Dawn Fraser blasts 'spineless' Anthony Albanese for remaining silent on 'vile' ABC segment about Australia's richest person

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 01:06, 2 August 2026 | Updated: 01:06, 2 August 2026 Olympic legend Dawn Fraser has slammed Anthony Albanese for failing to condemn an ABC program that featured a violent depiction of mining magnate Gina Rinehart. Fraser targeted both the national broadcaster and the Prime Minister in a Facebook post, taking aim at the 'vile' segment that aired on July 12. 'I am sick to my stomach to think we have a government-funded network showing vile pieces to air about one of Australia's greatest supporters, Gina Rinehart, and our vile Prime Minister has not come out and condemned the content,' she wrote. 'You are a spineless imbecile Albanese and you get more disgusting as the days go on. 'To let this vile crap on ABC go to air and not come out and say anything against it shows the insipid little degenerate you are.' The comments come as Hancock Prospecting escalates its dispute with the ABC over a Race Around the World episode. The program follows six Australian filmmakers as they travel through 10 countries in 100 days. During the episode, contestant Kate McGuinness performed a fictional and satirical segment involving Mrs Rinehart. Dawn Fraser (left) slammed Albanese over failing to condemn a segment about Gina Rinehart The segment included references to a violent attack on the mining billionaire, with McGuinness joking about using a stick to turn her into 'a big sausage roll'. 'Because when the revolution comes will you hide under the bed or will you know exactly how to shove a stick right up Gina Rinehart's butthole, stirring it round, mixing her guts up nice and smooth, to make one big sausage roll to make something out of nothing,' the segment said. Hancock Prospecting formally complained to the ABC Board on July 23, calling the content unacceptable and demanding the broadcaster take the episode down across all its platforms. In a statement, the company said it had called on the ABC to immediately remove the material, issue a public apology to Mrs Rinehart and conduct a full investigation into how the segment was commissioned, approved and broadcast. 'Hancock called upon the ABC to immediately remove the material from all ABC platforms, publicly apologise to Mrs Rinehart, and undertake a comprehensive investigation into how the material came to be commissioned, approved and published, together with full accountability for those responsible,' the company said. Hancock said it had received no substantive response from either the ABC Board or senior management in the week since lodging its complaint. McGuinness issued an apology through the ABC on Thursday, stressing the segment was intended as satire and was never meant to encourage violence. 'The sense of humour featured in each of my films on the Race Around the World program is farcical,' she said. Fraser said Albanese's (pictured) silence on the ABC made her 'sick to her stomach' 'In no way was it my intention to promote violence. My writing is cartoonish and always satirical.' 'Unfortunately, jokes do not land with everyone. Its purpose was never to be taken literally.'