Leader has opened the doors to migrants being blamed not just for housing shortages but for all these other problems, too,” she added.
On Sunday, Tingle said that after listening to Dutton's pledge, she “had this sudden flash of people turning up to try and rent a property or at an auction and they look a bit different – whatever you define different as – [and] that basically (Dutton) has given them licence to be abused, and in any circumstance where people feel like they’re missing out”.
Her comments have prompted outrage among senators, with Indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price saying she is "really disappointed" by Tingle's comments.
“This continued narrative … is being pushed within our country that does not provide any sense of pride for our children,” she said.
“It absolutely creates division. We had enough of it during the [Indigenous Voice] referendum and leading journalists, well, supposedly leading journalists, like Laura Tingle should know better than to use that sort of rhetoric.”
Price said the comments reflected Tingle’s opinion, rather than being a reflection of the whole country, as she also accused Tingle of political bias against Dutton, saying it reflected poorly on the ABC.
“Laura has demonstrated her bias and I think [ABC chair] Kim Williams needs to explain why having someone so blatantly partisan sitting in the top political commentator position is acceptable.”
Elsewhere, Albanese government minister Tanya Plibersek also took issue with Tingle’s comments.
“I think it’s a fantastic multicultural country but we have to protect against incidents of racism which occur in our community as they do in every community,” Plibersek told Seven’s Sunrise on Monday.
Following Tingle's comments, ABC board members have had emergency discussions over their colleague, after the Coalition on Monday demanded the public broadcaster explain Tingle’s weekend claims.
Image credits: LUKAS COCH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial