Abbott, Gillard point fingers as abuse flies

Updated

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has denied he is engendering a culture of abuse in politics and accused the Federal Government of trying to bully its critics into silence.

Proposed new media laws announced yesterday have triggered an acrimonious debate between commercial news bosses and the Government, with the Daily Telegraph's front page comparing Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to dictators like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Inside the paper Senator Conroy is depicted dressed as Stalin - the Soviet dictator blamed for the deaths of millions of Russians.

This morning Mr Abbott defended News Limited, telling Macquarie Radio that "the media changes that were rushed out yesterday appear to be a blatant attempt to bully the media, particularly to bully the News group, into going soft on its quite justifiable criticism of this Government."

Earlier Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek accused Mr Abbott of creating a culture of personal abuse and vilification, after protesters yelled insults at Prime Minister Julia Gillard during yesterday's Question Time.

Ms Gillard echoed her colleague's comments, saying Mr Abbott had been "recklessly negative".

"He wanted to create a culture where abusing parliament, heaping abuse on parliament, being disrespectful towards parliament was standard practice each and every day," she said.

"If you go out and create that culture, it's unsurprising that people will then go out and reflect and mimic that culture."

Yesterday parliament was disrupted twice by members of the public shouting at Julia Gillard, including calling her "Ju-Liar".

Speaker Anna Burke ordered them to be removed and warned that interjections from the public gallery could lead to parliament being closed down.

Ms Gillard would not say if the personal attacks were taking a toll.

"I'm not going to get into a debate about what people say about me," she said.

"At the end of the day I don't care and people can make their judgements about the people who say those things."

Ms Plibersek was heard calling out to Mr Abbott during the brouhaha, saying: "This is the culture you created".

But Mr Abbott says he cannot be held responsible.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Malcolm Turnbull speaks to ABC Local Radio (ABC News)

"People should be polite to the Prime Minister - it doesn't matter what they think of her policies or her government - they should be polite to her," he said.

"And people certainly shouldn't be disruptive of the parliament, so I deplore any disruption.

"But on the other hand I think people are certainly entitled to express an opinion and one of the things that really upsets me about this government is that it seems to be trying to bully people into silence if they are critics of this government."

Ms Plibersek says Coalition MPs had spoken at an anti-carbon tax protest that was held outside parliament before yesterday's Question Time.

"You've got Liberal Party members of Parliament out on the lawns whipping people up, you've got people out there in Liberal Party t-shirts who then come into the Parliament with the feeling that their views are sanctioned and their behaviour is sanctioned by the highest levels of the Liberal Party of Australia," she said.

"I think it's a very bad time and it's a very bad culture."

Senator Conroy described the Stalin comparison as "hysterical", saying it backed up his case that the press needed tighter regulation.

"I've said for some time that people in Sydney should read the Daily Telegraph for its sport and back pages, because the sort of commentary you see this morning just does a disservice to journalism and a disservice to the News Limited company," he said.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull laughed off the Stalin comparison.

"He [Conroy] is not in that league," he said.

"Stephen Conroy is almost beyond parody. The Daily Telegraph does not have the imagination to parody and caricature Stephen Conroy or make him look as foolish as he makes himself look foolish."

Yesterday the Government announced announced sweeping changes to media laws, including appointing a new media watchdog and enforcing a new public interest test for significant media company takeovers and mergers.

Senator Conroy has also attracted fire for giving Parliament an ultimatum of passing the legislation by the end of next week.

Greens MP Adam Bandt has questioned if the Government is serious about getting it through.

"What kind of process is it to put an arbitrary timeline on a very significant reform package?" he said.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says there are too many conditions attached to the laws.

"If these proposed media reforms were a song they'd have to be the Talking Heads - On the Road to Nowhere," he said.

Senator Conroy has left the way open for elements of the bill to be split and passed separately.

Even if it is passed, the Opposition has vowed to repeal the laws if it wins government in September.

Proposed media reforms The appointment of a Public Interest Media Advocate (PIMA) to oversee self-regulatory bodies such as the Press Council.

The PIMA, who will be appointed by the Minister, will decree whether a media complaints handling body is "authorised". Only media organisations that are members of an authorised body are able to maintain their exemptions to privacy laws.

The PIMA will also use a new public interest test to allow or prevent nationally significant media mergers.

An extension of the Government's commercial television licence fee rebate - saving free-to-air television networks an estimated $134 million this financial year.

A removal of the 75 per cent audience reach rule that prevents metropolitan television stations from owning partners in regional areas.

An update to the charters governing the ethics and behaviour of the ABC and SBS to reflect online and digital activities.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, information-and-communication, journalism, federal-parliament, australia

First posted