The ABC’s CEO walked a delicate tightrope as he defended Laura Tingle over her ‘racist country’ tirade. But his five-word verdict shows why she’s still in big trouble, writes PETER VAN ONSELEN

The ABC CEO chose to carefully walk both sides of the fence when he appeared before the Senate Estimates in response to an outburst by one of its most senior political journalists directed at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

David Anderson has defended 7.30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle as “one of the most respected and admired” political journalists in the country.

He said she “understands” the ABC guidelines but admitted her comments about Peter Dutton were “problematic”.

Tingle told an audience at the Sydney Writers Festival that she had “a sudden flash of people coming in trying to rent a property or at auction and they look a bit different, whatever you define as different, that he actually [Peter Dutton] has given them a license to be abused.”

The CEO said Tingle is “doing an excellent job” but when it came to her tirade against the opposition leader, “I wish it hadn’t happened.”

One of the ABC’s top political journalists, Laura Tingle (pictured), had breached ABC guidelines

He was not asked about her tirade against the entire Australian population. The 7.30 reporter declared that Australia is a ‘racist country’. I do not support the claim with any evidence or analysis.

Asked whether Laura Tingle should leave the ABC because she has shown a lack of impartiality in her comments about Dutton, the CEO said: “I don’t believe so,” despite also saying he agreed with ABC’s comments chairman Kim Williams, which clearly stated that anyone who cannot maintain impartiality should leave the ABC.

Williams said in March that anyone who wants to continue practicing activist journalism should look for work elsewhere.

The CEO told Senate Estimates that he had “informed the chairman this week” but did not seek “advice” from Kim Williams.

Although David Anderson admitted that Tingle’s comments were “a mistake,” he seemed to suggest that the matter is over now that the news director, James Stevens, has had a chat with her.

This is despite Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson noting that Laura Tingle’s comments at the Sydney Writers Festival were “not an isolated case”.

Henderson pointed to similar comments she made about Peter Dutton on the Insiders program. She also tweeted late one night about Scott Morrison’s “political bastardry” during his premiership.

Despite these exchanges, the CEO continued to insist that the ABC is a cut above other media organisations.

When asked point-blank if he would apologize to Peter Dutton for the comments Laura Tingle made, the CEO thought for a moment before declining to say he would. He did express ‘regret’ and said he was ‘sorry’ for what had happened, but declined to say he would say those words directly to Peter Dutton.

Pressed as to whether he would do so because he had not answered the question properly, David Anderson appeared to shift the blame back to Peter Dutton, saying that when political leaders make their views known to the public, such debates will to follow.

New ABC chairman Kim Williams (pictured) says there is no place for activist journalists at the ABC

ABC news director James Stevens (pictured) scolded Laura Tingle with a wet lettuce

At that point, the Greens began intervening at this point in the hearing, using cowards’ castle – where defamation laws do not apply – to hurl smears at the Liberal leader in his absence.

So where does all this leave us?

The ABC is clearly spinning its wheels, proving once again that it is a bottom-up organization in which management has little control over the workforce collective.

That said, what did the Liberal Party do to get Senator Henderson to do the cross-examination in the Senate Estimates?

It was dripping with hypocrisy.

Henderson is a former state anchor on 7:30 before it became a national program. That was her career before she embarked on a political career for the Liberal Party.

First as a Member of the House of Representatives, now as a senator. A double political career for the liberal, no less.

Who in the opposition brain thought it was a good idea to expose the political bias of a current ABC employee with questions from a former ABC employee who now works for the Liberal Party?

There were other Coalition senators on the committee who could have asked the questions instead.

Henderson asking the questions exposes her to accusations of turning the pot black if evidence were to emerge that she showed any political bias as a journalist prior to her current partisan political career.

If anyone would care to go back through the tapes of anything and everything she ever said during her tenure at ABC, both on and off air.

Remember, the criticism of Tingle is focused on her off-air comments.