Dick Smith is launching an advertising campaign against ABC TV news and current affairs, which he says has warped the debate he has tried to spur over Australian population growth.
He claims both Labor and Liberal politicians have told him they agree that Australia needs to cut its immigration intake to avoid future social and environmental fracturing, but they say they cannot say so publicly because the ABC will label them racist.
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Dick Smith's campaign to slash immigration
"Endless growth and endless greed will mean more and more poorer people," the entrepreneur says as he launches an ad campaign to curb population growth. Vision courtesy Nine Network.
"This is warping our democratic process, it is basically treasonous," the businessman and publisher told Fairfax Media.
He claims ABC television's news and current affairs has deliberately ignored his campaign over the issue. In recent weeks Mr Smith has spent $1 million in advertising promoting his campaign to have Australia adopt a policy that would slash immigration numbers to around 70,000 - around the levels of the Hawke and Keating era - in order to see population level off at around 30,000,000.
A spokesman for the ABC said, "The claims by Mr Smith concerning ABC News are untrue and not supported by any evidence. The ABC has no position on the issue of population growth, has no ban on reporting on this subject, and has issued no decrees or any other type of instruction to staff about reporting on this issue.
"The ABC has frequently reported on Mr Smith's views, including in long-form interviews, news stories and a documentary."
The spokesman cited two radio reports and a long-form TV interview.
As part of his efforts to draw attention to what he views as the dangers of overpopulation, Mr Smith has also announced he will donate $2 million to marginal seat campaigns in the next election. Those campaigns must demonstrate that they have a policy to limit Australia's long-term population growth.
So far, he says, the only candidates likely to qualify for his funding are from One Nation.
But he says he expects Labor and Liberal will develop population policies - which he says are overwhelmingly popular.
"If they don't, I'll keep getting One Nation candidates elected," he said.
Mr Smith rejects any suggestion the campaign is racist, pointing out that he supports increasing Australia's refugee intake, and would not vote for One Nation himself because he disagrees with policies that reject climate science and would ban Muslim immigration.
He said he was running the campaign to "take away the ABC's credibility" on the issue, and that he expected to spend money from donations on print media advertising that alleged bias on ABC TV.
Quoting the author Mark O'Connor, who wrote a book about Australia's population and accused the ABC of refusing to cover the issue, Mr Smith asked if there was "institutional bias" or a "few well-placed bigots" preventing coverage of the potential impact of high-growth population policy.
Asked to clarify this he said, "I'm not the expert, I'm just a car radio installer." Mr O'Connor did not respond to a call for comment.
Mr Smith said he was opposed not only to high population growth policies, but also those which encouraged unchecked economic growth and attendant unchecked demands on energy and resources.
He is also calling for an increase in taxes on Australia's wealthiest 1 per cent.
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