‘It’s a horrible, horrible place’: ABC goof reveals David Speers’ true inner thoughts

If you thought Senator Jane Hume set the bar for candour with her comments on this week’s episode of Insiders, that was just the beginning.

Insiders host David Speers (Image: ABC/Insiders)

Thanks to a goof somewhere in the ABC, this week’s Insiders featured a little more must-see footage than usual. Regular viewers would have seen Liberal Senator Jane Hume, last seen on the election trail conjuring George Bush’s rhetorical gifts, announce with admirable candour that the Liberal Party was not really into this whole “policy-making” lark.

When asked by host David Speers about where the Coalition now stands on the fuel excise policy it put in place, she said “we don’t have policies, we are in opposition, not in government”. But the real candour came from Speers himself, captured on a hot mic in uncut footage seemingly uploaded accidentally by the ABC.

In the minute or so leading up to the broadcast, Speers suggested a picture with his guests — Hume and his panel of The Herald Sun’s James Campbell, news.com.au’s Samantha Maiden and Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy — “for those lovely folks on social media”, which earned a mild laugh.

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