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AMANDA AND THE ABC

Lefty blogger William Burroughs’ Baboon enjoyed the ABC’s AM program yesterday morning, but was later disturbed to note that his favourite moments from the show were cut from the online transcript:

The management of your ABC has snipped out the bit wherein Mandy loses her bottle. Wherein Mandy accuses the ABC of having an agenda for pursuing this story. Wherein Mandy huffs and puffs as though AM is the culprit rather than her own incompetent department.

This is slightly important. Minister makes royal fool of herself. Minister puts her own tattered reputation above the duties of her office. Then ABC government stacked board burns the evidence.

Several readers have alternative theories about why the broadcast may have been edited. More on this later, hopefully.

Posted by Tim B. on 05/12/2005 at 12:46 PM
  1. Lefty blogger William Burroughs’ Baboon

    I’m sorry, but…who?

    Posted by PW on 2005 05 12 at 04:24 PM • permalink

  2. I think he cut his teeth as a troll here.

    Posted by Henry boy on 2005 05 12 at 05:43 PM • permalink

  3. I believe the immigration department does have something to answer for in this case.  It is without doubt a monumental stuff up, and this woman has been very badly treated (although, of course nothing like what Tony Eastley snidely alluded). This   article in today’s Australian sums up the latest developments.
    Remember this woman has spent four years away from her children and family. I am not sure how much is enough to compensate for that, no matter how simple minded this woman appears. 
    As for these wally’s baying for Vanstone’s blood on this matter, she wasn’t even the Immigration Minister when this happened. 

    Posted by entropy on 2005 05 12 at 06:37 PM • permalink

  4. Well, that would explain why I don’t recognize him. Who can remember everyone in that cast of thousands?

    Posted by PW on 2005 05 12 at 06:58 PM • permalink

  5. I hate to agree with you lot, but I would say the decision to cut the good bit was probably to save Eastley more than Mandy.  If Mandy had the power to censor the media everytime she made a dill of herself, there’d be an awful lot of dead air.

    Posted by flute on 2005 05 12 at 08:14 PM • permalink

  6. wbb, to his credit, on being told the full story has indicated he will be withdrawing the post.

    Posted by jpaulg on 2005 05 12 at 08:17 PM • permalink

  7. You’ve misread me, jpaulg.

    Posted by wbb on 2005 05 12 at 08:35 PM • permalink

  8. From the comments on your blog

    “And thanks Amortiser. Apparently Eastley was seriously accusing DIMIA of attempted murder by SUV defenestration. I wish I had realised that earlier. I apologise and will remove this post as soon as I can work out how the software works.”

    How have I misunderstood you?

    Posted by jpaulg on 2005 05 12 at 08:51 PM • permalink

  9. Well, clearly you have. Just as amortiser cannot tell the difference between a remark born of exasparation, you haven’t understood the silliest of sarcasms.

    When the ABC gets its act together and we are allowed to hear this interview again you will find that although Vanstone does at least understand sarcasm she is smart enough to react with pompous self-righteousness in order to deflect blame from herself and her callous smearing of Fr Michael Duffin and back onto the interviewer and the ABC.

    She is fearless in her own self-defense. Shame she cannot show the same interest when it comes to those she is charged with serving.

    Posted by wbb on 2005 05 12 at 09:01 PM • permalink

  10. Sorry I thought you were being sensible and realistic. My mistake.

    I have no truck with you about the deportation being wrong. Despite the difficulties of dealing with genuinely crazy people, who by definiation have a very poor grasp on reality, cases such as Rau and this one should never have happened.

    I would have thought that suggesting that government officials dumped people out of moving cars, regardless of whether it was a jest or not, without evidence was wrong and should not be defended.

    At the very least all this handwringing over editing at the ABC does is take the attention off an issue that is good for the left (how the mentally ill are handled in immigration detention) to an issue that is debatable (bias and impropriety at the ABC)

    Posted by jpaulg on 2005 05 12 at 09:21 PM • permalink

  11. Good on you, jpaulg.

    And maybe the beatup over the transcript is keeping the issue alive!

    Posted by wbb on 2005 05 12 at 09:30 PM • permalink

  12. wbb,

    If you look at the commentry on the various blogs about the ABC over this issue it ranges from, “it’s a government conspiracy to protect Mandy” to “it’s an ABC conspiracy to protect themselves”, and the important issue for the left is not being discussed.

    I think that the chucking people out of cars line will simply end up playing to the respective peanut galleries. I just think that for the left there are better issues arising from the interview to devote their energy to than the car comment.

    Posted by jpaulg on 2005 05 12 at 09:43 PM • permalink

  13. The perils of live broadcasting?
    According to today’s Age newspaper Tony Eastley now claims ”(The comment) wasn’t meant in real terms - that an immigration official had pushed a woman out of a speeding car… I wasn’t casting aspersions on any immigration officials or the department.”

    It was apparently a mere “figure of speech”. And of course Eastley never said anything about a “speeding” car or “pushing” a woman out in his original remark.  No one says he did. But what is the purpose of a figure of speech? And what was he doing then with the comment?

    I was listening and would confirm that he acheived exactly what he intended:  to cast aspersions at immigration officials, the department - and Vanstone.

    To deny it is to rewrite history just like they did in the big league of the Left: the commissar vanishes…

    Reminds me of an old bush ballad:

    And when at last the journo spoke, and said, ‘Twas all in fun -
    ‘Twas just a little harmless joke, a trifle overdone.’
    ‘A joke!’ she cried. ‘By George, that’s fine, a lively sort of lark;
    I’d like to catch that murderous swine some night in Ironbark.’

    [apologies to Banjo Paterson]

    Posted by tertius on 2005 05 12 at 10:29 PM • permalink

  14. wbb said:
      Well, clearly you have. Just as amortiser cannot tell the difference between a remark born of exasparation, you haven’t understood the silliest of sarcasms.”

    A remark born of exasperation eh?

    What was Eastley exasperated about? Vanstone failing to say that although officials had confirmed that Alvarez was an Australian citizen, the Minister ordered her deportation anyway because she looked “foreign”? That in fact Immigration officials had been ordered by the government to treat her in such a way that she would fear ever returning again.

    He couldn’t get what he was after from Vanstone so he had to invent such a scenario.
    If you read the transcript, Vanstone has answered his questions in relation to what the Immigration officials did.
      Is it now to be standard procedure that Immigration maintain a file on the whereabouts af everyone deported from this country after deportation?

      Eastley let his bias hang out for all to see however unwittingly. And thats why it was expunged from the record.

      His clarification was nothing of the sort. He denied that his remark was any suggestion that Immigration officials mistreated Alvarez.

      Read what he said and be the judge.

    Posted by amortiser on 2005 05 13 at 12:55 AM • permalink

  15. Amazing, they finally get something legit to whine about and they go and fuck it up by pissing in the water.

    Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 05 13 at 01:07 AM • permalink

  16. I love the way Aging Gamer says “they” have cause for complaint. Why is this episode not a cause of concern for him too? This is not a left/right issue.

    Vanstone cleverly framed it as such in the interview by attacking the ABC, but there’s no need to fall for her subterfuge.

    Posted by wbb on 2005 05 13 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  17. Hilarious isn’t it AG?  Because of Eastley’s blunder this lot have been drawn into defending the whole immigration cock up.

    It’s not that hard.  Two issues:
    1) Complete government balls up - bad
    2) ABC hiding its own gaffes - bad

    They are not mutually exclusive.

    Posted by flute on 2005 05 13 at 01:44 AM • permalink

  18. We all have cause for complaint Baboon, you can blame the ABC for turning it into a left/right issue and clouding the waters however, they’ve even admitted it.

    Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 05 13 at 04:56 AM • permalink

  19. ‘flute’ and ‘wbb’ are obviously too young to remember the Laybore Party’s 1983 Richmond Report which took seriously mentally ill people out of institutions and put them on the street. Top move! now you leftie pundits can bash the Howard Govt for trying to clean up the mess that Lay-bore made.

    Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 05 13 at 05:19 AM • permalink

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