Government Ministers have every right to complain about ABC programs and to publicly debate the accuracy of content in its news and current affairs programs. What they do not have is a right to say what should or should not go into a program.

The ABC Act guarantees its editorial independence - 'the Corporation is not subject to direction by or on behalf of the Government of the Commonwealth'. By law and convention, neither the Government nor Parliament seek to intervene in editorial and program decisions.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer broke this guarantee by directing the ABC to add a statement from his office to a BBC-produced doco on the Bali disaster.

This example of a government minister attempting to control or censor ABC news and current affairs was revealed on Media Watch 5July by David Marr.

David Marr: Alexander Downer, meanwhile, was requesting something I don't think I've ever seen before on Australian television - a government notice to be run either at the top or bottom of the BBC documentary which would begin:

Australian Government.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

This program's description of Australian Government travel warnings about Bali prior to the tragedy there on 12 October 2002 is incorrect.

The ABC refused this amazing request:

Russell Balding: ABC management reviewed the program and satisfied themselves it was in accordance with ABC editorial policies and guidelines. As such there was no need to even consider the statement. Media Release 2july04

David Marr: And after the show went to air last week, Downer was on PM defending the government's record again.

Alexander Downer: I'm just making the point that it was wrong, and of course it's a pretty tough thing to say that we would have got intelligence warnings and done nothing about it as though we didn't care whether people died in Bali, that's a pretty terrible thing to suggest about anybody. PM ABC Radio 2july04

David Marr: And that's just the place for the Minister to make his case: in public. He was free to bag that BBC doco on radio and television across the land if he wished. It's called debate. Our concern is that he first tried a different course: the threatening letter, the intimidating complaint, the request for official clarifications - without which, he said, broadcasting this documentary would be "...conduct ... unbecoming of a national broadcaster".
As a test of the ABC's fairness and balance, the doco was supposed to be packaged at the direction of the Foreign Minister to present the government's point of view.

The Minister's complaint has been sent to the ABC's Complaints Review Executive - perhaps to follow former Senator Alston's complaints all the way up to the ABA.