Taking aim at Monday night’s Q&A program, federal Liberal MP Alex Hawke accused the ABC of inflaming a dispute about national security and the Muslim community by providing a platform for “extreme” views without offering a similar chance to moderate voices.
But an ABC spokesman said all panellists on the program were “more than capable” of putting their case and noted that this included the Justice Minister, Michael Keenan.
The program featured two Muslim Australians, human rights advocate Randa Abdel-Fattah and academic Anne-Azza Aly, who both argued the counter-terrorism raids were “manufactured” to help support the government agenda to toughen security laws.
“You cannot help but feel cynical about the timing of these raids, the fact that it is whipping people up into a frenzy of hysteria of war fever and the back-to-back coverage,” Ms Abdel-Fattah said. Dr Aly said the raids were a “manufactured spectacle’’.
While those views were disputed by two fellow panellists, Mr Keenan and Labor shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, critics said yesterday the ABC should have sought other voices to provide more balance.
Mr Hawke told the full meeting of Coalition MPs yesterday that he was “appalled” at the way the program had aired the views without offering a more moderate response.
“My concern about Q&A is they were not being balanced or moderate or sticking to the ABC’s charter obligations to be balanced,” he told The Australian.
“For ordinary Australians watching, they would have felt there was a majority Islamic view that the police raids were a conspiracy and that is not a mainstream Islamic view.’’
The ABC spokesman noted there were speakers from the government, Labor and the Greens to offer a range of views.
