Statement regarding the ABC’s belated response to the violent Race Around the World segment

8 August 2026

Hancock Prospecting spokesperson: 

“We wait to see the long overdue changes to the ABC’s “editorial standards”. Such editorial standards need to stop sexual violence and torture until death episodes being shown or depicted in any form against any woman on the ABC, including under the pretence of satire or art or any other cloak. Satire needs to be funny, what the ABC approved to be aired for 25 days, in its violent torture until death content, was not. 

The content shown on the ABC normalised violent torture against a woman till death, and dehumanised an Australian, such that she was worthless and ok to be sexually tortured, should not be and must not be acceptable in our country. This concept that a woman can be regarded as worthless, (even if she has contributed hugely to a country), so it’s ok to sexually torture her to death, is not a new concept. It is practised by terrorists and has been practised elsewhere in the world, and must never be regarded as art, or acceptable in our country, even by the ABC.

The ABC and now the ABC Ombudsman, have both stated that this program “met the ABC’s editorial standards”! In some ways this is not surprising, as in the last 5 years, the ABC Ombudsman has only found that fewer than 5% of the complaints raised, resulted in their finding that the ABC had breached it’s standards. It should not be surprising that these standards need significant improvement, if taxpayers are expected to think it is ok to meet the ABC’s lavish expenditure and ok to have dehumanising content of any Australian woman, such that it is ok to be sexually tortured until death, and other lack of reasonable editorial standards. 

Indeed the “Ombudsman” bent over backwards to endorse the ABC’s conduct, and even misstated that the episode was “not accompanied by any visual depictions of violence”, which is not true because of the inclusion of the proposed weapon, sticks, while saying to use sticks to enter Mrs Rinehart’s body in such a way as to kill her, and the video shows a picture of Mrs Rinehart’s head on a stick. 

The internal ABC Ombudsman’s decision that the ABC did not breach ABC Editorial Standards fails all Australian women and the millions of taxpayers who fund the ABC.

There remains ongoing silence from the ABC Chair Kim Williams, Deputy Chair Lisa Caffery and the ABC Board, and we await a detailed account in relation to who approved this unacceptable piece to be aired, and who approved the long delay in its removal, which must have been ticked off by those higher up in the ABC, given its high profile in the media and the many complaints. The buck stops with the heads of the ABC. 

We warmly thank the many, many Australians, who have raised serious concerns against a program inciting violence, torture and murder, and who have stood up against the unacceptable actions of the ABC in putting this to air and leaving it on its multi platforms for 25 days.”