Simon Robinson, ABC's new head of news, has sparked a staff revolt after threatening disciplinary action against senior journalist Michael Slezak for an article he wrote criticizing ASIC. The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union committee claims this is an attack on press freedom and has called for a meeting to protect its members from potential reprisals. Robinson’s actions have raised concerns over the ABC's strict rules on external work and their enforcement, especially given Slezak’s pre-existing agreement allowing him to make public comments as a senior union figure.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Simon Robinson, the new head of news at ABC in Australia, is facing criticism from staff members just four weeks into his position. The conflict stems from disciplinary threats against Michael Slezak, a senior journalist and federal president of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, after he wrote an article in The Australian Financial Review opposing plans to restrict access to information about company directors. Lee Glendinning, ABC's national and digital news boss, joined Robinson in claiming that Slezak might have violated the broadcaster’s external work policy and code of conduct with his publication. The union responded by calling for an urgent meeting on Monday to address what it views as a threat to press freedom, highlighting tensions over editorial independence at ABC.
Written for “Union Dispute At ABC News” on 2026-10-12,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 73112: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-12
The ABC’s new head of news Simon Robinson is staring down the barrel of a staff revolt just four weeks into joining the public broadcaster, with its union committee labelling a threat of disciplinary action against a senior journalist an attack on press freedom.
asserted
threat → star → freedom
The ABC’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance house committee called an urgent meeting for its members on Monday after Michael Slezak, who is also the federal president of the union, was threatened with disciplinary action over a piece he wrote in The Australian Financial Review.
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he → call → Review
Robinson, who joined the ABC as director of news last month, called Slezak into a meeting last week to raise concerns over his conduct, an email from the union to its members alleges.
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email → join → members
Robinson and national and digital news boss Lee Glendinning said he may have breached the ABC’s external work policy and code of conduct over the article, which advocated against plans to limit publicly available information about company directors in Australia.
uncertain
which → say → Australia
In the piece, Slezak said that ASIC and its chief executive Mark Rigotti was using the Bondi terror attack as a “shield” to help push forward changes to an issue it has long pushed for, access to personal information of prominent company directors.
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it → say → directors
The pair refused to rule out the possibility of disciplinary action or dismissal, the email sent out to about 1000 union members on Monday said.
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email → refuse → Monday
The union has called a meeting of members for Tuesday and called on ABC management to rule out action on Slezak and ensure union representatives can undertake legitimate advocacy in future “without intimidation or reprisal”.
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representatives → call → intimidation
Any attempts to intimidate elected staff representatives “must be met with a collective response from the members they represent”, the email said.
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email → intimidate → members
The ABC has strict rules that demand its staff follow an external work request process.
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staff → have → process
However, the union says that Slezak had a pre-existing written agreement with the broadcaster that predated Robinson’s arrival, which permitted him to engage in public comment on behalf of journalists, as part of his senior and public role with the MEAA.
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which → say → MEAA
Robinson joined the ABC last month following the exit of Justin Stevens in May.
uncertain
Robinson → join → May
Robinson joined from news agency Reuters where he was the outlet’s second most senior editor globally.
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he → join → Reuters
Robinson and the ABC were approached for comment.
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Robinson → approach → comment
Slezak and the union were also approached for comment.
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Slezak → approach → comment
The article in question was published by the AFR last Monday.
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article → publish → AFR
In it, Slezak argued against proposed changes to the corporate regulator, ASIC, which would limit the amount of public information made available about company directors.
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which → argue → directors
“The ABC cannot publicly champion press freedom while privately targeting a national union representative for doing the same thing,” the union’s ABC house committee said.
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committee → champion → thing
“Our union representatives are elected to advocate for us.
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representatives → elect → us
They cannot do their jobs if they are only permitted to say things with which their employers agree.
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employers → do → which
The ABC has had a tense relationship with its unionised staff over the past 12 months as a drawn-out enterprise agreement bargaining process led to its first strike in two decades.
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process → have → decades
Union representatives and management clashed at several points throughout the process, before an agreement was finally struck in March shortly after a staff walk-out.
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agreement → clash → out
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion.
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newsletter → deliver → stories
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