Last month, Samantha Armytage lead a hot topic segment on Sunrise which made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The breakfast TV host was joined by media personalities Prue MacSween and Ben Davis to discuss Federal Assistant Minister for Children David Gillespie’s comments about wanting to “relax” the rules when it comes to placing Indigenous children with non-Indigenous families.
The gist of the panel essentially condoned the government’s past actions of separating indigenous children from their parents.
At the time, there was nation-wide outrage – citing that it was “blatant racism” with many claiming it was encouraging a second Stolen Generation.
You can watch the shocking moment in the video below!
On Tuesday morning as the show did an outside broadcast at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games, over a hundred protesters turned up to hit back at the recent segment.
They could be heard chanting, “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
Before asking, “Sam Armytage, we are still waiting on an apology.”
Clearly uncomfortable by the unwanted guests, Samantha and David Koch decided to touch on their arrival.
The segment from a month ago is still facing backlash.
“We support and respect anyone being able to project and get their view. Happy to have them here, and to express their view, but we have to be a bit careful with language and aggression,” Kochie said to camera.
“As regular viewers would know, we have lots of families and kids here. It’s school holidays in Queensland, it’s the Commonwealth Games, and while we respect everybody’s right to protest,” adding, “There are a lot of families on holidays.”
Samantha then spoke, “We have to be very careful with some of the language going to air. I do want to point out that the original segment that sparked this was that children are at risk, not about land rights. Just keep that in mind.”
Scenes from Sunrise this morning.
According to news.com.au, David was heard telling the protesters, “Do your homework”.
While Sam lashed out and the Nine Network, who are said to have arrived at the beach with a camera crew.
“Big clap for Channel Nine, it’s the only way they can get some ratings on TV,” she hit back.
QLD police announced they respect the right to a peaceful protest.
The TV hosts comments were heard on empty ears, with many responding with, “Shame on Scumrise”.
One protester told the crowd, “When they’re not on the air you should save your voice, when they count down to go on the air that’s when we’re going to get loud.”
Queensland Police were at the scene, and simply said, “Queensland Police respect the rights of people protesting lawfully and peacefully in Queensland.”
Channel 7 are yet to comment.
