In a letter published today, the ABC it reveals it sought to avoid the disclosure of a $55,000 bonus to an employee because it would “result in an unreasonable invasion of privacy for the individual, resulting in undue public attention and speculation”, yet hypocritically it is willing to scandalise numerous public figures in the name of “investigative journalism.”    

At the last Senate Estimates, the ABC astoundingly claimed a public interest immunity from even telling the public the category of employment to which the bonus was paid.

“Having been unable to justify their public interest immunity claim, the ABC has now been flushed out and we know finally now that his exorbitant bonus was paid to a TV presenter. The ABC has been willing to pursue people such as Cardinal George Pell, former Attorney-General Christian Porter and former senator Cory Bernardi claiming that this was done in the public interest yet somehow they claim that the public is not entitled to know why and to whom a $55,000 bonus payment was made with taxpayers’ money,” said Senator Abetz.

“This glaring double standard has been fully exposed. The ABC’s membership in Australia’s Right to Know Coalition must surely be questioned. On top of all this, the Auditor-General is considering the issue of ABC payments for a journalist’s private tweet, which has cost the ABC tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars. The ABC has a glaring cultural issue which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

Senator Abetz said he would be pursuing this matter further at the coming Senate Estimates next month.