ABC Investigation Into Q&A Feminist Episode “Now Closed”

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“The matter is now closed” declared ABC spokesperson David Anderson. Pulling the Q&A episode from air was apparently enough to satisfy the internal investigation.

Q&A Episode

The ABC has concluded its investigation into its now-infamous Q&A Episode broadcast from the feminist Broadside festival on November 4. ABC journalist Fran Kelly moderated the five feminist panelists at various stages throughout the show, where violence against men appeared to be endorsed unchecked.

Mona Eltahawy’s Performance

The most offensive and vulgar panelist was Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy. She had previously been a panelist on Q&A in 2014 on another feminist-themed episode when she was in Sydney as part of the All About Women Festival.

Mona was invited to Broadside Festival hosted by the Wheeler Center in the City of Melbourne, who helped fund it with ratepayers’ money, along with state and federal government taxpayer money. She was invited to speak about her recent book ‘The Seven Deadly Sins for Women and Girls’.

Mona wrote a chapter on political violence in the feminist movement, where she not only attempted to justify violence against the pairiachary, but even advocated a final solution against it.

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The producers of Q&A who select the panel would have read her book when they invited her on the show, and known she was likely to repeat what was in her book live on national television.

And Mona certainly did asking the audience “How long must we wait for men and boys to stop murdering us, to stop beating us and to stop raping us? How many rapists must we kill? As a woman I’m asking, how many rapists must we kill until men stop raping us?”

The other panelists and host Fran Kelly did not challenge or condemn her. Indigenous non-binary feminist writer Nayuka Gorrie thought out loud in response “I wonder what our kind of tipping point in Australia’s going to be when people will start burning stuff? I look forward to it.”

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The production and airing of a program by our national broadcaster which advocated political violence rightly enraged and concerned Australias. The fact the ABC believed that airing such content during an increasingly violate period of aggressive and violent street protests in western nations shows grossly irresponsible editorial judgment.

ABC Investigation

After widespread condemnation, ABC Management took the decision to pull the Q&A episode from reruns, its iview streaming platform, and social media accounts. ABC Managing Director David Anderson put out a statement on the ABC’s media center announcing an internal investigation into the airing of the program.

“The ABC acknowledges that the program was provocative in regard to the language used and some of the views presented … we have received audience complaints about the program, are assessing the concerns raised and will investigate whether the program met the ABC’s editorial standards.”

When the left isn’t able to express their incitements to violence without criticism or consequences, they claim they are being censored and suddenly are believers in free speech. The accused the ABC of capitulating to conservative white men’s fragile feelings.

However, if a person on the right made even remotely similar remarks on national television they would demand that person be arrested and detained by ASIO and the network deplatformed.

Investigation Findings: “Matter Now Closed”

One month later the ABC has announced its findings from its internal investigation. An ABC spokesperson told TV Tonight that:

“ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs has concluded its finding in response to audience complaints (235 in total) about the 4 November broadcast of Q&A. The primary concerns raised in the complaints were that the program contained excessive coarse language, that it didn’t appropriately canvass all relevant views about the matters raised, and that there was a perception that some of the language used encouraged violence.”

They went on “Audience and Consumer Affairs found that ABC management’s decision to remove the episode from iview and cancel planned repeat broadcasts was sufficient action to resolve those complaints. This matter is now closed.”

So no one will lose their job over the airing of the program, nor will any ABC employee face disciplinary action. All the ABC has done is say that the program came across the wrong way, should have had a few other viewpoints, and that removing the offending episode was appropriate enough action.

There you go, case closed, move along people there’s nothing to see here. The Q&A episode will be flushed down the memory hole and the ABC will continue to breach its charter unfettered by public opinion.

Mona’s Twitter Moan

But this expression of regret from the ABC was too triggering for the main instigator of the episode’s vulgar and violent rhetoric. Mona Elthaway went on a twitter rampage denouncing the findings




If this ‘censorship’ of your incitement to political violence while visiting Australia troubles you so much then don’t ever come back. We hope that if you ever decide to come and disturb our nation again that Minister Peter Dutton and David Coleman have red-flagged your name in the Home Affairs Department database when you next apply for a visa.

Change at the ABC?

Back at the ABC nothing will change, it will still continue to promote far-left propaganda dressed up as news and information. Reforming, or even better defunding the ABC is another policy action the Morrison Government is too cowardly to undertake.

Tony Jones has been the host of Q&A since the program’s launch in 2009 and overseen the program’s degeneration into what Tony Abbott accurately described in 2015 as a “leftie-lynch mob”. He did not host all episodes, including the November feminist episode because he is not a woman.

He is leaving the show now to join his wife and fellow ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson overseas, He said of the episode “If we were to go back and reinvent the panel we probably would have had a panel with alternative views, who might have actually argued if someone had talked about violence being an answer -even if they were just being rhetorical”.

Q&A will be back with new host Hamish McDonald in 2020 who has previously hosted the Project on Network Ten and been a presenter on ABC Radio National. It will now air from Melbourne where McDonald lives. Given McDonald’s politics (his big interview for 2019 was with EggBoy) you can guarantee nothing will change on the Q&A program next year, neither will the leftist groupthink at the ABC.

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.