This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Coalition has once again complained to the ABC managing director about ABC news, accusing political journalists Laura Tingle, Barrie Cassidy and Andrew Probyn of repeating “false” claims by the Labor party.

The federal communications minister, Mitch Fifield, wrote to Michelle Guthrie to make a formal complaint about the ABC’s reporting of the setting of the date for the so-called super Saturday byelection.

Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon

“Since the announcement of the decision, the Labor party has falsely claimed that the selection of the date of 28 July was a political decision of the government and the prime minister,” Fifield wrote to Guthrie in a letter seen by Guardian Australia.

“It is totally unacceptable for the national broadcaster to report this Labor lie as fact.”

In recent months there has been a sustained attack by Fifield and other Coalition members on ABC content including comedy sketches and in particular on reporting by Emma Alberici, the former host of Lateline.

This time Fifield took issue with the ABC’s assertion that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, chose the date of the byelections on political grounds.

The date chosen had long been locked in as the date of the national Labor conference, which is held every four years. Labor has been forced to defer the conference so it can focus on the byelections.



Fifield’s letter said: “On ABC’s 7pm News on Friday 25 May, the presenter stated: ‘Tempers are continuing to flare inside the Labor party over Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to set late July for a super Saturday of byelections’.



“The ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, then claimed that: ‘Labor’s further squeezed by the prime minister’s decision to time super Saturday with a long-scheduled Labor national conference’.

“These claims are false. The prime minister did not decide the date for the byelections. The date for the byelections was set by the Speaker, in accordance with the constitution, and acting on the advice of the independent AEC [Australian Electoral Commission].

“Laura Tingle made the same false claims in an ‘analysis’ piece posted on the ABC website and headed ‘By-election date decision a masterclass in blindsiding and political bastardry’.”

The Speaker of the House, Tony Smith, had said in parliament that he would choose a date for the byelections in consultation with the AEC and party leaders.



On 21 May he referred to “the usual practice of consulting with the Australian electoral commissioner on possible dates for the byelections and consulting with party leaders about my preferred date”.

Part of the date-setting complications for Smith involved Labor and the Coalition needing to come to agreement on new Section 44 regulations for MPs.

The latest missive from Fifield points the finger at several of the nation’s most respected journalists inside and outside the ABC.

Royal outrage as conservative chorus rounds on ABC | The Weekly Beast Read more

The complaint encompasses what Fairfax journalists Phil Coorey and Mark Kenny said on Cassidy’s ABC program Insiders when asked for their analysis of the date-setting decision.

The ABC has been in open war with the government since its funding was slashed by $84m last month.



The ABC confirmed it had received a complaint from the minister. “As with any complaint it will be treated according to ABC complaints processes and we will respond in due course,” a spokesman said.



Fifield demanded the ABC “acknowledges it has made an error in a news broadcast” on the 7pm news and not on the website as is usual practice.