ABC host Fauziah Ibrahim breaks silence over Twitter lists about ‘lobotomised s***heads’ 

An ABC presenter who was briefly taken off air after creating a list of ‘Lobotomised s***heads’ and ‘Labor trolls/thugs’ on social media has broken her silence. 

News Breakfast weekend host Fauziah Ibrahim’s career was derailed when her Twitter lists became public a year ago in the lead up to the 2023 federal election.

She disappeared from the airwaves amid accusations of bias, but an ABC spokesperson said at the time that she was merely ‘taking a break’.

Her time in the wilderness was brief, however, and she was back on air a week after the election, with no fanfare, no apology and no reference to what happened.

Twelve months on, Ibrahim finally mentioned it during a technology segment  on weekend ABC News Breakfast last week.

The subject of Twitter came up prompting her to offer a very dry response.

‘One piece of advice: don’t make lists on Twitter. Let’s move on,’ she said.

Social media users, including a former Labor Senator, who found themselves grouped in the two lists – which were available for any member of the public to see – accused Ibrahim of being anti-Labor. 

The national broadcaster initially tried to play down what happened by saying ‘This is private Twitter account, not an ABC account.’ 

But it later said ‘The ABC is reviewing recent social media activity by presenter Fauziah Ibrahim,’ a spokesman said, adding that she had ‘taken a break from on-camera duties but remains part of the Weekend Breakfast team’.

But on air, there was no explanation for her absence and just a single passing reference to her.

John Barron, who replaced her, said ‘It’s great to be here,’ to co-host Johanna Nicholson. ‘Usually I would be watching you and Fauziah.’

At the time, Ibrahim removed any reference to ABC on her Twitter biography, including from her cover photo. 

She subsequently scrubbed all of her previous tweets and the social media page is now blank and has been reduced from more than 13,000 followers to a mere 14.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Ibrahim and the ABC seeking comment for this story. 

Former Labor Senator Doug Cameron was one of those on the list prompting him to hit out at the ABC presenter at the time.

‘Thanks to those who alerted me I made the list of ‘lobotomised sh**heads’,’ he said.

Media commentator and former journalist Mike Carlton accused Ms Ibrahim of ‘trashing the ABC impartially and blowing her own credibility’ in a scathing tweet.

There was some support for Ms Ibrahim, with one commenter saying her brief disappearance from the ABC was evidence of pro-Labor bias and that it was time to ‘defund ABC now’.

In August 2021, the ABC published guidelines for the personal use of social media by its staff.

This followed paid it paying journalist Louise Milligan’s personal legal costs of almost $200,000 after she was sued by federal MP Andrew Laming over a series of tweets.

The broadcaster’s new policy makes clear staff risk being losing their job if they compromise ABC’s independence or bring it into disrepute.