Liberal senator admits mistake after grilling ABC execs about Gaza journalist's 'Hamas' ID | Weekly Beast

Sarah Henderson has admitted that she wrongly accused a late Palestinian journalist, Roshdi Sarraj, who filed video for the ABC from Gaza, of holding “a Hamas ID card” in a fiery Senate estimates hearing this week.

The clash between the Liberal senator and ABC executives led to a headline in The Australian: “ABC investigates whether it hired Hamas terrorist for Middle-East coverage.”

The opposition communications spokesperson had held up a printout of an Israeli defence force report, saying: “Their work includes the fact that Sarraj has a Hamas ID card. And you don’t think that’s sufficient evidence?”

After estimates Henderson realised that she had made a mistake and called the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, to say so.

Henderson told Weekly Beast she had referenced the wrong Palestinian journalist and had written to the Senate communications committee to correct the record in Hansard.

“While the IDF concluded Mr Al-Sarraj was a Hamas military operative, I incorrectly said he held a Hamas ID card rather than the two Al Jazeera journalists I referenced in the hearing who had Hamas military ID numbers,” Henderson said.

The ABC’s editorial director, Gavin Fang, had been sparring with Henderson over the national broadcaster’s response to IDF claims that 170 media workers – including Sarraj – killed in the conflict were Hamas operatives.

Henderson said Fang had dismissed evidence she called “overwhelming and very compelling” that the public broadcaster had hired a Hamas terrorist.

“Mr Marks, Mr Fang is being completely flippant in relation to this matter,” she said “There’s very, very serious and significant evidence in relation to the ABC stringer that he was someone the ABC hired who was a Hamas terrorist, and the fact that you are being so flippant about the very significant evidence uncovered by the IDF is deeply concerning.”

But Fang said the IDF had not provided any evidence to the ABC that Sarraj had active links to the terrorist organisation.

“So for the best of our knowledge [Sarraj] was a legitimate journalist who was tragically killed,” he told estimates. “Until we are able to find something that goes to the veracity of that claim, I don’t think it’s incumbent on us … to declare that that person was a member of Hamas.”

Offside?

As an ABC presenter, the Offsiders host, Abbey Gelmi, is bound by the ABC’s external work guidelines, so we wondered if the former Seven sports reporter had to seek Aunty’s approval for all her commercial Instagram posts. Because that could be a full-time job for an ABC manager.

Her latest posts include paid partnerships with Bunnings and Olay skincare, while others spruik fashion labels, design studios, hotels, furniture and makeup.

When she was hired by the ABC in January 2025 to host the Sunday sports show, Gelmi already had a podcast, Two Good Sports, and a regular radio role with GOLD FM which would have been approved upfront.

An ABC spokesperson told Weekly Beast: “We don’t comment on arrangements for individual workers. Generally speaking, endorsement of commercial products or services may be acceptable under the guidelines if it does not undermine a worker’s perceived or actual ability to perform their role, or the independence or integrity of ABC content they contribute to.”

We are struck by how different this treatment is to that handed out to the former ABC presenter Tony Armstrong, who was called out by Media Watch for voicing an NRMA insurance ad in which his name and likeness were not featured.

At the time the ABC said the voiceover had been done without managers’ knowledge and had resulted from a “misunderstanding” with Armstrong’s representatives external to the ABC.

The broadcaster said Armstrong’s representatives “have been provided a copy of the external work guidelines and reminded all ABC employees are required to meet them”.

Privately, ABC management defends its position, saying Gelmi is “not exclusive ABC talent so there is some flexibility”.

Paul quotes Paul

It’s good to know that even a journalist with a storied career like Paul Kelly, the doyen of Australian political commentary, can make mistakes.

In his column for The Australian this week the editor-at-large quoted the Victorian senator and frontbencher James Paterson as telling the Today show: “If the Liberals didn’t win this one, they’d seriously be asking questions about why they exist” while a majority win “would be an important message to the nation”.

But Paterson didn’t say that. It was the chief political correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, Paul Sakkal, who did.

Instead of correcting the attribution of the quote online the Oz just deleted the entire paragraph. Maybe it didn’t want to quote a political reporter from a rival newspaper.

We asked the editor-in-chief, Michelle Gunn, why the error hadn’t been noted in the paper or online, as is customary, and she didn’t reply.

Making the Cut

Victoria’s opposition leader, Jess Wilson, chose the rightwing influencer Calista Clements, better known as the Calista Cut, to sit down with her this week for a cosy chat posted on Instagram.

The Liberal leader is doing the rounds before the state election campaign formally kicks off next week. With 200,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, the 25-year-old social media commentator looked to be a good choice.

Wilson’s strategy is paying off: across social media, she leads in share of voice at 53.9% to Ben Carroll’s 46.1%, according to the media monitoring provider Streem.

The two women giggled like best friends as they chatted about Victorian Labor’s wasteful spending – and their favourite coffee order, pub haunts and Melbourne streets.

“Thanks for having me! I’m determined to fix this state for all Victorians,” Wilson commented on the post.

But did Wilson, who has declared herself a small-l liberal, realise who she was buddying up with?

A former member of the Victorian Libs, Clements has said the party has lost its way and she is now “Pauline Hanson-curious”. She has said the child sexual abuse survivor and advocate Grace Tame has adopted a “victim mentality”; she is against Wear it Purple day in schools; and says Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest was “insane”. She also defended Karl Stefanovic for interviewing the far-right UK influencer Tommy Robinson, and repeated claims that Pakistani men were prone to being rapists, citing a false claim that 80% of UK rapes were committed by Pakistani nationals.

A campaign spokesperson told Weekly Beast: “Jess is happy to speak with people from a broad range of backgrounds and political perspectives.

“Agreeing to an interview does not mean endorsing every view expressed by the interviewer.”

Disclosure exposure

Vikki Campion writes a weekly column for the Saturday Telegraph and has begun a new role as a consultant to One Nation, the party her husband, Barnaby Joyce, represents as an MP.

After Guardian Australia put questions to her this month she replied: “I don’t think anyone who has read my column would be shocked that I would want to help One Nation.”

But the Telegraph clearly took note because a disclosure was added to her column that she is “a contract consultant to One Nation NSW”.

Last weekend the disclosure was online but not in the paper, leaving us unclear whether Campion has lost her One Nation gig or the transparency was short-lived.