Karl Stefanovic has furiously hit out at the ABC, telling the national broadcaster “our money shouldn’t be telling us who to vote for” after host Patricia Karvelas suggested One Nation was an illegitimate political party.
Karl Stefanovic has criticised the ABC for not reporting on the Farrer by-election “fairly” after host Patricia Karvelas suggested One Nation was “illegitimate”.
The Today host accused the national broadcaster of telling voters “who to vote for” in a preview clip for the latest episode of his podcast The Karl Stefanovic Show.
Commenting on the ABC’s election night coverage, Stefanovic said the hosts “were pretty colourful in their wording”.
Ms Karvelas said: “I used the term earlier on in the broadcast ‘the permission structure’ — if they are able to win their first lower house seat, that begins the process of legitimising them.
Karl Stefanovic has criticised the ABC for not reporting on the Farrer by-election “fairly”. Picture: YouTube
“In other electorates where they may run, voters thinking well it’s happened before, it’s normal now, you start normalising something.”
Stefanovic fumed of the commentary: “I think this shows why Aussies are fed up. This was the ABC, the national broadcaster, not an opinion piece, they should be reporting on the outcome fairly.
“But, instead they’ve injected their own left-leaning views into it.
“Should be a subscription service so those who want to pay for it can – and the rest of us can stop funding something we don’t watch, listen or care about,” one person commented.
“Spot on Karl. The main reason why I have turned OFF the ABC. They are completely leftist in their bias,” another added.
Despite repeating the suggestion that One Nation’s win in Farrer would “legitimise” the party, Ms Karvelas claimed she had been “misquoted”.
On Tuesday’s Afternoon Briefing, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce kicked off the interview by teasing the ABC about the jibe.
“I didn’t know we were illegitimate beforehand,” the One Nation MP remarked.
“You’re referring to comments I made on Saturday night, where I was misquoted by your people,” she said.
ABC host Patricia Karvelas branded One Nation “illegitimate” during election night coverage before later claiming she had been “misquoted”. Picture: ABC
“No, I watched it,” Mr Joyce said.
But the ABC host claimed: “You clipped out the other bit where I said Coalition MPs believe that this legitimises you.”
On Saturday, Ms Karvelas was discussing the Coalition’s decision to preference One Nation over independent Michelle Milthorpe with co-host David Speers.
“It was actually people like Ron Boswell who was a very well known National who campaigned to put One Nation last, so that’s the history, that you’ve got the most conservative people who believed it was a big and dangerous mistake to legitimise One Nation and to embolden One Nation,” Ms Karvelas said.
“Here we’ve had (Opposition Leader) Angus Taylor make a deliberate decision to preference One Nation above the independent, which tonight could really be one of the reasons they get across the line.”
The ABC host went on to repeat the suggestion One Nation’s success in Farrer would “legitimise” them.
“We’ll see how the votes come through but that will be key, and that will legitimise them,” she said.