Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Welcome to today’s Friday Focus: ABC’s Far Right Obsession.
As we all know, Australia’s national broadcaster—paid for by all of us—is completely impartial, as per their legal mandate. They never take sides on issues, and always accurately portray both sides of the political debate fairly, objectively, and without ever using taxpayer-funded reporting to attack people.
Well… it seems they happily ignore this mandate when it comes to the so-called far right.
Whatever you think of Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ABC clearly made their view known in this recent headline:
“Far-right Israeli minister posts video of him taunting detained activists from Global Sumud Flotilla.”
Do you think once is enough to establish his far-right label? No, ABC readers apparently suffer from short-term memory loss and need a reminder every three sentences:
“Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a video of himself taunting detained activists…”
And just in case it hadn’t sunk in yet:
“European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticised Israel’s far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir…”
At this point, “far-right” isn’t even an adjective anymore—the ABC treats it like it’s his legal first name. Mr. Far-Right Ben-Gvir.
Interestingly, further down in the exact same article, they also note: “Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the video was ‘shocking and unacceptable’.”
Notice any missing adjectives there? Did they call her “centre-left” Penny Wong? Or “progressive” Penny Wong? Of course not. In the ABC universe, ideological labels are strictly reserved for people they want you to dislike.
When it comes to Israel, this branding exercise is standard operating procedure at the ABC. Take this example from just a couple of days ago:
“Far-right Israeli minister accuses ICC of making ‘secret’ request to arrest him.”
In case the audience has forgotten his political alignment by the time they reach the body of the article, they are immediately reassured:
“The ICC is preparing to issue warrants against Israel’s far-right finance minister…”
And just to be absolutely, 100 percent sure it’s burnt into your retinas, they repeat:
“Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich says prosecutors at the ICC have made a ‘secret’ request…”
God forbid an ABC reader goes more than twenty words without a helpful political navigation system telling them exactly how to feel about a person.
And of course, local Australian politicians get the exact same branding treatment from our national broadcaster.
Cast your mind back to 2011, when ABC News published an opinion piece elegantly titled: “Professional politician or opportunist carpetbagger?” where they made sure to note that overseas media described Pauline Hanson as an “icon of the far right.”
By 2016, ABC Listen was running segments titled: “Pauline Hanson and the global rise of the extreme right,” confidently asserting:
“Around the world, the far right is reshaping the political landscape. The success of Pauline Hanson, Donald Trump and Brexit…”
And just in case the listener missed the memo, they added:
“In Australia, the far right emerged as a political force in the 1990s, with the arrival of Pauline Hanson.”
But strangely enough, now that One Nation is riding high in the polls, the language has shifted. Following the federal budget, the headlines read: “One Nation leads Labor in shock post-budget poll result” Meanwhile, 9News reported: “Opposition leader opens door to potential One Nation partnership.” Suddenly, the ABC’s favourite adjective has vanished into thin air.
No “extreme right” labels. No “far-right” prefixes.
I wonder why?
It seems, when a political movement is small, the ABC brands them to keep them isolated. But when they start winning seats, overtaking major parties in the polls, and influencing governments, those labels get quietly dropped so the ABC doesn’t have to admit how many everyday Australians they are actually insulting.
Clearly, the ABC isn’t using “far-right” as an informative descriptor—they’re using it as a slur.
A bit of a longer one, but that was today’s Friday Focus.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
Welcome to today’s Friday Focus: ABC’s Far Right Obsession.
As we all know, Australia’s national broadcaster—paid for by all of us—is completely impartial, as per their legal mandate. They never take sides on issues, and always accurately portray both sides of the political debate fairly, objectively, and without ever using taxpayer-funded reporting to attack people.
Well… it seems they happily ignore this mandate when it comes to the so-called far right.
Whatever you think of Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ABC clearly made their view known in this recent headline:
“Far-right Israeli minister posts video of him taunting detained activists from Global Sumud Flotilla.”
Do you think once is enough to establish his far-right label? No, ABC readers apparently suffer from short-term memory loss and need a reminder every three sentences:
“Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a video of himself taunting detained activists…”
And just in case it hadn’t sunk in yet:
“European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticised Israel’s far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir…”
At this point, “far-right” isn’t even an adjective anymore—the ABC treats it like it’s his legal first name. Mr. Far-Right Ben-Gvir.
Interestingly, further down in the exact same article, they also note: “Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the video was ‘shocking and unacceptable’.”
Notice any missing adjectives there? Did they call her “centre-left” Penny Wong? Or “progressive” Penny Wong? Of course not. In the ABC universe, ideological labels are strictly reserved for people they want you to dislike.
When it comes to Israel, this branding exercise is standard operating procedure at the ABC. Take this example from just a couple of days ago:
“Far-right Israeli minister accuses ICC of making ‘secret’ request to arrest him.”
In case the audience has forgotten his political alignment by the time they reach the body of the article, they are immediately reassured:
“The ICC is preparing to issue warrants against Israel’s far-right finance minister…”
And just to be absolutely, 100 percent sure it’s burnt into your retinas, they repeat:
“Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich says prosecutors at the ICC have made a ‘secret’ request…”
God forbid an ABC reader goes more than twenty words without a helpful political navigation system telling them exactly how to feel about a person.
And of course, local Australian politicians get the exact same branding treatment from our national broadcaster.
Cast your mind back to 2011, when ABC News published an opinion piece elegantly titled: “Professional politician or opportunist carpetbagger?” where they made sure to note that overseas media described Pauline Hanson as an “icon of the far right.”
By 2016, ABC Listen was running segments titled: “Pauline Hanson and the global rise of the extreme right,” confidently asserting:
“Around the world, the far right is reshaping the political landscape. The success of Pauline Hanson, Donald Trump and Brexit…”
And just in case the listener missed the memo, they added:
“In Australia, the far right emerged as a political force in the 1990s, with the arrival of Pauline Hanson.”
But strangely enough, now that One Nation is riding high in the polls, the language has shifted. Following the federal budget, the headlines read: “One Nation leads Labor in shock post-budget poll result” Meanwhile, 9News reported: “Opposition leader opens door to potential One Nation partnership.” Suddenly, the ABC’s favourite adjective has vanished into thin air.
No “extreme right” labels. No “far-right” prefixes.
I wonder why?
It seems, when a political movement is small, the ABC brands them to keep them isolated. But when they start winning seats, overtaking major parties in the polls, and influencing governments, those labels get quietly dropped so the ABC doesn’t have to admit how many everyday Australians they are actually insulting.
Clearly, the ABC isn’t using “far-right” as an informative descriptor—they’re using it as a slur.
A bit of a longer one, but that was today’s Friday Focus.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
