An incorrect claim by an ABC political reporter that Aboriginal Australians are the subject of an ‘ongoing genocide’ has been allowed to go unchallenged on the influential Insiders program.
And that’s prompted the Opposition’s shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to demand the broadcaster ‘rein their activist reporters in’.
Federal political reporter Dana Morse told ABC TV’s Insiders on Sunday that those protesting Australia Day being held on January 26 ‘are protesting about the invasion, they are protesting about the genocide of Aboriginal people that is ongoing today’.
The ABC later tweeted out Ms Morse’s statements, but edited out her false genocide claims.
Instead, the clip they posted showed her hitting out at the federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s strategy regarding The Voice referendum debate, accusing him of ‘sowing division and doubt’.
‘It’s really entirely in keeping with someone of Peter Dutton’s political tenure over the years, this has been the game he’s played over a number of years, particularly when it involves minority groups and people of colour’.
Dana Morse (above, second right) on Insiders on Sunday said that ‘Peter Dutton’s political tenure over the years, this has been the game he’s played over a number of years, particularly when it involves minority groups and people of colour’
The fact her commentary aired unchallenged on Sunday’s show was slammed by both Senator Price and ‘No’ campaign leader Warren Mundine, who said the national broadcaster was airing ‘false information’.
Mr Mundine added that claims there is an ongoing Aboriginal genocide are ‘rubbish’.
The comments follow an apology by the ABC in February after an ABC reporter claimed a meeting in Alice Springs to address crime and violence had been a ‘disgusting show of white supremacy’.
Federal political reporter Dana Morse told ABC TV’s Insiders on Sunday that the genocide of Aboriginal Australians is ‘ongoing’
Dana Morse has tweeted about racism previously and her Twitter biography says she is from the Plangermaireena clan of the Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal people)
‘There is no genocide being perpetrated today, and comments saying there is have no place on public airwaves’, Nampijinpa Price told The Australian.
‘I’ve called on the ABC previously to control their staff and ensure balanced and impartial voice commentary, but once again an ABC so-called reporter has been allowed to spew divisive and false information without being pulled up by the host,’ Ms Price said.
‘The No campaign has tried to work with the ABC to ensure balance. I personally have done six ABC appearances on TV and radio in less than a week, but their bias in this referendum is still on full display and the ABC bosses must do more to rein in their activist employees.’
No campaign leader Warren Mundine added that the last 56 years since the 1967 referendum had led to vast improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people.
‘There’s no genocide happening today. And if she’s got evidence of that, then let her… point it out… They should call her in, because it’s just a whole pack of lies and nonsense,’ he said.
Ms Morse, whose Twitter biography says she is from the Plangermaireena clan of the Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal people) has previously tweeted about race issues.
She appeared on Australian Story on Monday night, speaking about The Voice and the 1967 referendum, which she said ‘meant that mob were counted in the census by government and that the federal government could make laws about us. It was really bringing, you know, the human rights of Aboriginal people up to an absolute minimum standard’.
‘The Uluru statement from the Heart calls for three things: Voice, Treaty and Truth. So the Voice to Parliament is proposed to be an advisory body. It’s about being able to speak to the people that make the laws and policies that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives,’ Ms Morse said on Australian Story.
Last week, the reporter tweeted about Senator Lidia Thorpe’s recent allegations about sexual harassment by a since-resigned Liberal Party Senator, David Van, in Federal Parliament.
Dana Morse (red suit) was a guest on Insiders and one of the ABC’s federal political reporters
Senator Price (above) described the remarks as false and criticised the ABC for airing them, saying ‘there is no genocide being perpetrated today, and comments saying there is have no place on public airwaves’
‘You can’t ignore the difference between how a black and a white woman were treated when making allegations about sexual assault/harassment in the parliament,’ Ms Morse tweeted.
‘Yet another example of the systemic racism @SenatorThorpe has shone a light on time and again.’
Two years ago, she tweeted about her own heritage and Tasmania’s 19th century policy of trying to wipe out the state’s Indigenous population.
‘I’ve grown up having my existence and identity constantly questioned because of the willful ignorance about Tasmania’s Aboriginal history,’ she tweeted.
‘The genocide of Tasmanian Aboriginal people was one of the worst in our shameful coloniser past. #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe.’
That tweet pointed to a 2021 story about Tasmania’s Aboriginal community leaders decrying the lack of ‘a memorial recognising the state’s bloody history, despite the announcement this week of a planned multimillion-dollar Holocaust education centre for Hobart’.
Local Indigenous leader Nala Mansell said at the time: ‘There are still no monuments acknowledging the Aboriginal resistance fighters of those who lost their lives, and there are certainly no museums to educate people on the history and treatment of Aboriginal people and that’s a disgrace.
‘While Aboriginal history is completely ignored, we see state and federal governments offering millions of dollars for other groups who have also been victimised.’
Daily Mail Australia has sought a response from the ABC about the comments on Insiders.
In February, the ABC was forced to apologise for an ‘incomplete’ report of an Alice Springs community meeting which included interviews with attendees who claimed the meeting was a ‘disgusting show of white supremacy’.
The report by Indigenous Affairs reporter Carly Williams and broadcast on Radio National’s AM program was deemed to be ‘one-sided’.
After viewers slammed the ABC for failing to properly cover the gathering, the broadcaster released a partial apology, saying ‘we acknowledge that one report on AM was incomplete, and did not adequately cover the full context of the meeting or the range of perspectives expressed at it’.
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