Costello: ABC employee hissed at me
Former federal treasurer Peter Costello has accused the ABC of institutionalised political bias, revealing that he received an apology after a staffer hissed at him while he was in the broadcaster’s Sydney headquarters.
Writing in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, Costello said:
“I once walked into ABC headquarters at Ultimo and was confronted by an employee who began hissing at me. The station manager was so shocked he organised a written apology from management. He told me the employee would be “counselled”. I wasn’t shocked, I knew I was on foreign soil. I never worried about what occurred off air. I worried about what would be broadcast.”
Highlighting the high numbers of former ABC staff who have later become Labor politicians, the Liberal MP added: “The on-air interviewers for the ABC are generally aggressive, which is a pity. In my experience, if a subject is relaxed and lulled into dropping their guard, they are more likely to make revealing disclosures. With the ABC, the line of questioning is always predictable. It always comes from the Labor/Green perspective.”
At the time of posting, noone from the ABC was available for comment.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
What was he doing writing in the Sydney Morning Herald? Isn’t that Green Left Weekly for grown-ups?
User ID not verified.
That is one of the legacies that the Howard era has left behind – That whole ‘ABC is biased’ rubbish which has poisoned everyone’s perception of the national broadcaster. They should bring on Piers Ackerman more often just to show how unreasonable reactionary-conservative-thinking is. He was VERY entertaining when they let him loose on Q and A
User ID not verified.
Gold: “..if it did find a right-wing Phillip Adams, we would then have a Liberal in Perth and one in Sydney too.”
Cossie will be missed.
User ID not verified.
In fact, he was so not concerned about the incident that he remembered every detail and wrote about it years later in a national newspaper. Just to show how not concerned and not worried he was.
User ID not verified.
Never mind the various investigations the Howard government ran investigating said bias (none found), and the various Liberal politicians who have also come from the ABC.
User ID not verified.
Spend some time in the foyer at Ultimo and you start to realise what a special place it must be for the ABC staff who think the organisation exists for their benefit as opposed to the great unwashed who elected Peter Costello for successive terms.
User ID not verified.
One blessing of the demise of the Howard government was the likes of the ABC and The SMH would finally cease with their monotonous, tiresome Liberal bashing. Not so. The baton’s merely been handed to Turnbull and co. You’d think they were the government they way a lot of media in this country carry on. Does it merely prove that the Libs have a better sense of humour? And for the record – I don’t particularly like either of them.
User ID not verified.
Better to be hissed at, than spat on!
User ID not verified.
yeah no kidding… ever watched the 7.30 Report? I don’t think Kerry even tries to hide his bias anymore!
User ID not verified.
Costello does himself and the ABC a disservice by suggesting that the ABC employee hissed at him based on his politics.
He gives no quarter to the far more credible reason that it’s because he is in and of himself, an odious turd.
User ID not verified.
Only hissed? I’d say the employee in question displayed admirable restraint under the circumstances.
User ID not verified.
One would have thought Costello would be used to the sounds of the reptile house..?
User ID not verified.
While Labor supporters may hiss, Liberals just stab you in the back. Right Pete?
User ID not verified.
That must be why his son Seb works for 3AW as Hinch’s producer and reporter…
User ID not verified.
I’m surpised that’s all the ABC employee did..I bet Costello has had his fair share of hissing..etc thrown at him
User ID not verified.