Julie Bishop still wants ABC to apologise to Navy for asylum seeker stories

Updated

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has rejected the ABC's statement expressing regret over the reporting of abuse allegations by asylum seekers, saying the public broadcaster should still apologise.

ABC managing director Mark Scott and director of news Kate Torney released a statement yesterday conceding that the phrasing of the ABC's stories on the asylum seeker claims "needed to be more precise".

The statement says the ABC makes no apologies for covering the story, but the two senior ABC managers say they regret if the ABC's reporting led anyone to mistakenly assume that the ABC supported the asylum seekers' claims.

But Ms Bishop is not satisfied, maintaining that only an apology would be acceptable.

Shortly before flying out to Papua New Guinea for a two-day visit focussing on investment, aid and asylum seekers, she told the ABC that the Navy deserves an apology.

"Well it is a matter for the Navy to accept a statement of regret. I thought the ABC would do the right thing and having acknowledged that their reporting was substandard at best that they would apologise," she said.

"If the ABC refuses to do that, well I think that is a reflection on the ABC. It has been a very unfortunate incident."

Ms Bishop says the story reflected "very poorly" on the Navy.

"Our personnel are working in exceedingly difficult circumstances and to have the public broadcaster cast such serious doubts on the reputation and activities of our Navy was disturbing," she said.

The ABC reported on January 22 that asylum seekers had accused Navy personnel of beating them and inflicting burns by ordering passengers on board a boat being towed back to Indonesia to hold on to parts of the engine.

ABC News obtained video footage of asylum seekers receiving medical assessments of burns that Indonesian police say were inflicted by the Australian Navy.

Indonesian police say they had to get treatment for 10 asylum seekers, seven of whom had severe burns on their hands after they were picked up in Indonesian waters on January 6.

The ABC reported that the video and the version of events given by the police seemed to back up the claims of mistreatment made by asylum seekers.

However, Scott and Torney now say "wording around the ABC's initial reporting needed to be more precise on that point".

"The ABC's initial reports on the video said that the vision appeared to support the asylum seekers' claims. That's because it was the first concrete evidence that the injuries had occurred. What the video did not do was establish how those injuries occurred," they said.

"The ABC has always presented the allegations as just that – claims worthy of further investigation."

Scott and Torney say the ABC has pursued the story throughout as it was "in the public interest and remains so".

"The ABC has not attempted to play judge and jury on this matter. We have reported the asylum seeker claims, broadcast the video showing burns and consistently sought more detail from witnesses and officials.

On Monday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott continued his criticism of the ABC's decision to air the allegations that asylum seekers were forced to hold on to hot engine pipes.

"If a very serious allegation was being made that Australian Navy personnel effectively tortured people, well you'd think any responsible news outlet, let alone the voice of Australia – the ABC – would have sought corroboration before broadcasting them," he said.

Topics: foreign-affairs, broadcasting, government-and-politics, immigration, refugees, australia, indonesia, papua-new-guinea

First posted