Many ABC journalists are close to journalists of the left wing The Guardian Australia and activists at the avowedly leftist Australia Institute. Amy Remeikis is the author of the error-ridden book Where It All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard. (Simon & Schuster, 2026 – this is reviewed by Gerard Henderson in the current issue of The Sydney Institute Review Online.).

Can You Bear It?

The Australia Institute’s Amy Remeikis makes a false claim about Tony Abbott

Formerly a political reporter for The Guardian Australia who was a panellist on the ABC TV Insiders program, Remeikis is currently The Australia Institute’s political analyst. In this capacity she received a soft interview from Sam Hawley on ABC Radio National’s ABC News Daily on 9 June. It was a matter of “don’t talk about my book on John Howard”.

At the commencement of the interview, Hawley referred to the abuse directed at Victorian Labor Party Premier Jacinta Allan by a brothel owner in Melbourne – with a campaign to “Ditch The Witch”. This has been condemned by many – including Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson. This is how the interview commenced:

Sam Hawley: I'm Sam Hawley…the last time we had a fierce debate about Ditch the Witch was when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister and Tony Abbott stood in front of a “Ditch The Witch” sign at a protest outside Parliament House. It was pretty outrageous then, wasn't it?....

Amy Remeikis: Yeah, I mean, I think it was a particular flashpoint in Australian politics for a reason because it was so outrageous….And when he stood next to that sign, which, you know, he later said, “Oh, that was a mistake”. Obviously, it also fed into other, you know, quite sexist attacks against the first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, at the time. I think it was just such a shock to see somebody so senior in politics effectively, as it seemed at least visually, to be endorsing these attacks.

This is arrant nonsense. Tony Abbott addressed the crowd in Canberra outside Parliament House on 23 March 2011. Someone stood behind him with a “Ditch The Witch” poster, referring to Julia Gillard. There is no evidence that the then Opposition leader was aware of the sign.

Remeikis’ claim that Tony Abbott stood “next to the sign” is totally false. Yet she was not corrected by Sam Hawley – who herself had implied, falsely, that Abbott had consciously stood in front of a “Ditch the Witch” sign. In short, the ABC/Australia Institute Entente error rate was 100 per cent. Can You Bear It?

[GUSNOTE: THIS IS PURE BULLSHIT... THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT TONY ABBOTT IS ALERT TO ANYTHING ANYWAY... MY PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING IS THAT TONY AND HIS CRONIES AT THE TIME WOULD HAVE SEEN THE SIGN WHICH WAS BIGGER THAN AN INTERNATIONAL LANDING-STRIP BUT EVERYONE "MADE SURE NOT TO LOOK"... [DESPITE SEEING IT]

NOT ONLY THIS, THE NORMAL VISION ANGLE IS 120 DEGREES... FROM THE PICTURES TAKEN, THERE IS NO WAY THAT ABBOTT DID NOT SEE THE SIGN FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE... SURE, WE KNOW THAT TONY IS NARROW MINDED AND HAS TUNNEL VISION, BUT IF THIS WAS NOT STAGE MANAGED, THEN THE WORLD IS FLAT — AGAIN....]

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All quiet on the Nine Entertainment front as Wilcox cartoon found to contain an anti-Semitic trope

As avid readers will recall, Media Watch Dog was highly critical of Cathy Wilcox’s cartoon which was published in Nine Entertainment’s The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on 7 January 2026. Here’s a reminder of Wilcox’s work:

As MWD put it at the time, the cartoon suggested that Australians who supported a Royal Commission into the Bondi massacre were being propped up by political conservatives who were marching to the tune of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s drum. The figures appear to be Rupert Murdoch, Jillian Segal, John Howard, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud.

MWD is not always in agreement with decisions of the Press Council – but does respect its decisions.  In this instance, the APC’s findings – following a complaint –  are worth reading.  Especially since Cathy Wilcox strongly defended her cartoon. Here’s an excerpt from the APC’s Conclusion – the full decision can be found at https://presscouncil.org.au/document/1859-complainant

….The Council acknowledges the publications’ [i.e. Nine’s The Age and Sydney Morning Herald) comments that the cartoon’s intention was to comment on the politicisation of the calls for a Royal Commission. The Council also acknowledges the publications’ comments that there was no intention to cause offence or prejudice. The Council notes that the intention of the cartoon or the message it is attempting to convey may be interpreted in different ways. In this context, the Council notes the depiction of political figures carrying the purported grassroots movement above their heads, while Netanyahu, who is both Jewish and the Israeli Prime Minister, stands apart, beating the drum to which the political figures march. The Council considers this imagery encodes the antisemitic trope that Jewish people secretly control or manipulate global events, governments, financial systems, or the media. The Council considers this imagery was likely to cause or contribute to substantial offence, distress and prejudice particularly to those who are Jewish.

While the Council recognises the public interest in commenting on the political motivation of some calling for the Royal Commission into the terrorist attack, the Council does not consider it was sufficient to justify the substantial offence, distress or prejudice caused or contributed to, in depicting those calling for a Royal Commission as being manipulated by the Israeli Prime Minister. Accordingly, the Council concludes that the publications failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice in breach of General Principle 6.

So, the Australian Press Council found that the Wilcox cartoon encoded the anti-Semitic trope that Jewish people secretly control or manipulate global events, governments, financial systems or the media.

A powerful critique to be sure.  However, when MWD went out today neither Wilcox, nor The Age, nor the Sydney Morning Herald had commented publicly on the decision that the cartoon ran an anti-Semitic trope. MWD will report back if Nine Entertainment or Ms Wilcox comes out from under the bed (as the saying goes) on this occasion.

https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/all-quiet-on-the-nine-entertainment-front-smh-the-age-go-silent-after-cathy-wilcox-cartoon-containing-antisemitic-trope-cops-press-council-condemnation/news-story/da115af6c98b545ac8c18a98d0080075

[GUSNOTE, THE CRITIQUE BY THE PRESS COUNCIL IS BIASED... SEE: 

GERARD HENDERSON IS AN APOLOGIST FOR THE LIBERAL PARTY AND PROBABLY NOW SUPPORTS THE RED-HEADED WOMAN — NOT GILLARD, BUT THE EXTREME-RIGHT PAULINE.... BECAUSE GERARD HATES LABOR... 

PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT NETANYAHU LOVES ANTISEMITISM BECAUSE IT GIVES HIM THE FEELING HE CAN GET AWAY WITH GENOCIDE....

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

SEE ALSO: 

READ THE WHOLE LINE OF COMMENTS...

AND IF YOU WANT ERRONEOUS BIASED TURD-POLISHED RIGHTWING OPINIONS, WATCH SKYNEWS....

AND NOW A WORD FROM GUS:

ANTHOPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL

TOON AT TOP BY GUS (2011) WITH AN UPDATE ABOUT "NOT LOOKING"....