On 4 August, Sky News broadcast an interview between compere Adam Giles and former leader of the United Patriots Front, Blair Cottrell. Giles asked Cottrell whether he saw ‘a correlation between the way Australia is going and where it should go in regards to some of the arguments Donald Trump is putting out there’ about Islam and immigration. During the interview, Sky News tweeted ‘@blaircottrell89; A lot of Western countries lack the national pride that is necessary to galvanise the minds of the masses and to protect the people of this country against foreign ideologies’. Cottrell has a fondness for Hitler and argues for an end to non-white immigration. At the end of the interview, Giles wished Cottrell well.

The response to the broadcast was immediate: universal condemnation. Journalists from all media outlets including Sky News itself, politicians of all persuasions and sponsors of Sky News each condemned the decision to interview and provide a platform for Cottrell’s brand of white supremacy. Sky News apologized for the interview, stating that Cottrell’s ‘views do not reflect ours’. One exception was libertarian, Caleb Bond, who argued that Cottrell’s views should be aired in order that they could be challenged and discredited.