Following a series of threatening phone calls, ABC staff have been forced to up their security.
The threats, which come after former terrorist suspect, Zaky Mallah, controversially appeared on ABC’s Q & A, have prompted the ABC to strengthen security in all of their major offices around Australia.
The ABC confirmed these measures, stating that: “There have been a number of threatening phone calls.”
These intensified security measures include reverting to “after hours” protocol, which only allows staff into the building, unlike the usual protocol which lets the general public visit the lobby at will.
The ABC’s editor-in-chief, Mark Scott, however, is not ready to admit defeat over his decision to put Zaky Mallah live on air, despite his previous offences, which include threatening tweets and being fired from previous workplaces for suspicious and threatening acts.
“As someone said to me this week, free-speech arguments would be easier if you were always defending Martin Luther King,” Mr Scott said, “At times, free-speech principles mean giving platforms to those with whom we fundamentally disagree.
“It was the crux of the Charlie Hebdo argument last year and, of course, the source of the maxim that was used to describe Voltaire’s beliefs: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ ”
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, however, was not so convinced, calling the decision to let Mallah on the show: “betrayal – if you like – of our country” and arguing “heads should roll.”
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull also voiced similar to concerns, stating, “This guy on social media not so long ago nominated two female journalists and said that they should be publicly raped. What if he had said that again in the Q&A live audience? Why would you ever put a person (like that) in a live audience? It’s incredible.”
Zaky Mallah became the first person charged under Australia’s new anti-terrorism act in 2003, when he “threatened a security attack” on the offices of the Sydney Morning Herald.
