Liberal Senator Alex Antic has called for both a comprehensive review into the ABC and the establishment of a standing ombudsman for the public broadcaster.
The ABC has once again come under fire at Senate Estimates for perceived bias and contraventions of its charter in terms of impartiality. Senator Antic posed questions to ABC’s Managing Director David Anderson over potential biases including those featured in the national broadcaster’s coverage of the recent Hamas-Israel conflict.
He told Sky News the consistent complaining from government MPs and Senators won’t change the inherent flaws in the public broadcaster. “I think the starting point is a proper review of the ABC,” he said. “We haven’t really had a proper deep dive into the ABC since about 1983. We need to get back to that”. Senator Antic also suggested an ombudsman specifically for the public broadcaster. “Every other public body seems to have an ombudsman.