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Wednesday May 23, 2012

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Hinch boycotts Gillard and Abbott

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 12 August, 2010 - 5:31 PM
Hinch bans the leaders from his program until election

PLAYING NOW: Hinch on leaders ban and on the aggressive nature of political ads.

EDITORIAL: We’ve covered a lot of politics on my 3AW program in the past seven weeks since Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan and their backers knifed  Kevin Rudd – and in the month since she called an election. We’ve covered various angles. Talked to a lot of people. But two people have been missing: Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.

In the weeks after Julia Gillard took office my producers made daily requests for an interview. Since the election was announced we have made numerous requests to both camps.

No appearance your worship. Even though mine is one of the highest rating current affairs programs in the country. And even though all you get in a campaign is almost robotic ‘stick to the message’ replies.

Anyway, this morning I made an executive decision and decided to ban them both. Not interested in talking to them. I’ll talk about them. And give you plenty of chances to air your views.

But from today I decided there’s a boycott on Gillard and Abbott. That new rule was tested an hour ago when we were offered an interview with – Tony Abbott. I declined.

In similar vein the most enthusiastic response to a question at Rooty Hill last night came not from a Gillard or Abbott answer.

It came at the end when moderator David Speers asked the audience if they were sick of being bombarded with negative TV commercials.

We’ve been running them on this radio station too. I want your reaction and I’ll get your opinions on some of the more objectionable ones. That’s next.

Rooted at Rooty Hill

Julia Gillard high above the people in Rooty Hill HINCH BLOG: "The records will show that Julia Gillard lost the ‘battle for Rooty Hill’ in the first minute at the outer Sydney RSL club last night. The venue for the so-called old style town hall meeting." Read Hinch's analysis of the Rooty Hill forum.

Blog comments Your Say

  • Hinchy, next time you're kicking the s--t out of judges & bureaucrats over their obvious preferential treatment, TAKE a good look at your own performance during this election process. It's NOT that impressive compared to your usual standard, whereas Mitchell was predictable~! WHICH government got us into this mess to begin with? The Liberal Party - END OF STORY~! If you need to ask me why I have been so heavy handed towards Labor - someone had to attempt to balance the ledger & provide some degree of objectivity~!

    Lenny Wednesday 18 August, 2010 - 1:06 PM

  • UNLIKE hypocrites in 3AW, I don't pretend that Labor didn't screw up the economical stimulus process to some degree. The insulation scheme was a disaster - NO denying that. BER had problems. but nothing like the insulation fiasco. We are talking about millions being unnecessarily wasted, NOT billions~! The government was entrusted with taxpayer dollars, and CLOSE to 98% of the BER package was put to good use. The issue with the other 2.5% relates to overcharging/inappropriate use of funds, NOT fraud on a grand scale as the Liberals would have everyone believe~! Agreed, that money could & should have been put to far better use. Governments had a responsibility to ensure that it was, particularly State governments, who at least had a minimum of a supervisory role for money spent in their state. Labor could have spent more time arguing about spending specifics, and the whole stimulation process would have collapsed~! The money HAD to be rapidly spent to keep the economy alive~!

    Lenny Wednesday 18 August, 2010 - 1:05 PM

  • Hinchy, I expected better from you. Mitchell is just a predictable one track mind Labor hating Liberal. A journalist is supposed to report the facts without fear, favour or prejudice. Hinchy, YOU totally lost the plot - no excuses~! 3AW is doing nothing more than Labor BASHING & the high percentage of PRO Liberal Party comments confirms that undeniable fact~! I didn't hear the interview with The Rabbit so I can't really comment one way or the other whether Mitchell's interview with Abbott was fair & objective. Most of his other comments have been nothing more than grandstanding for his Liberal Party. Mitchell (being a typical Liberal) conveniently forgets that it was HIS party that created the GFC, for which Labor had to spend money in an attempt to revive the economy. Once the banks put a squeeze on funds, the government had to step in & become the prime economic motivating force, otherwise the economy would have collapsed & many businesses would have gone to the wall. Steve was previously employed as a Liberal Party media advisor - no further comment required~!

    Lenny Wednesday 18 August, 2010 - 1:04 PM

  • I think John of Heathmont's comment displays only too well the blatant inaccuracies often generated in the political arena. He has obviously googled "Dr Paul Jones" and found the wrong person. The Dr Paul Jones who authorized the ads is in fact a GP and he is only too familiar with the health system. Whatever your views John, get your facts straight before you broadcast them publically so that you maintain some credibility. If we're dealing with the facts, then the debate has at least the potential to be rational.

    Lynda Tuesday 17 August, 2010 - 8:57 AM

  • Good idea.by the way isn't it amazing that whenever the crowd doesn't favor labor, there are accusations of branch stacking!!!

    andrew Sunday 15 August, 2010 - 1:26 PM

  • THe most stupid idea since Jeff banned the ABC and The Age. The bottom line is Hinch can't get the big interviews. Julia and Tony have been on every other radio and tv show known to man. Hinch should either lift his game or take his bat and ball and go home.

    mylene Friday 13 August, 2010 - 11:17 PM

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