The Australian isn’t my favoured reading material. In the Diary section of Monday’s paper the lead item had Garry Bailey criticising the ABC’s political editor Chris Uhlmann on his interviewing style.
Gazza’s comments were in a draft ABC board report on, firstly, the corporation’s coverage of the backpacker tax debate last August, and then Uhlmann’s end of year interview with Malcolm Turnbull. On the first Gazza opinioned that the ABC coverage of this issue “fell short” because it concentrated on political manoeuvrings and failed to answer in-depth questions on the impact of the tax on regional Australia.
On the Turnbull interview Diary said the report made a “big deal” of this question asked by Uhlmann of Turnbull: “You’re planting the flag of victory on a molehill half as high as the one you started on. How is that a victory?” Bailey was not a fan of the molehill question, as he made clear. “Chris Uhlmann should be challenged in his inquisitions, and his question, leavened with comment, has all the hallmarks of early preparation – as it should. The problem was the PM looked puzzled at what it actually meant. It did seem to give the PM the breather to charge ahead, with Uhlmann, not the PM, appearing wrong-footed.”
I wonder if Uhlmann is aware that Gazza was the … presenter of the ABC’s Drive in Launceston? Or that he is the voice for cycling on our streets? In which case he’d probably declare: “On your bike Gazza.”
The Hag
