ABC star Leigh Sales instructs staff to maintain the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a ‘one-page document’ – as she issues tactics to crush arguments about the extended 26-page version

ABC bosses have sent a step-by-step guide to staff written by veteran journalist Leigh Sales on how to quash suggestions the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not a ‘one-page document’.

The former 7.30 host, who is now the face of Australian Story, has shared her thoughts on the contentious issue in an email sent to ABC staff on Thursday by the public broadcaster’s editorial policy chief Mark Maley.

Sales said a recent ­example of misinformation was ‘the claim that the Uluru statement is a 26-page document’ – a claim that has led to a public spat this week between Sky News hosts Peta Credlin and Chris Kenny.

‘That is inaccurate’, Leigh told colleagues, according to The Australian.

‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a one-page document.’

The Uluru Statement of the Heart is the document underpinning the Voice to Parliament referendum 

Sales goes on to offer a step-by-step approach to refuting the 26-pages claim, telling staff the ‘source of this misinformation is an FOI search relating to the Uluru statement which produced 25 pages of minutes from meetings held with Indigenous communities’.

‘These were part of a consultation process that helped to inform the final – one-page – Uluru statement,’ Sales wrote.

‘Those pages do not form part of the final Uluru statement.’

Sales’ intervention comes just days after a bitter disagreement about the actual length of the document underpinning the Voice to Parliament referendum set to be held later this year, has played out across the media.

The vote will decide whether First Nations’ People will be enshrined in the Constitution and if a body will established to inform Parliament on issues facing Indigenous Australians.

Sky News host Peta Credlin has been at war with fellow Sky presenter Chris Kenny over her claim that the Uluru Statement is 26 pages long rather than a single page containing 439 words. 

Sales encouraged ABC staff to refute claims of ‘bias’ and outlined ways they could deal with critics

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said the this proposal fits on one A4 page. He held up a piece of paper, with the Uluru Statement, in parliament

Credlin was this week furious that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, slapped a ‘false information’ tag on her 26-pages claim, reportedly unearthed in a Freedom of Information request. 

Kenny dubbed her claim ‘nonsense’. 

The ABC’s own Media Watch host Paul Barry later weighed in, concluding that Meta may have overstepped the mark and a ‘”disputed” label would be more appropriate’ – putting him at odds with his colleague Sales. 

‘The Uluru statement is expressed on one page, but there are many more pages of notes and background – where matters like a treaty and reparations are raised,’ Barry said on Media Watch.

‘And given that there may be some point in what Credlin is saying, we think a disputed label would be more appropriate.’

Sales acknowledged it could be ‘intimidating’ to defend the view that the Uluru statement is just one page.

But she outlined tactics to deal with the opposing claim.

‘Ms X, respectfully, I’ll correct your claim that the Uluru statement is a 26-page document,’ Sales wrote. 

‘It is a one-page document, the other 25 pages were minutes collected during a consultation phase that do not form part of the final document.’

Sales said ABC staff should encourage interviewees to then ‘move on … to your next question’ and to hit back if accused of ‘bias’.  

‘The ABC is far from the only organisation to call out the spread of this misinformation,’ she wrote. 

An ABC spokeswoman told The Australian: ‘The email to staff is self-explanatory and we have nothing further to add.’