The ABC has walked back claims that the Four Corners documentary crew that filmed a climate protest attempt outside Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill’s Perth home had no prior knowledge of it.
Despite the admission, the national broadcaster’s managing director David Anderson said the program’s story on anti-protest laws would continue being developed.
ABC managing director David Anderson.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In the days after the August 1 protest the ABC publicly defended the crew in responses to media queries. “They had no knowledge of what action was going to occur there,” spokespeople said.
But in a lengthy statement released on Friday, Anderson said a review of the crew’s conduct leading up to and during the protest found this statement was incorrect.
“The review does indicate the team did have some awareness of what was planned,” he said.
“To that extent, the element of the previous statement issued by the ABC concerning knowledge of what specific actions might occur prior to the event did not reflect all relevant information subsequently available and was incorrect.”
Anderson said the ABC would further investigate how this inaccuracy made it into its public responses.
Four Disrupt Burrup Hub activists were arrested and are facing charges over an alleged plot to lock 19-year-old activist Matilda Lane-Rose to the front gate of O’Neill’s home. The protest was an escalation of a chain of protests by the group against Woodside’s Scarborough gas project and its threat to ancient Aboriginal rock art located near the proposed project.
O’Neill told a business breakfast last week the incident had left her “shaken, fearful and distressed.”
The fallout of Four Corners’ presence has been significant for the ABC with Woodside lodging an official complaint and WA Premier Roger Cook writing to managing director David Anderson, and chair Ita Buttrose, seeking an explanation.
Anderson said based on the information provided in his review the protest was being planned prior to any contact with the Four Corners team and maintained there was no collusion with the activist group.
“The ABC’s team understood that it would be a non-violent protest action, and they maintain that they did not have prior knowledge of the address for the protest until the relevant morning,” he said.
“It is understood the protesters intended to record themselves during the planned protest and then distribute their own footage to media after the protest.
“The planned protest did not eventuate because the protesters were arrested by police who were already at the location on arrival.”
Sanderson said the team did not enter O’Neill’s private property and followed the direction of waiting police.
“The team’s interactions with the protesters were at all times as journalistic observers, not participants,” he said.
Sanderson revealed the Four Corners team was working on a story about anti-protest laws and the tactics of protest groups and would continue to develop the story in the public interest.
“It will continue to be produced and completed as per the ABC’s rigorous processes, complying with ABC editorial policies and the highest standards of editorial judgement before any publication,” he said.
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