Costello's Ch9 just declared war on Albanese's new government, page-36

@poyndexter; one of the most diseased parts of Australia's democracy is our Fourth Estate - it's a law unto itself and answerable to no-one.

Many moons ago a Melbourne commercial tv station threatened to unleash against me via their news reports for denying them permission to land their news chopper in my school's grounds so they could interview a young Indonesian exchange student who'd written to them criticising what was at that time a despotic and corrupt military regime.

Victoria's Education Department advised that it was my call but that the girl's family would almost certainly be at risk if she agreed to be interviewed.

When I explained that to the young Indonesian girl she asked me to protect her from the media - which is exactly what I did, only to cop threats of a special program exposing 'cover-ups' of Indonesian violence by myself and the Education Dept. I was later advised that before going to air they contacted the Education Dept for input and decided not to proceed with their story.

Except for some wonderful individuals and independent news sources, we should hold our Fourth Estate in contempt!