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The Australian offers unreserved apology to PM over Glenn Milne column in today’s edition

The Australian has this morning deleted an article from its website by columnist Glenn Milne which revealed details about a story he worked on four years ago regarding now Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

In today’s lengthy article in the commentary section of The Australian, Milne tells readers that he was about to reveal information “the lawyers would not allow to be reported” at the time.  

The article – headed “PM a lost cause for warring unions” than goes on to make an allegation regarding her former personal life, which Mumbrella is not going to repeat for legal reasons.

This morning, the article was pulled down from The Australian’s website and replaced with the following message headlined “Correction”:

“THE AUSTRALIAN published today an opinion piece by Glenn Milne which includes assertions about the conduct of the Prime Minister.

“The Australian acknowledges these assertions are untrue. The Australian also acknowledges no attempt was made by anyone employed by, or associated with, The Australian to contact the Prime Minister in relation to this matter.

“The Australian unreservedly apologises to the Prime Minister and to its readers for the publication of these claims.”

However, at the time of posting three hours after the correction was issued, stablemate Andrew Bolt’s blog, attached to fellow News Limited title the Herald Sun continues to repeat some of the allegation.

Clive Mathieson, editor of The Australian, said in a statement: “We’re investigating the Prime Minister’s claim of inaccuracies in the story. As the correction points out, we regret that the PM was not given any chance to respond to the allegations. Glenn Milne remains a contributor to The Australian.”

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