Gina Rinehart has threatened the ABC with legal action over crude comments aired on the national broadcaster, including a joke about mixing her guts into a sausage roll.
The four-minute film, titled A Very Relaxing Video, aired on the Race Around the World program on 12 July and concluded with the film-maker, Kate McGuinness, making crude and offensive comments about Rinehart.
“When the revolution comes will you hide under the bed or will you know exactly how to shove a stick right up Gina Rinehart’s butthole, stirring it round, mixing her guts up nice and smooth, to make one big sausage roll to make something out of nothing,” she said.
On Friday, Hancock Prospecting released a statement detailing that it first wrote to the ABC board on 23 July. The company said the ABC was asked to “immediately remove” the segment from all of its platforms; publicly apologise to Rinehart; and “undertake a comprehensive investigation” into how it was approved and published.
“One week has now elapsed,” the statement said.
“The ABC’s Board and senior management have provided no substantive public response, nor any substantive response to Hancock or Mrs Rinehart, and have taken no steps to remove the material from ABC platforms, despite widespread public condemnation and the serious risks its publication and continued publication pose to Mrs Rinehart.”
According to Hancock, it has sent legal letters to the ABC’s chair, Kim Williams; deputy chair, Lisa Caffery; and its managing director, Hugh Marks.
It said the letter informed them they have been formally placed on notice over “detailed allegations of serious contraventions of multiple Australian criminal and civil laws arising from the ABC’s publication and continued publication of the material”.
News24 first reported that the mining magnate had “launched legal action” against the ABC and several senior executives.
On Friday, the ABC on Friday confirmed it had received the legal letters.
“The ABC has received correspondence from lawyers acting for Ms Rinehart and will respond to it in due course,” a spokesperson said. “The ABC Ombudsman is independently reviewing audience complaints in relation to the 12 July Race Around the World episode in accordance with the ABC’s complaints handling process.”
The episode, which was rated M for “coarse language” and “sexual references”, was still available to stream on iView on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, McGuinness issued an apology and said it wasn’t her intention to promote violence.
“My writing is cartoonish and always satirical. Unfortunately, jokes do not land with everyone. Its purpose was never to be taken literally,” she said in a statement uploaded to the ABC’s website.
Pressure had been mounting on the ABC to respond amid wide outrage in sectors of the media and from the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, who said the skit was “unacceptable” and used “confronting” language.
The media regulator said it would wait until the results of the ABC’s processes before making a decision on any next steps.
“Under Australia’s co-regulatory broadcasting system set out in the Broadcasting Services Act … national broadcasters are given the first opportunity to respond to complaints about alleged breaches of their respective codes of practice,” a spokesperson for the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said.
“If complainants are dissatisfied with the broadcaster’s response or do not receive a response within the statutory timeframe, complainants may make their complaint to the ACMA.”
