Barnaby Joyce fails in his attempt to accuse KIIS 1065 host

The news of Sydney KIIS 1065 host Kyle Sandilands of not breaching broadcasting standards when he called Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce an insensitive wanker on air has left Joyce shocked.

Back in May, Sandilands called Joyce “an insensitive wanker,” “a gerbil of a thing,” “a loser and an idiot” and addressed him as a complete joker when he found that Joyce had threatened to kill U.S. actor Johnny Depp’s illegally imported dogs if not immediately removed from Australia.

Following the insult, Joyce’s office issued a complaint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, or ACMA. The statement said the host had used language that were beyond acceptable standards, norms of political debate and stood opposed to decent public broadcasting.

However, ACMA declared that Sandilands’ language was in accordance with the Commercial Radio Codes of Practice and acceptable, given the context and audience. Joyce said he was disappointed with ACMA's findings. "What do you need to say to a person before it's beyond the pale?" he said. He posed question, saying if this language was acceptable then what was not.

He asserted that a broadcaster holds a different responsibility altogether as compared to others in the street and pointed out that his language couldn’t be perceived as a free political comment. Joyce further said that it was anything but decent and people would agree on this.

"He is a public figure, he's not a person off the street, he's a public figure who makes his money by reason of the granting of a public licence,” he added. "How do we have this sort of world where it's alright in one area but it's not alright in the other?"

ACMA’s analysis said although “wanker” had three different meanings such as someone who masturbates or a foolish or objectionable person or self-indulgent or egotistical person, Sandilands usage referred to the third meaning. It clearly mentioned that it didn’t have any sexual connotation. It also stated that it was contextual in nature and any normal listener would understand its use in the Australian vernacular.

"In this sense, the use of the word, while again disrespectful, does not constitute a breach of the decency provision within the context of a robust political debate on a controversial topic where apparently heated statements were made by both participants," media watchdog said.

As regard to "just a gerbil of a thing,” the analysis stated that it only meant a small mammal and couldn’t taken as an abuse that was sexual in nature. It also conceded to the fact that the language did not involve in offence that could have breached the code of conduct.

The owner of KISS, the Australian Radio Network, being satisfied with the result, said that the language was clearly not a breach.

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