ABC in genocide denial

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as this nation’s public broadcaster, is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of providing Australians with accurate, timely, and relevant information—especially on matters of profound international consequence. Yet on the release of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report, “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide”, the ABC has chosen silence.

This is not a minor editorial lapse. It is a calculated omission that amounts to a dereliction of duty.

Albanese’s report is no obscure bureaucratic document: it presents damning allegations that multinational corporations—including some with significant Australian investor exposure - are enabling the systematic destruction of Gaza. It directly implicates key sectors of the global economy, challenges state narratives, and calls for urgent international legal accountability. It also triggered extraordinary US sanctions on a UN Special Rapporteur - a first in history. All of this is news of the highest order.

Yet a search for this landmark report on the ABC’s platforms returns nothing. No analysis. No headline. No mention. Instead, the ABC’s news desk has opted to insulate Australian audiences from uncomfortable truths. It has effectively denied Australians the opportunity to even know this report exists, much less engage with its contents or assess its implications.

The silence speaks volumes. It reveals a broadcaster that appears too timid (or too captured) to cover a story that challenges entrenched interests and dominant narratives about Israel, Palestine, and Western complicity. In doing so, the ABC has failed its statutory charter to inform and educate the Australian public without fear or favour.

In ignoring Albanese’s report, the ABC not only betrays its mission, but it also actively facilitates ignorance at a time when informed global citizenship is desperately needed. Its failure allows other media outlets, lobby groups, and political figures to dictate the boundaries of permissible discourse while the Australian public is left in the dark.

We should be clear: this silence is not neutral. It is a political act.

In a media landscape increasingly defined by omission, distraction, and deference to power, we might expect commercial outlets to look away. But from the ABC - from a taxpayer-funded institution that claims to uphold the highest journalistic standards. We demand more. We demand courage. We demand independence. We demand coverage.

This shameful omission is an abrogation of public service, and it must be condemned unequivocally. Until the ABC rectifies this failure, it can no longer claim to serve the Australian public as an impartial and fearless national broadcaster.