Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
ABC journalist and National Press Club president Laura Tingle has labelled as \u201chighly offensive\u201d suggestions that scheduling and staging of speeches by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine were driven by race.<\/p>\n
Price appeared at the National Press Club in Canberra last Thursday. Her address was held in a smaller room than the usual venue, which Tingle explained was the result of the senator\u2019s last-minute confirmation clashing with long-planned renovations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHighly offensive\u201d: Laura Tingle has rejected accusations the scheduling was driven by racism.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>James Brickwood<\/cite><\/p>\n Price and Mundine are prominent advocates for the No campaign in the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.<\/p>\n A weekly one-hour address from the Press Club is broadcast live and in full on Wednesdays on the ABC, on its main channel and the ABC News channel. It also airs on Sky News Australia.<\/p>\n Senator Price informed the club a week before her speech she could only appear on the Thursday, Tingle said.<\/p>\n Tingle, who is also an ABC board member, added broadcast scheduling decisions were at the discretion of broadcasters.<\/p>\n \u201cSuggestions that the timing or staging of the speeches by Senator Price and Mr Mundine were in any way driven by racism or disrespect for either speaker are highly offensive to the club, and to me as its president,\u201d Tingle wrote in a statement published on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n Tingle said it had been \u201cvery difficult\u201d to secure confirmation dates for Price and Mundine\u2019s speeches for months.<\/p>\n Mundine is yet to give his address. Tingle said he withdrew from his initial date of August 16, a slot which was later taken by Senator Lidia Thorpe, before agreeing to take the September 27 slot, which he again withdrew from.<\/p>\n Coalition spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at the National Press Club on Thursday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n An ABC spokesperson said all Press Club appearances outside the usual Wednesday slot are taken on merit, and due to the public interest in Price\u2019s address, it aired live on the ABC\u2019s main channel and News channel, as well as on digital platform, iView. Mundine\u2019s speech is also set to air live on all three platforms.<\/p>\n Mundine and the office for Senator Price have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Mundine is now scheduled to appear on Tuesday, September 26, with the Wednesday slot on September 27 set to be filled by Noel Pearson, lawyer and advocate for the Yes vote. Pearson\u2019s address is also not scheduled to be in the National Room.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n