Tony Abbott declares 'heads should roll' at ABC over Q&A 'betrayal'

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared "heads should roll" at the ABC over Monday's night's Q&A program, with the Government ordering its own inquiry into the show.

The ABC has been roundly criticised for allowing Zaky Mallah, who had pleaded guilty to threatening to kill ASIO officials, into the show's studio audience.

The Government is setting up an inquiry into the program, which Mr Abbott says betrayed Australia.

"They compounded the mistake by re-broadcasting the program," he said. "Now, frankly, heads should roll over this."

An ABC spokesman said the organisation "will cooperate as required".

The ABC board signed off on an external review of Q&A two-and-a-half weeks ago, before the show in question aired, but has not appointed someone to undertake it yet.

Mr Abbott said he did not think that was sufficient.

"We've announced that we're not satisfied with an internal ABC inquiry because so often we've seen virtual whitewashes when that sort of thing happens," he said.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not be drawn on Mr Abbott's comments that the ABC had betrayed the nation.

Mr Abbott has previously used the term when describing Australians travelling overseas to fight with terrorists, Edward Snowden's NSA leaks and union corruption.

Mr Turnbull told the ABC's 7:30 program he would not provide a running commentary on the Prime Minister's comments, rather reiterating the broadcaster had made a serious error of judgment.

He said a departmental review was entirely appropriate.

"Mark Scott runs the ABC answerable to the board. I don't run the ABC, neither does Tony Abbott, it's a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster," Mr Turnbull said.

"So the responsibility is with the board and with the management, and they have to front up to this responsibility, and we're entitled to know exactly what happened, because it was an extraordinary sequence of events."

Mr Turnbull said he would continue to appear on the program.

The Department of Communications released a statement saying it would report on the inquiry next week.

It said the report would look into:

the context in which Mr Mallah appeared on Q&A, including his previous engagement with the ABC;

the decision-making process for Mr Mallah's appearance;

the protocols that were used in regard to physical security for the live broadcast;

the decision-making process for the subsequent re-broadcast of the Q&A episode; and

extent to which existing broadcasting codes apply to this situation.

Former ABC presenter turned federal Liberal MP Sarah Henderson has called for the head of Q&A to be sacked.

"It is my view and I say this with some experience in television, including in live television, that the executive producer Peter McEvoy must be sacked," she said.

The ABC has received at least 1,000 complaints about the program, including threatening phone calls.

Switchboard operators at the national broadcaster have described some of the calls as "abusive" and "explicit".

Topics: terrorism, federal-government, federal-parliament, australia

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