Stan Grant has quit hosting Q&A following “years” of being a “media target for racism”.
The host decided to step away from his Monday night show after being “regularly racially mocked” on social media.
“I’m not walking away for a while because of racism,” he said in a televised statement.
“We get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I need to ask myself how, or if, we can do it better."
In his final statement before leaving the show, the Wiradjuri journalist said not a week had gone by where he was not racially targeted.
“Sadly, it seems there is no place in the media for love, kindness, goodness or God. There is no place in the media for respect,” he said.
“On Monday night I will present my Q+A program, then walk away. For how long? I don't know.”
In the 2022 Australian Reconcilliation Barometer report, it was found that 57 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents agree that Australia is a “racist country”. And 60 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have experienced at least one form of racial prejudice according to the report.
Mr Grant criticised the ABC for failing to support him while he was “racially mocked”.
“Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don't hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure,” he said in this statement.
“I am not perfect. But I try to live a good life. I try to be kind. I love my family. I love my people. I love the idea of what our country could be. I am a person of God and I know God is on the side of justice.”
Stan Grant started working for the ABC in 2017 and is one of the most well-known journalists in Australia. He is also the channel’s international affairs analyst.