Crikey condemns columnist Guy Rundle’s text message to ABC in which he claimed ‘any touching is now sexual assault’ | Australian Media

A text message from Crikey’s correspondent Guy Rundle to ABC Radio saying sexual assault complaints had increased because “every grab is now a sexual assault” was branded vile by his employer, Private Media.

Guardian Australia understands the message is one of dozens of “inflammatory” texts the author has sent to the RN breakfast show hosted by Patricia Karvelas in recent months on a range of topics. The text about sexual assault is the first that Karvelas has read out on television along with his name.

Rundle texted RN Breakfast on Thursday in response to a discussion about the dramatic rise in sexual assault offenses in Queensland over the last decade. According to Guardian Australia, the ABC confirmed the phone number belonged to the columnist.

Sources at the station described the text messages as “inflammatory.”

Karvelas had previously interviewed lawyer Angela Lynch, senior executive of the Queensland Sexual Assault Network, as the increase had become an issue in the Queensland election.

“Guy Rundle wrote: ‘Tender interview on the head of a failed strategy, and that’s because every grope is now sexual assault and people don’t believe the politicians,'” Karvelas told her listeners. “Well, that’s pretty amazing.”

Will Hayward, the CEO of Crikey’s parent company Private Media, said he has not yet spoken to Rundle about the text but rejects the opinion expressed in it.

“We detest and reject the sexual assault comment submitted to the ABC yesterday morning,” Hayward said. “We are investigating the matter and will take appropriate action once we have spoken to those involved.”

Rundle is one of the biggest subscription drivers for the independent news site, but his writing has not been without controversy.

Last year, Rundle was heavily condemned for an article he wrote about the Commonwealth compensation for Brittany Higgins, who was allegedly sexually assaulted in Parliament House in 2019.

In his opinion piece, headlined “The Brittany Higgins Case: We Are Not Required to Leave Our Brains at the Security Gate,” Rundle argued that “we have a right to hear the full story” because Higgins received a compensation payment from the Commonwealth. .

Higgins, he wrote, had “about as much motive as anyone ever has to make a false claim of a sex crime” and said that being “found naked and sleeping on his boss’s sofa in the office was, of course, a career killer.” to become”.

Crikey apologized to Higgins and unpublished Rundle’s offensive article, followed by a lengthy second apology.

Crikey editor-in-chief Sophie Black and editor Gina Rushton have written a nearly 500-word editorial.

In 2016, Crikey was in the spotlight for publishing obscene comments made by Rundle about the relationship between Labor leader David Feeney and his wife, lawyer Liberty Sanger.

Rundle called Feeney “fat” and questioned why Sanger would be attracted to him. He also suggested that then Green Party leader Richard Di Natale was amused by his offensive comments about the couple’s sex life.

“David and Liberty – I mean, what could that be? What the hell could this be? It has to be the tongue, right? In these cases it is always the tongue. I bet this fat man has a tongue like a big wet carpet of meat. I bet it’s like Oscar night…” The Spruikers waver. Di Natale hears it and tries not to laugh.”

Rundle has been contacted for comment.