Former Patrick Stevedores CEO Chris Corrigan has slammed the ABC docu-drama Bastard Boys for what he calls a one-sided representation of the waterfront dispute. In response, Corrigan and the Howard Government are developing a plan to replace the entire ABC drama department with scab scriptwriters trained in Dubai.

Corrigan expects considerably less resistance from the ABC unionists than he received from the wharfies. "We won't need an army of vicious attack dogs on the picket lines this time either," he said. "We'll just bring back Jonathan Shier."

The one-time union adversary said he took particular issue with the name that the national broadcaster chose for the show. "It's extremely misleading," he said. "From the sound of it, you'd think the doco was about the ABC Board."

While criticising the programme, John Howard paid tribute to Corrigan's leadership in the waterfront dispute. "Without his efforts against the MUA, we couldn't have introduced WorkChoices," he said. "So when you think about it, we've suffered from his actions almost as much as the unions did."

In the wake of the scandal, the Government is also considering restoring the "more efficient" arrangement seen in recent years, which outsourced the entirety of the national broadcaster's drama department to the BBC.

The ABC has announced plans for a sequel, which will also misrepresent the players in the current controversy. "It will be an accurate factual documentary," writer Sue Smith said. "Except for the deliberate distortions, which I will defend as dramatic license."

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