Tony Armstrong accused of ‘moonlighting at the expense of ABC’s integrity by Media Watch over NRMA ads

Tony Armstrong has been called out by the ABC after he began working with a commercial business, accused of “moonlighting at the expense of the ABC’s integrity”.

The former AFL player turned ABC News Breakfast sports presenter recently took on work with Insurance Australia Group (IAG) owned NRMA Insurance, providing voiceovers for the advertisements and sponsorship promos.

Media Watch, a flagship program on the ABC, alleged that Armstrong failed to seek approval from his employer before taking on the work.

As a taxpayer-funded broadcaster, the ABC has strict guidelines on how staff can engage in external work.

Armstrong announced last week that he would be stepping away from News Breakfast, vowing to continue to work with the broadcaster on “other projects”. Friday will be his final show.

Instead of receiving praise and celebration from his colleagues, he has been called out.

“It’s a shame this moonlighting at the expense of the ABC’s integrity is what we’re talking about in his final week on News Breakfast,” said Media Watch host Janine Perrett.

“Tony’s arguably one of the ABC’s biggest stars,” Perrett said on Media Watch on Monday.

“He’s not only on the breakfast TV couch, he’s appeared at night on a new sports show, he’s one of many appearing in ABC News promos and is the face of a new five-part series.

“So we were stunned when we got confirmation that Tony was selling an insurance company as well”.

Although not blatantly banned in the broadcaster’s guidelines, staff are told to carefully “quantify the risk” of engaging in commercial work.

“Any work that involves endorsing a commercial product or service is extremely high risk,” the guidelines state.

“For all external work, you must obtain approval from your manager”.

Perrett claimed, “Voicing commercials is a whole different game.”

Media Watch asked ABC if it was aware of Armstrong’s work with IAG-owned NRMA Insurance and asked for clarification over whether he sought approval from management.

“Astonishingly, he did not,” Perrett said.

“The voice-over was done without the ABC’s knowledge,” the taxpayer-funded broadcaster said in a statement.

“This was due to a misunderstanding with Tony’s external representation.”

Perrett questioned how there could be any misunderstanding overtaking commercial work for one of Australia’s largest companies.

“They have been provided a copy of the external work guidelines and reminded all ABC employees are required to meet them,” the statement continued.

“Tony is a highly valued employee and has the ABC’s full support.”

Media Watch approached Armstrong for comment, however, he did not respond.