The ABC has once again been accused of biased reporting by a federal MP taking out an ad in a local newspaper.
Queensland Liberal Nationals MP George Christensen has admitted to using his taxpayer purse to criticise the ABC's coverage of the state's new Adani coal mine.
Christensen is the second federal MP to use taxpayer funds to attack the public broadcaster in recent days. Last week, Labor backbencher Michael Danby paid for an ad in the Australian Jewish News which claimed people have a "distorted understanding" of Israel thanks to the ABC.
The broadcaster, at the time, took the rare step of slapping down the ad, calling it "inaccurate" and part of a series of "inappropriate attacks" aimed at its Jerusalem correspondent Sophie McNeill.
Mr Christensen's ad, which appeared in the Townsville Bulletin, accuses last week's Four Corners program of being "overly influenced by the extreme green movement".
"The program avoided facts, preferring the green movement's stock-in-trade: allegations, accusations, and unsubstantiated claims," the open letter said. "But no matter how many activists the ABC turns to for comment, repeating the same misinformation does not turn it into fact."
The ad then calls on the ABC to "provide balance" by doing a story on the families in Townsville, Bowen and Mackay "desperately in need of jobs".
When contacted on Monday, Mr Christensen said he used taxpayer money to pay for the ad. However, he defended using his parliamentary communications allowance on the grounds it was necessary to counter "the one-sided argument presented by the taxpayer-funded ABC".
"Many people from my region contacted me after the Four Corners program went to air because they were angry, and rightly so, about the same old allegations and accusations being perpetuated," he said. "I will always defend the people of north and central Queensland against the ongoing green campaign against Adani."
Mr Christensen said he also sent an official complaint to ABC management.
The Four Corners episode in question featured an interview with Sandra Correia, who claimed her children were in ill-health because the family lives near an Adani coal mine in Goa. She said her six-year-old "gets up in the morning and vomits all coal out".
"The minute we went out of town like to Kerala or Delhi [my children] were perfectly normal within two days," she said. "On our return back within two days it would start again."
An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment about Mr Christensen's ad.
