- The Guardian
- Issue #2199
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union representing journalists in Australia, is concerned about conduct on a post published on Tasmanian Minister Felix Ellis’s Facebook page on Tuesday 14 June 2026.
The video showed the Minister criticising a question posed by a local journalist at a press conference regarding the recent violent attack of a member of the public. While the Minister may have misunderstood or disagreed with the framing of the question, it was a relevant and fair question, given the details of the incident and the clear public interest in gun safety in Tasmania.
The post attracted dozens of comments that called for the journalist’s identity to be shared and used homophobic and violent language to bully and harass the journalist. Some abusive comments remained visible for more than 13 hours and were removed only after a colleague of the journalist contacted Minister Ellis’s office – Felix Ellison is Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management.
Journalists are workers who are entitled to do their jobs without facing abuse, threats or harassment. Further, they play a vital role in the democratic functions of Tasmania, and it is essential that they are free to ask questions of those who hold public office without fear of doxxing, harassment, or intimidation.
This represents not only a breach of press freedom and workplace health and safety principles, it may also breach the Code of Conduct for Ministers Section Respect for Persons: “Ministers are committed to ensuring and enabling for both women and men a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and bullying …”
MEAA is seeking an apology to the journalist affected from Minister Ellis and Premier Jeremy Rockliff. The union is also demanding that the Tasmanian government outline steps that will be taken to ensure media workers are not harassed or bullied on any ministerial or government forums, including online.
