Media unfair on Hanson, Hollingworth, says Howard

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Media unfair on Hanson, Hollingworth, says Howard

Pauline Hanson and former governor-general Peter Hollingworth were treated harshly and unfairly by the Australian media, former prime minister John Howard says.

Lecturing on the role of the media in Australian politics at the University of Melbourne tonight, Mr Howard said the media's pursuit of Dr Hollingworth was a "character assassination".

Mr Howard recommended Dr Hollingworth's appointment as the Queen's representative in Australia in June 2001.

In May 2003, he resigned amid intense criticism of his handling of child abuse allegations during his time as the Archbishop of Brisbane and accusations that he showed little or no compassion for sex abuse victims.

"On the negative side, I have to say that I thought by and large that the Australian media treated Peter Hollingworth disgracefully," he said.

"You can criticise his judgment. You can criticise the prime minister who was responsible for the recommendation (for his appointment) but I thought the relentless pursuit and character assassination of a very, very decent man - I thought that was appalling, and it went largely right across the media."

Ms Hanson, elected as the independent MP for the Queensland seat of Oxley in 1996 after the Liberals disendorsed her as their candidate for her views on race and immigration, was "misunderstood" by the media.

"I think the media trivialised and therefore did a disservice to our long-term national interest in suggesting that Pauline Hanson was all about racism and nothing else," he said.

"Sure, there were some remarks she made that were quite objectionable, especially her suggestion that our country was being flooded with Asians.

"I think she displayed a misunderstanding of the extent of, as a group, Aboriginal disadvantage in this country.

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"But I think there was a lot more to what was occurring then and I think many in the media failed to understand that she was articulating a sense of dispossession and a sense of being left behind felt by a section of the Australian community, and a sense that the values of this country were being changed without the country being consulted."

But Mr Howard praised sections of the Australian media in some areas.

He said he felt the media recognised the need for tax reform in the 1990s and praised the ABC for its interest in his industrial relations reform policies while in opposition in the early 1990s.

He singled out the ABC's Lateline program for its coverage of child abuse among indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

AAP

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