CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact

After a heavy backlash from viewers, Sky News Australia says it was wrong to air an interview with convicted serial killer and current inmate at Goulburn Supermax, Ivan Milat.

The former Belanglo State Forest-based road worker was invited onto the Adam Giles Show for a studio interview and spoke with the former Northern Territory chief minister about protecting countries against “foreign ideologies” – that come with 457 visa-holders and other types of backpackers.

Within hours of the interview going to air and being shared on various Sky News social media platforms, the channel removed the interview from its repeat timeslots and online platforms.

Stopping short of an apology, news director Greg Byrnes said, “It was wrong to have Ivan Milat on Sky News Australia” and that “his views do not reflect ours”.

The decision to have Milat on the channel was widely criticised, with Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes criticising her own channel.

She said Milat, a “self-confessed serial murderer” was not the “arguably good bloke” the program labelled him as — a sentiment echoed by Sky political editor David Speers.

Milat said the decision was Sky News caving to “Leftist abuse”.

“I suppose my ideas are so irrefutable, that the only recourse is to sentence me to seven consecutive life sentences and stop putting me on TV like I’m a normal media commentator” he tweeted from phone smuggled into his cell by one of his nephews.