ABC economics correspondent Emma Alberici was accused by the Prime Ministerâs Office of repeating âLabor talking pointsâ and âinterviewing only people who agree with herâ, newly released documents reveal.
A letter from Malcolm Turnbullâs office to the ABC, released to the Senate on Tuesday, offers an insight into governmentâs fury at the now infamous tax cut story.
Advisers claimed Ms Alberici sought to âignore or undermine anyone who disagreesâ.
âAlberici has a habit of including comments from and interviewing only people who agree with her,â the letter said.
The Prime Ministerâs Office also claimed Ms Albericiâs use of the word âgiveawayâ to described the proposed tax cuts was âa direct lift from ALP talking pointsâ.
The news story and analysis article, which were revised after complaints from the government and business community, sparked a political fight in February and emboldened the ABCâs critics, while also sparking concerns among others about the broadcasterâs independence from political interference.
The New Daily reported in February that lawyers were involved as Ms Alberici fought to have the analysis piece republished and protect her credibility, reputation and career.
Ms Alberici has remained tightlipped about the saga but been active on social media throughout the controversy.
After Mr Turnbull slammed the articles during Question Time, Ms Alberici retweeted and âlikedâ a tweet by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten that linked to the article and said it showed the âreal storyâ.
The Prime Ministerâs Office questioned whether this retweet was âappropriate for a âfair and balancedâ ABC journalistâ.
Letters from Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Business Council chief Jennifer Westacott were also released as part of the Senate Estimates process.
Mr Joyce accused Ms Alberici of writing a âslanted analysis that can only be described as demonstrating an anti-business biasâ.
Ms Westacott said she held âextreme concerns with the ABCâs coverageâ, adding that it was âextremely irresponsible that we were not approached for input or comment on this storyâ.
She also requested a right of reply, arguing the article was âgrossly inaccurate and unbalancedâ and âimplies these reputable Australian companies have broken the lawâ.
The documents provided to the Senate also revealed nine errors or omissions of fact identified by the ABC.
In fiery scenes during Senate Estimates last month, Labor senators clashed with ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie and ABC editorial boss Alan Sunderland over their handling of the story.
They were unable to name any of the nine alleged errors during the hearings.
In responses to questions, the ABC said: âABC News and the Editorial Team identified errors in fact as well as omissions of fact that required editing.â
The errors listed included the headline incorrectly stating âAustraliaâs largest companies havenât paid corporate tax in 10 yearsâ when in fact âall the top 5 and most of the top 10 companies by market capitalisation have paid corporate taxâ.
Mr Alberici did not write that headline but was consulted on it.









