Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Topics: ABC, Gina Rineheart, CFMEU Corruption.
E&OE.......................................................................
Chris Kenny
I want to catch up now with the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O'Brien, who joins us from Brisbane. Good to talk to you again, Ted. I want to get to the economy in a moment, but I just want to start off with this ABC story that I that I mentioned at the top of the program, and the vile account there where they're referencing Gina Rinehart. She wants an apology. I can't understand why the government can't find within itself the moral fibre to demand an apology?
Ted O'Brien
Great to be with you, Chris. And you use the word moral, and it's the right word to use because I think it is a clear display of moral weakness that the government is not insisting that the ABC steps up and apologises in this situation. It is absolutely appalling the vulgarity used, the personal targeting used against Gina Rinehart. I am absolutely disgusted by it, and by the way, Chris, I'm not one who beats up on the ABC. You know, I'm not one who's out there going, 'Oh, the ABC is awful.' Very rarely do I comment on our national broadcaster in a negative light, but I am absolutely on this case. I'm appalled. I mean, you don't treat any Australian like that. You don't especially treat an Australian woman like that, and then to suggest that I don't even want to call it a skit because it sort of makes it sound like it was all fun. That disgusting thing that was published by the ABC to apparently meet their standards, garbage. If that's the case, the standards need to change. The ABC should apologise, and the Albanese government should step in and show some leadership rather than a moral vacuum in this case. What do they just not like the person? I mean, what is it? Is it because she's rich? Is it because she's backing One Nation? I mean, I'm not One Nation, and I'm the first to say this is inappropriate. I'm appalled by it.
Chris Kenny
It's just extraordinary that the leadership of the ABC would not apologise, would not admit it's a mistake, that the government wouldn't say so publicly. It is pathetic. It lacks common decency. And if this was said about someone else, I'm certain there would be a different attitude. There seems to be a political agenda, some sort of ideological bias behind this. But if you, I don't want to name other women because it's unfair. But we all know if there are other prominent women named in this way, that that there would be hell to pay.
Ted O'Brien
And there should be hell to pay no matter what. I mean, you know, if you just if everyone just thinks of the women in their life, right? Whether it be your mum, your wife, your sister, your daughter, whatever. I mean seriously, you have the ABC publishing something as vile as what they did against Gina Rinehart. Think about the impact that would have on you and your family if that happened to a loved one of yours. Now we all make mistakes, right? So, so you know, but when you make a mistake, you step up, you apologise for it. They have refused to do that. That's unacceptable.
Chris Kenny
Yes, they got form on this. Of course, they once showed me up a dog and called me a dog effer, and and it was the same. Yeah, I mean that's sort of water off a duck's back to me. But I thought it was important to take a stand because of the standards there, and because they were trying to silence me, and because of what it said about my family, and again, we had to take legal action thanks to my employers before the ABC would even apologise. It's pathetic. Common decency says just apologise at the very least and move on.
Ted O'Brien
Yes, exactly. And look, we're talking about the national broadcaster, right? So, all of us have a stake in this. This reflects on us as a country. This is not who we are. Again, there are a lot of great people working for the ABC. It doesn't reflect well on them, you know, if management of the ABC step up, apologise.
Chris Kenny
Yeah, people might be surprised, and I have friends and people I respect who work at the ABC, and that's the trouble. This sort of stuff reflects badly on all of them. A couple of quick questions I need to get onto before I let you go. One is the Royal Commission into construction corruption in Victoria. The Victorian government, of course, with the new premier, have been dragged kicking and screaming into calling that, that could cause a lot of trouble for the federal Labor government too, couldn't it?
Ted O'Brien
Well, Chris, I hope it does because the Federal Government are in on everything CFMEU. This is as much about the Federal Labor team as it is about the Victorian Labor team, and if the new Victorian Labor leader wants to say that under his new regime integrity is not optional, then it poses the question to Anthony Albanese whether or not he is lacking integrity by not stepping in and doing the same. When it comes to the CFMEU, Labor is basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the union movement. Anthony Albanese has been clear with all of his policies; they are all being dirty dividends to their master. But now he has one of his own, the Labor leader in Victoria, calling out the CFMEU. I look forward to the same treatment from Anthony Albanese in calling a royal commission at the national level.
Chris Kenny
Yeah, there's federal money involved in some of these projects as well, so all federal taxpayers ought to be interested in this. And just briefly, before we let you go, good news on the economy: inflation easing a bit, which means we should not see another interest rate rise in the next month.
Ted O'Brien
Oh well, let's wait and see. I think the market will tell us what they're pricing and what they're not. But again, the big problem here, Chris, is the federal government keeps spending money. More money they pour into the economy, they're competing with households and businesses. That pushes prices up. Inflation remains above the 2.5% target of the Reserve Bank; they're going to increase interest rates. This all comes back to a government that cannot control money, Chris.
Chris Kenny
Ted, thanks for joining us.
