15 August 2017
Per Capita Senior Fellow David Hetherington joins Research Director at McCrindle Eliane Miles, journalist and commentator Cate McGregor and in Melbourne, ABC Health Report presenter Norman Swan, and host Ellen Fanning to discuss the news issues of the day.
On questions over Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship, David says: “The government is trying to distract away from the main game which is that, as the Constitution current stands, Barnaby Joyce is ineligible to sit in Parliament….Amusingly, a month ago the major parties had a very different line on this issue. When the two Greens Senators came forward and said we think we’re ineligible, there was a lot of sniggering, saying grown up political parties do their homework.”
On the Government’s media reform legislation and their deal with One Nation to get it through the Senate, David says, “If what Pauline Hanson is after is a fair and balanced media sector, increasing concentration is not the way to get there. The more voices you have the better. The notion that the government should legislate competitive neutrality, i.e. That a public broadcaster does not impinge upon the commercial welfare of others, is a nonsense… I think it’s ridiculous, to be honest.”
