The Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance has condemned One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's 'bitter, personal and unprofessional' attack on Guardian Australia senior correspondent Sarah Martin, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called on journalists to defend public broadcasters SBS and the ABC.
Following her landmark address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Hanson called Martin 'trashy' for questioning the employment of her daughter, Lee Hanson, by a New South Wales One Nation senator, despite living and working in Tasmania. Martin had reported in February that Lee Hanson was spearheading the party's expansion in Tasmania while receiving a taxpayer-funded salary of approximately $150,000 per year for her work with the NSW senator.
Hanson stated that Martin would be banned from future events due to critical coverage, accusing her of harboring an 'obsession' with Hanson herself and billionaire patron Gina Rinehart. She had previously indicated she would ban the ABC and Guardian from attending her events.
The Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance issued a statement saying, 'Hanson's actions stand in stark contrast with her remarks that she welcomes the scrutiny of the media on her party, its people and its politics.' The union described Martin as 'an experienced and professional journalist who was attending her place of work to do her job of holding the powerful to account.' It added, 'Journalists must be provided with safe workplaces, free from abuse, so we can uphold the public's right to know.'
The union called for journalists to stand with colleagues reporting in the public interest when attacked or targeted by politicians. Prime Minister Albanese remarked that parties seeking to exclude media organizations or cut public broadcasting were misguided. 'I would hope that all media organizations come out and oppose that, because they should, because they're vital roles in our democracy,' he said.
The federal parliamentary press gallery committee president, Jane Norman, issued a statement on behalf of journalists working in Parliament House. 'The ability to scrutinize and question politicians is one of the fundamental functions of our work as journalists,' it said. 'Against this backdrop, the gallery strongly objects to threats made by One Nation – or by any political party – to ban certain journalists and organizations from doing their jobs as important observers and interpreters of federal politics. Journalists have an essential role to play in a free and open democracy, and such restrictions will weaken the country's political system.'
During her speech, Hanson called for SBS to be shut down and for the ABC to transition to a subscription model for metropolitan Australia, with only some regional services receiving taxpayer funding. RMIT University media academic Alexandra Wake said the plan would 'weaken one of the last widely trusted pillars of the Australian media system and one that supports our much-valued democracy. At a time of rising misinformation and declining trust in media globally, reducing support for the country's most reliable news providers would not only undermine informed citizenship but erode social cohesion and democratic resilience.'
An SBS spokesperson declined to comment on One Nation's plans, consistent with its obligations around impartiality. The ABC told Guardian Australia that the principle of universal access was increasingly important 'in a world where the majority of content is only available behind a paywall.' A spokesperson said, 'Australians should be able to continue to rely on the ABC as the most trusted source of news and information. Australian music and other creative industries would also be substantially negatively impacted without a freely available ABC and its numerous varied services.'
