ABC apologises to Gina Rinehart after complaint over satirical TV sketch
The Australian Broadcasting Corp has apologised to mining magnate Gina Rinehart after a satirical Race Around the World episode drew a complaint over a violent
The Australian Broadcasting Corp has apologised to mining magnate Gina Rinehart after a satirical Race Around the World episode drew a complaint over a violent reference to her. The broadcaster’s own ombudsman, however, found the July 12 episode did not breach editorial standards.
Complaint upheld in tone, not in breach
The episode featured contestant Kate McGuinness describing a fictional scene in which Rinehart was violently attacked, with a graphic line about mixing her “guts” to “make one big sausage roll”. Hancock Prospecting, Rinehart’s company, took the matter to the ABC Board in July.
That complaint landed in the broadcaster’s formal process, but the ABC Ombudsman concluded the segment did not breach standards on harm and offence. So the apology was not a finding of rule-breaking. It was a response to the fallout.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks apologised to Rinehart and said the material under complaint had been removed from ABC platforms. Speaking to ABC local radio in Mt Isa, Marks said the segment had fallen short of community expectations.
A public apology, despite the finding
The split outcome leaves a familiar tension in public broadcasting. Editorial review can clear a piece under internal rules while executives still decide the material crossed a line with viewers or listeners. That distinction matters, especially when the subject is a high-profile business figure and the language used is openly violent.
Rinehart, who holds the Australian title AO, remains one of the country’s most recognisable mining names. Her appearance in a comedy or satirical format, and the language around it, has now prompted both a formal complaint and a public apology from the ABC.
The broadcaster has not said whether any further action will follow. For now, the disputed material has been taken down, and the apology stands alongside the ombudsman’s finding that the episode itself did not breach editorial standards.
