Corrections & Clarifications

News: On 7 September, 2017 the 7pm News in Queensland broadcast a story about the arrest of Queensland Police Superintendent Michelle Stenner on charges of misconduct and perjury. During that story some images of former Queensland Police Detective Inspector Karyn Murphy were also shown. We wish to clarify that Ms Murphy has not been accused of any wrongdoing and is not associated with the charges against Ms Stenner. We apologise to Ms Murphy for any confusion which the images may have caused.

News Breakfast: On 21 August ABC News Breakfast featured an interview with Kate van Doore. During the interview images of children in an orphanage were shown. The images were unrelated to the interview and should not have been used in the broadcast. The ABC wishes to clarify that there is no suggestion that any of the concerns Ms van Doore was expressing related to the children or the orphanage shown in the footage.   

News: On 24 August 2017, ABC News broadcast images of a person hunting waterfowl with a scoped rifle. This misrepresented reputable hunters, who generally use relatively short range shotguns firing pellets. The image has been removed.

ABC News: On 31 August 2017, ABC News published a story reporting an interview with former Liberal prime minister John Howard on the same-sex marriage survey.  The report stated that Mr Howard said the Government needed to consider protections outside of the ceremony – such as whether religious schools would be allowed to ban enrolments of children of married same-sex couples.  This was incorrect and has been removed from the story.

News: A story broadcast on the 7pm News and ABC Online on 30 September 2017 quoted a couple who had previously been residents in a Lendlease village as saying their general service fee had been increased by Lendlease from $300 a month to $500 a month. That was incorrect. The couple interviewed by the ABC actually said their fees had increased from $300 a quarter to $500 a quarter.

The Drum: On The Drum on 21 August there was a discussion of same-sex marriage, which is opposed by the Catholic Church. During that discussion a guest made a comment to the effect that Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, had ignored or covered up allegations of serious child abuse. The ABC wishes to clarify that that is not correct. There is no evidence and has been no finding that Archbishop Hart has ignored or covered up child abuse. The ABC apologises to Archbishop Hart for any harm the comments may have caused.

ABC News: On 8 August ABC News reported that Jarryd Hayne visited the property of John Ibrahim after a Police raid and that he is a celebrity friend of Mr Ibrahim’s. This was incorrect. The ABC misidentified a visitor to John Ibrahim’s property. The ABC accepts that Jarryd Hayne is not an associate of Mr Ibrahim’s and was in Queensland at the time. The ABC apologises for the error.

7.30 and News Digital: On 18 July, ABC News Digital reported that the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane did not respond to requests for comment; this story was corrected and their efforts to address domestic violence are reported in a further article: Australian church leaders call for urgent response to domestic violence. On 19 July, 7.30 broadcast a story on the treatment of women victims of domestic violence by some Christian Churches. The introduction to this story has been edited to remove a reference to research on the prevalence of domestic violence among evangelical Christian men, which was presented out of context. On 22 July, News Digital published an article on the response of Churches to these allegations. A quotation of a spokesman for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland was removed. Its use in the story mistakenly gave the impression that the spokesperson questioned that ABC News had found some churches are failing to sufficiently address domestic violence

7.30: On 17 July 2017, 7.30 reported that a medical doctor had sexually abused more than 100 patients after Australia's health regulator, AHPRA (the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency),  had been alerted to his behaviour but had failed to act.  The program should have made it clear that these were allegations of abuse, which had not been tested in court because the alleged offender had taken his life before facing trial.

News 24: On May 27th the ABC News Channel covered a Referendum 50th Anniversary event live from Melbourne.  The title of the news strap at the bottom of the screen erroneously said “Indigenous Citizenship 50th Anniversary”.  This was incorrect as the referendum proposed “to include Aboriginal people in the census” and “to allow the Commonwealth government to make laws for Aboriginal people”.

ABC News: On April 21 News Digital posted an article referring to "the decision by the Turnbull Government to cut penalty rates for Sunday workers". This was incorrect as the decision to cut rates was made by the Fair Work Commission.

RN Breakfast: During this interview, it was stated that the former Howard government had banned all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. RN Breakfast acknowledges the 1996 National Firearms Agreement banned military style automatic and semi-automatic firearms, while limiting the availability of non-military style semi-automatic rifles and shotguns to primary producers, professional vermin exterminators and a limited class of clay target firearm users.

7pm News: On May 15, 2017, ABC 7pm News (Sydney) broadcast a story concerning allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement relating to the NSW State Branch of the RSL. An image of the Merrylands RSL was used as part of that story. The ABC confirms that there have not been any such allegations levelled against the Merrylands RSL Club or its directors.

7pm News: On April 7 2017, in an ABC News Special on the US missile strikes on Syria, the program introduction stated the strikes were in retaliation to a chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime. The report should have made it clear the chemical weapons attack was widely attributed to the Assad regime based on the weight of evidence, but this was disputed by the regime itself.

7pm News: On March 9 2017, ABC News broadcast a story concerning protests from Victorian taxi drivers over reform plans. The report stated that taxi licences had been bought from the State Government for up to $500,000. This is incorrect. While some taxi licence holders have paid up to $500,000 for their taxi licences that payment was not made to the State Government.

7.30: On 20 March 2017, 7.30 broadcast a story concerning alleged poor working conditions at Aerocare. A worker interviewed for the story, George Orsaris has informed 7.30, and Aerocare has confirmed that Mr Orsaris had not had a shift with the company for nine months prior to his interview for this program and had done less than two months work for the company. He maintains he was, none the less, still on the books and showed 7.30 a current Aerocare security card. The company maintains, therefore, that it was unreasonable to suggest he was risking his job. 7.30 also advises it has confirmed that a worker shown sleeping worker in a luggage container was not an employee of Aerocare.

The Drum: On 28 March 2017, during a panel discussion on same-sex marriage activism questioning the connections between companies supporting same-sex marriage and organizations opposing it, the program included graphics of three ‘tweets’ from Michael Barnett. These questioned the decision by companies and a university, to employ people who hold anti-LGBTI views. The Drum incorrectly drew a connection between the marriage equality debate, and Mr Barnett’s reference to corporate commitments to Pride and Diversity – a national employer support program which campaigns for LGBTI inclusion.

News Breakfast: on 7 March ABC News Breakfast stated that Senator Michaelia Cash missed a deadline to declare the purchase of a property and the mortgage by several months. This is incorrect. An agreement to purchase the property occurred in November 2016, settlement on December 9 and the property was added to Senator Cash’s register of interests on January 21, 2017. The mortgage was added to Senator Cash’s register of interest in February. Senate rules require that any alteration of a Senator’s interest must be registered within 35 days of that alteration occurring.

The Drum: On 10 March, during a discussion of a ‘fake doctor’ who practised in NSW, a program guest stated that the Australian Medical Association (AMA) controls the registration of doctors. This was wrong. The registration process for doctors is overseen by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA)’. 

ABC News: On 6 February, ABC Radio news bulletins incorrectly stated that two thirds of claims of abuse made to the Royal Commission related to the Catholic Church. In fact, in a statement made by Gail Furness SC, Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission:“60% of survivors attending a private session reported abuse in [faith-based] institutions. Of those survivors, nearly two thirds reported abuse in Catholic institutions”.

News 24:  On 1 March on two occasions News 24 reported that the F-35's future 'has been under a cloud since US President Donald Trump cancelled his country's order for the multi-million dollar fighter jet'. This was incorrect. As previously reported Mr Trump didn't cancel orders for the aircraft but rather claimed credit for negotiating a price cut.

ABC News: On 16 November 2016, ABC News broadcast and published stories reporting allegations of paedophilia against Dr John Flynn committed by him in Australia and overseas. The reports included a reference to estimates of the number of boys involved and their origin. Those estimates cannot be corroborated and have been removed from the online story, and a line has been added saying that he denied the allegations.

7 pm News: On 5 December 2016, ABC News broadcast a finance report which stated that companies on average pay 25% in Company Tax, while they are ‘supposed’ to pay 30% as required by law. The broadcast did not make sufficiently clear that the figure was calculated on the basis of gross operating profits and did not include legitimate deductions which reduce the amount due under the Company Tax

ABC News 24: On 6 October 2016, News 24 broadcast a story about a Federal Court consumer affairs penalty imposed and findings made against Hocking Stuart Richmond. Footage was used of a different Hocking Stuart firm and its employees. The ABC wishes to clarify that the firm and its employees shown in the footage were not the subject of that Federal Court matter. We apologise to those shown in the footage

ABC News: On 10 January 2016 ABC News published an online article and broadcast TV News stories reporting that Isaac Frost was sanctioned by the Tennis Integrity Unit after being found guilty of a tennis corruption offences during an ITF Futures tournament in Toowoomba in 2013. It is now understood by the ABC that Isaac Frost appealed against the TIU finding, and that the appeal was upheld.  No mention of the fact of the appeal and its outcome was included in the Tennis Integrity Unit’s release to the media about this matter. There is no suggestion that Frost has been involved in match-fixing. The article has been amended