Australia’s national broadcaster will send a cease and desist letter to the rightwing populist party One Nation for using Bluey in a “shocking and disrespectful” cartoon which sees the beloved character repeatedly ramming politicians with an SUV. The ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, told Senate estimates on Tuesday he became aware of One Nation’s potential breach of intellectual property last week and sought legal advice. The legal dispute came to light after the Western Australian Labor senator Varun Ghosh asked the ABC if it had sought legal advice over the 2024 political cartoon, called State of Melbourne, which has had 1.3m views on YouTube so far.
Estimates was held a week after the alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines outside the politician’s northern Victorian electorate office, which led to her losing both legs. Marks said he believed the use is a clear breach of intellectual property and “a cease and desist letter should be issued”. He revealed the ABC had been in contact with Bluey’s international distributor, BBC Studios, and the Brisbane-based creators Ludo.
He said Pauline Hanson’s party had not sought permission to use the children’s character in the hit show. The BBC, Ludo and One Nation have been approached for comment. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property, number one.
But it’s also a shocking use of Australia’s most loved character.” “In fact, probably the globally most loved character in a video. That is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia who love that character so much.” The animation shows Bluey behind the wheel striking a depiction of the former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, with an SUV, as well as TV host and conservationist Robert Irwin. Before he is run over, the Albanese character says to Bluey: “You’ve got that crazy look in your eyes”.
In one scene in the three-minute video, Andrews is at the wheel, Albanese is his passenger and the car deliberately runs over Bluey and Irwin. The politicians are then shown putting the bodies of Bluey and Irwin in the boot of the SUV. In other evidence at estimates, Marks said the ABC’s former news director Justin Stevens received a termination payout of $353,230 because he did not want him to work out his notice.
So I didn’t want to continue Mr Stevens in that role.” Stevens, whose total remuneration for the financial year was $864,394, was replaced by executive Simon Robinson last month after a 19-year career at the public broadcaster. His base salary was $529,202, according to the annual report. Marks told senators “mistakes” were made in the production of programs by former Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal but the entire leadership of Four Corners had now been replaced.
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