Topics: Antisemitism Royal Commission, ABC impartiality concerns, AusPost fuel surcharge
Kieran Gilbert: Let’s go live now to Liberal frontbencher, Shadow Communications Minister, Sarah Henderson, thanks for your time. We’ve had these public hearings today at the Royal Commission into antisemitism and social cohesion. What have you made of the first hearings that we’ve had publicly, we’re going to hear from Alex Ryvchin, I believe this hour as well, Sarah.
Senator Henderson: Kieran, good afternoon. Yes the first day of public hearings is underway, and some pretty gruelling evidence already. Sheina Gutnick, who of course s the daughter of one of the victims of the Bondi massacre, gave heart-wrenching evidence. And I am pleased to see that the Royal Commission is now taking evidence from family members of those who were killed, the original position was that the Royal Commission would not do that. But this, of course, raises very, very serious concerns about what is the government going to do? Because whether it’s in the creative arts, whether it’s in the university sector or online, there are many things I think that the government can do right now without waiting for the Royal Commission to hand down its findings. I have to say, Kieran the evidence of the grandfather who spoke about his grandchild being forced, as a Jewish child, from school – being bullied, there was a substitute teacher who made a horrific Nazi gesture towards him in class – and that child was forced to leave school. So, to hear these stories where Jewish Australians don’t feel they can be safe just because they are Jewish, they can’t be proud of their Jewish heritage, which, because of the antisemitism in this country, is really frightening and appalling, and must change.
Kieran Gilbert: Yes indeed, and we hope this process helps in that regard, and the Royal Commission can help root that out, that scourge. Let’s talk about the story – you’ve written to the communications minister in relation to a story pertaining to the ABC and one of the broadcasters there. What exactly was your concern? It was about a film separate to the national broadcaster.
Senator Henderson: Fundamentally, our public broadcasters must have the complete trust of the Australian people. And one of the core obligations of the ABC is to be impartial in the way it disseminates its news, not to be conflicted. And I have raised concerns that a senior current affairs reporter, Sarah Ferguson, has been nominated as the executive producer of a documentary funded by the activist group Animals Australia. Now that appears to be a very serious conflict of interest, and it doesn’t appear as if the ABC has managed that at all well. And I have raised these concerns with the minister because, at the end of the day, there are statutory obligations under the law. And this minister, Anika Wells, continues to turn a blind eye to the ABC’s obligation to disseminate news and information impartially and accurately. So this is fairly contentious and quite scandalous association with an activist group, and the minister has got a lot of questions to answer, as does the ABC.
Kieran Gilbert: Finally, there’s been a shift. We spoke about this surcharge in relation to a fuel surcharge from Australia Post, it’s been another increase in this. You’ve expressed worry about how this flows through to small business. What advice, if any, have you got from Australia Post on this?
Senator Henderson: We’ve now heard that the fuel surcharge has gone up again to 19.5 per cent, it started off at 4.8 per cent. But this has been rolled out quite secretly. I wasn’t informed as the Shadow Minister. It doesn’t look like many account owners were informed. But this hits about 30,000 businesses, many of them small businesses. This is an increase Kieran of more than 300 per cent. Now I have written to the minister, saying, “what are you doing about this?” She doesn’t have operational control of Australia Post, but how can they gouge customers at this time? This is not reflective of the increase in fuel prices in this country, despite the situation with fuel prices skyrocketing. So, the government has got again, more answers. Why are they allowing businesses to be hit by this terrible surcharge? The minister is saying it’s got nothing to do with her. Well, surely, she has a voice. Surely, she can stand up for small business and say this is just not good enough. Many, Kieran, are struggling just to keep the doors open. And to have this massive additional cost impost on their business – including, of course, for e-commerce, businesses which rely on parcel deliveries every single day – is just frankly terrible.
Kieran Gilbert: Senator Henderson, thanks for the chat. We’ll talk to you soon.