Stan Grant will not return to Q+A

Stan Grant will not return to his role as host of Q+A.

The ABC announced on Monday that Grant has decided not to return to Q+A as host. Radio National’s Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas will continue to host the show until at least the end of this year.

ABC News boss Justin Steven said Grant — who took leave after a torrent of vicious racism over his role in the ABC’s coverage of the coronation of King Charles III — will stay on with the ABC to work on “new projects” and contribute to “a number of different” programs.

“We want to do all we can to support Stan and ensure he continues to play a major role in Australian media,” Stevens said in a statement. “He has the ability to lead our media towards a kinder and more constructive conversation.

“In Wiradjuri ‘dyiraamalang’ means a teacher and leader. Stan Grant, a proud Wiradjuri [Gurrawin and Dharawal] man, is both of those things and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does into the future.”    

In his final segment as Q+A host, Grant told viewers that the media should reflect on whether it is “honouring a world worth living in” after a weeks-long royalist press campaign that targeted his commentary during the ABC coronation panel’s discussion.

“Too often, we are the poison in the bloodstream of our society,” he said at the time. “I fear the media does not have the love or the language to speak to the gentle spirits of our land.

“I’m not walking away for a while because of racism. We get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.”

Grant announced his departure the previous Friday in his weekly column on the ABC’s website. He said that since appearing on the coronation panel he had seen “people in the media lie and distort” his words, and he and his wife had faced surging racial abuse on social media.

The panel coverage was hosted by Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird. Grant and Indigenous writer and lawyer Teela Reid joined as guests, alongside monarchist and Liberal Party backbencher Julian Leeser, as well as Craig Foster, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement.

The panel discussed the role of the monarchy in modern Australia and the consequences of colonialism for Indigenous Australians and was broadcast for some 45 minutes before the ABC took the BBC’s live feed.

Condemnation of the broadcast, largely led by the Australian Monarchist League and its chair, former senator Eric Abetz, resulted in “around” 1800 complaints, a Senate estimates hearing was told in late May. Of those, 59 raised issues related to editorial policies, which were referred to the ABC ombudsman’s office for investigation, and 1100 were deemed racist or abusive.

Ombudsman Fiona Cameron later cleared the coverage of any editorial breaches, but conceded the segment may have been “jarring” for some viewers. In a letter to the league earlier this month, Buttrose said there “are always lessons to be learnt” from covering significant events, issuing a reluctant apology.

In his column, Grant took aim at ABC executives for withholding public support of the coverage or taking steps to refute “the lies” written and spoken about him. He called the silence an “institutional failure”, before giving an honorary mention to Stevens, who Grant said had been a source of “support and comfort”. 

At a Senate estimates hearing in late May, managing director David Anderson and Stevens told senators that Grant was expected to take leave for about eight weeks.

Anderson, in response to questioning from independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, said the ABC had implemented a number of measures to try to thwart discrimination levelled at staff, even if the organisation isn’t “doing a good enough job”.

Anderson announced in the days after Grant’s initial column that the organisation had accepted a recommendation from the ABC’s Bonner Committee to launch a review of how the ABC responds to racism directed at staff, and what more it can do to offer institutional support.

The Bonner Committee, the broadcaster’s peak body for issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and content, said it would push for the review to be led by an independent expert alongside the committee and all other staff representation groups.

Crikey has contacted Grant for comment.