Iemma defends Danby over McNeill ad controversy
Former NSW premier Morris Iemma has defended Michael Danby after the media spotlight returned to the Melbourne Ports MP's advertisements about ABC journalist Sophie McNeill.
FORMER NSW premier Morris Iemma has defended Michael Danby after the media spotlight returned to the Melbourne Ports MP’s advertisements about ABC journalist Sophie McNeill.
In a series of advertisements featured in The AJN last year, Danby criticised McNeill’s one-sided coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when she was the ABC’s Middle East correspondent.
Fairfax Media reported at the time that Danby had used $4574 of taxpayer money to fund two advertisements on McNeill in The AJN.
But the ads were later found to be within Department of Finance regulations for MPs.
At the time, ALP leader Bill Shorten was reportedly “deeply unimpressed” by the ad bookings, but Jewish community leaders had defended Danby.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Anton Block said the MP’s take on McNeill was “correct”, while Jewish Community Council of Victoria executive director David Marlow said the content of the ads had broad community support.
Now Iemma, a former NSW Labor premier from 2005-08, has responded to renewed Fairfax attacks on Danby in the past week, which revisited the McNeill issue.
Iemma posted on Facebook, “Politicians have been producing ads … in newspapers of all kinds … for decades, advocating all sorts of issues and contributing to all kinds of debates. What is the difference here?
“Because it’s Israel and a Jewish family [killed by terrorists], offence is taken. Fake shock, horror expressed over an MP making legit use of entitlements communicating with constituents and the broader public,” noted Iemma.
In a January 10 post, Danby himself blasted the Fairfax coverage as a “reheated” report about last year’s ads.
The Fairfax reports also accuse Danby of using Commonwealth limousines on three Queensland holidays he later claimed were charged to taxpayers because of an administrative error.
Danby responded to media that a staff error caused the trips to be charged to public funds, and that he reimbursed the Commonwealth for the holidays last year after a self-audit.
PETER KOHN
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