I want to turn, if I could briefly, to the cancellation of the Deborah Conway appearance earlier this year. There was media reporting at the time, in March of this year, confirmed by Deborah Conway in an interview, that her appearance on an ABC Victoria evening radio show had been cancelled because her unspoken support for Israel had been too controversial. Is that your understanding of what took place?
Senator SHARMA: Thank you, Mr Anderson. I want to turn, if I could briefly, to the cancellation of the Deborah Conway appearance earlier this year. There was media reporting at the time, in March of this year, confirmed by Deborah Conway in an interview, that her appearance on an ABC Victoria evening radio show had been cancelled because her unspoken support for Israel had been too controversial. Is that your understanding of what took place?
Mr Anderson : I have a broad understanding of this, in that Deborah Conway was booked and then cancelled and then rebooked later. Mr Fang, do you have more details on that?
Mr Fang : Yes, that’s what happened. Ms Conway was due to be on a radio program, and there was a producer that was unsure about whether that booking should go ahead. The program was cancelled at the last minute. That was then referred up to the manager, in which case the decision was made that Ms Conway should be on the program. She was rebooked and appeared on the program a couple of days later, and the program also apologised, and that apology was accepted.
Senator SHARMA: Why was the producer unsure in the first instance about whether this appearance should go ahead? What’s your understanding of why that was the case?
Mr Fang : My understanding is that they weren’t sure about what was going to be the focus of the segment and what was going to be part of that segment. They made a decision that they thought they needed to refer that up to a manager.
Senator SHARMA: Because of a concern of controversy—because of the views that Ms Conway had expressed?
Mr Fang : I’d have to speak to the producer. I can take that on notice, if you like.
Senator SHARMA: If you wouldn’t mind—if you don’t know today.
Mr Fang : Yes.
Senator SHARMA: Chair, have I still got one minute?
CHAIR: You have one minute.
Senator SHARMA: I’ll turn to the Q+A episode that aired on Monday evening of this week. Are you familiar with the one I mean? It aired on 27 May and was entitled ‘Gaza, Ukraine and the public space’.
Mr Anderson : I’m afraid that sadly I didn’t see it.
Mr Fang : Unfortunately, ditto—I was not available on the night.
Senator Cadell interjecting—
Senator SHARMA: This is quite a reveal! I’ll cede my time then, given you didn’t see it. I did have questions about the balance of the panel and the diversity of views that were expressed on that show.
Mr Anderson : Why don’t we take that on notice for you, Senator? It’s on my list of things to watch. I will go back and watch Q+A from Monday night. We’ll take that on notice and we’ll respond to you.
Senator SHARMA: Thank you.