The ABC has issued a grovelling apology after one of its journalists wrongly accused two Nationals MPs of abandoning their electorates as ‘people are dying’.
The national broadcaster’s political reporter Claudia Long claimed on Insiders on Sunday that Nationals MPs had been missing in action from their communities during the decision to break apart the Coalition.
‘I think the other thing that’s probably really important to regional communities is that they have a local member who’s there when their electorate is, for example, flooding and people are dying – and that is what has happened this week,’ she told the program.
Long then specifically listed two men who had died in floodwaters in Alison Penfold’s prospective seat of Lyne on the Mid-North Coast and Pat Conaghan’s seat of Cowper, where a woman died in her car.
‘I think the important thing is when you’re in opposition it’s also still your job to be a local member and to represent your communities and to be there for them,’ she added.
Both Penfold and Conaghan had been on-the-ground helping out in their communities throughout the floods.
The ABC subsequently issued a full apology to both MPs and removed the segment from the on-demand version of the program.
‘On the Insiders episode broadcast on 25 May an ABC panellist made comments inferring two Nationals MPs, Alison Penfold and Pat Conaghan, were not in their electorates during the recent NSW floods,’ an ABC spokesperson said.
The national broadcaster’s political reporter Claudia Long (pictured) claimed on Insiders on Sunday that Nationals MPs had been missing in action from their communities during the decision to break apart the Coalition
She made the comment during a panel discussion with David Speers
‘The ABC wishes to clarify that both Penfold and Conaghan spent the week in their electorates and sincerely apologises for the error.’
Penfold accused the ABC reporter of ‘playing politics with this disaster’.
‘I have been in my electorate working to support people affected from the Hastings to the Hunter,’ Penfold told the Daily Telegraph.
‘What has occurred today is yet another example of the ABC’s loss of all objectivity and balance in its reporting.’
Conaghan also said he had been helping out and attending multiple briefings a day.
‘The ABC can say whatever they like. They wouldn’t know hardship if it slapped them in the face,’ he told the paper.
There have been five deaths and an estimated 10,000 properties damaged during the flooding across NSW.
‘We would have had hundreds of deaths if it wasn’t for the bravery, the courage of emergency service workers in the last 72 hours,’ NSW Premier CHris Minns said.
Both Penfold (pictured above, in blue) and Conaghan (pictured below, centre) had been on-the-ground helping out in their communities throughout the floods
