If you watched Channel Seven’s breakfast show this morning, you likely had no idea what was taking place just metres away from the hosting panel.
Viewers watched Sunrise‘s co-host Samantha Armytage and presenters Natalie Barr, Edwina Bartholomew and Mark Beretta deliver a calm and typical current affairs program, unaware that the scenes on Martin Place, the backdrop of the show, were anything but.
Channel Seven producers reportedly pulled black blinds across the window – and appeared to put footage of a quiet Martin Place on the green screen – in an effort to conceal the hundreds of angry people that gathered to protest a segment they considered racist on Tuesday.
The segment came after Minister for Children David Gillespie announced he was pushing for “open adoptions” of Indigenous children who were at risk of rape, assault and neglect. The controversial and sensitive suggestion that governments should enable more white Australians to adopt aboriginal children was put to an all-white panel by Armytage.
You can watch a snippet of the segment below. Post continues.
The segment implied forcibly removing aboriginal children from their homes in the past was “for their wellbeing” and failed to feature a single aboriginal voice.
Not only were both panellists Sunrise consulted white, they also lacked any expertise in the field: Prue MacSween is a self-described “opinionated former journalist” while Ben Davis is a Brisbane radio host.
Armytage wrapped the conversation by saying, “let’s hope some sense prevails there”.
Understandably, Australians of all walks of life were irate at the show’s bias, ignorance, and failure to consult a single person from the community they were discussing. Armytage, however, stood by the segment, suggesting critique to the contrary was “hysterical”.
Armed with signs that read “Stop forced removals, bring the kids home” and “Aboriginal kids belong in Aboriginal families”, demonstrators reportedly banged on the glass windows of the studio while filming took place.
At some points in the program, muffled chanting and yelling could be heard.
On Twitter, protesters were keen to inform viewers of what was taking place.
What’s your take on this situation? Let us know in the comments.
Top Comments
Paul Murray continues to impress with his determination not to let this slide back under the carpet, as does Matt Canavan on the scene in the NT as he gives his daily bulletins.
It's all out in the open now and there's no going back.
So they're out protesting that a talk show talked about aboriginal kids being abused, rather than protesting that aboriginal kids are being abused.
At the end of the day, what matters is that kids are safe, so whether they are placed with aboriginal or white families doesn't really matter, as long as they are removed from the place that's dangerous to their health and /or life.
Exactly james b, and as for no aboriginsl voices being heard, well fortunately there are quite a few, and they are from people who live in the areas affected; but of course that's not reported because it doesn't fit the narrative.
So true - protect our children at all cost. They are our future.
It does matter. To start with, children who end up in out-of-home-care have terrible lifelong outcomes. It’s not like theres an abundancd of permanent, loving, willing and safe homes for the children that have already been removed. Intervening early and supporting the family wherever possible should be the first priority. Secondly, the stolen generation has caused a lot of the issues that are still felt in Aborigal communities today and the underlying reason for it was not to keep the children safe it was racism and cultural genocide. Removing a person from their culture, history, land, community is damaging to the soul and to the sense of identity and should not be repeated. Aboriginal communities have to lead this discussion.
"At the end of the day, what matters is that kids are safe"
Obviously not!