The ABC Board is the body responsible for the operations of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Kim Williams AM is chair; David Anderson the managing director appointed by the board; Laura Tingle is a staff-elected member. The chair and other directors are chosen by the Australian Government.

Composition, structure and responsibilities

The ABC Board is a board of directors that is responsible for the operations of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[1] It is made up of five to seven directors chosen by the Australian government, and a managing director who is appointed by the board itself.[1][2][3] At various times, ABC staff have been granted rights to elect a nominee for appointment to the board; and as of April 2013 staff elected a nominee-director.[4] The duties of the board, as set out in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983, commonly called the ABC Act, (section 8) include duties "to ensure that the functions of the Corporation are performed efficiently and with the maximum benefit to the people of Australia; to maintain the independence and integrity of the Corporation; and to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism".

The Governor-General, on the recommendation of the Federal Government, appoints members, as specified in the ABC Act.[5][6] The ABC Act specifies that Directors must be experienced in broadcasting, communications or management, or have expertise in financial or technical matters, or have cultural or other interests relevant to the provision of broadcasting services.[7] Each director serves a term of five years, with eligibility for reappointment at the end of this term.[7]

Directors are expected to follow the ABC Board Protocol, which stipulates responsibilities, expectations, rights, and benefits.[7]

The board maintains an Advisory Council, which advises it on matters concerning the Corporation's programming.[8] The Council is made up of twelve members, broadly representative of the Australian community, which serve staggered four-year terms. Vacancies are advertised in September–October each year. The Advisory Council's current Chairman is Dr Jane Munro, Head of International House at the University of Melbourne.[8]

Process of appointment

The Minister for Communications nominates candidates to the Governor-General for appointment to the ABC Board; based on a shortlist prepared by an independent nomination panel. As of April 2018, members of the panel were former Treasury Secretary and Westpac Chairman, Ted Evans AC (Chairman); company director and lawyer, Dr Sally Pitkin; public relations media director and former broadcaster, Anne Fulwood; and former Australian Public Service Commissioner and departmental secretary, Helen Williams.[9]

Appointments to the board made by successive governments have often resulted in criticism of the appointees' political affiliation, background, and relative merit.[10][11] From 2003 the Howard government also made several controversial appointments to the ABC Board, including Albrechtsen, a prominent critic,[12] Ron Brunton,[13] and Keith Windschuttle.[11][14]

During their 2007 federal election campaign, Labor announced plans to introduce a new system, similar to that of the BBC, for appointing members to the board.[15][16] Under this new system, now in place, ABC candidates are considered by a panel established "at arm's length" from the Communications Minister.[17] If the Minister chose someone not on the panel's shortlist, the Minister would be required to justify their selection to Australian Parliament. The Chairman of the ABC is nominated by the Prime Minister and endorsed by the Leader of the Opposition.[15][18]

Current board members

Name Functional role Term start Notes / reference
Kim Williams Chair 7 March 2024 Term ends 6 March 2029[19]
David Anderson Managing director 6 May 2019 Term ends 6 March 2024[20][21]
Laura Tingle Staff-elected director 1 May 2023 Term ends 30 April 2028[22]
Peter Lewis 2 October 2014 1st term ended 1 October 2019; 2nd term ends 1 October 2024[23][21]
Georgie Somerset 23 February 2017 Term ends 22 Feb 2027[24][21]
Mario D’Orazio 13 May 2021 Term ends 12 May 2026[25][21]
Peter Tonagh 13 May 2021 Term ends 12 May 2026[26][21]
Louise McElvogue 16 October 2023 Term ends 15 October 2028[27]

Notable people

Chairs

No. Name Start of term End of term Notes
1 Sir Charles Lloyd Jones 1932 1934 [28]
2 William James Cleary 1934 1945 [29]
3 Sir Richard Boyer KBE 1 April 1945 5 June 1961 Instigated the Boyer Lectures in 1959. Died in office.[30]
4 Sir James Darling CMG OBE 1 July 1961 May 1967 [31]
5 Sir Robert Madgwick OBE 1 July 1967 30 June 1973 [32][33]
6 Professor Richard Downing 1 July 1973 10 November 1975 Died in office
7 Sir Henry Bland July 1976 December 1976 [34]
8 John D Norgard 1976 1981
9 Dame Leonie Kramer AC DBE 1982 30 June 1983
10 Ken Myer AC DSC 1 July 1983 1986 [35]
11 David Hill 1986 1987 Resigned as Chair to take up appointment as Managing Director[36]
12 Bob Somervaille 1987 1991 [36]
13 Mark Armstrong 1991 23 July 1996 [36][37]
14 Donald McDonald AC 24 July 1996 31 December 2006 [36][37][38]
15 Maurice Newman AC 1 January 2007 31 March 2012 [36]
16 James Spigelman AC QC 1 April 2012 31 March 2017 [39]
17 Justin Milne FAICD 1 April 2017 27 September 2018 Resigned[40]
18 Kirstin Ferguson 28 September 2018 27 February 2019 Acting Chair[41]
19 Ita Buttrose AC OBE 28 February 2019 6 March 2024
20 Kim Williams AM 7 March 2024 6 March 2029

Notable directors

Michael Kroger pictured here in 2015 has had a long association with the ABC
Name Start of term End of term Notes
Janet Albrechtsen 24 February 2005 18 February 2010 [12][42][43][44]
John Bannon AO 24 July 1994 July 1999 [37][45]
Cheryl Bart AO 3 June 2010 [46]
Neville Bonner 1 July 1983 [47]
Ron Brunton 1 May 2003 30 April 2008 [13]
Quentin Dempster Elected by staff[48]
Kirstin Ferguson 12 November 2015 November 2020 [49][50]
John Gallagher QC 9 December 1999 23 February 2008 [51][52][53]
Di Gribble AM [54]
Vanessa Guthrie 23 February 2017 March 2021 [49][55]
Earle Hackett 1973 [56]
Peter Hurley
Ramona Koval 2002 2006 Elected by staff[57]
Michael Kroger 1998 February 2003 [58]
Michael Lynch March 2009
Ian Macphee AO 9 December 1994 [37]
Professor Julianne Schultz AM 1 October 2014
Steven Skala AO 6 October 2005 [citation needed]
Dr Fiona Stanley AC FAA 30 June 2011 2016 [59][60]
Keith Windschuttle June 2006 [11][14]

Managers

No. Title Name Start of term End of term Notes
1 General Manager Harold Parkyn Williams 1 August 1932[61]: 25  4 March 1933 Died in office[62]
2 Major Walter Tasman Conder 1 April 1933[63] 25 June 1935[61]: 42–43  [64]
3 Sir Charles Moses 1 November 1935[65] 21 January 1965[61]: 254  [66][67]
4 Sir Talbot Duckmanton 26 February 1965 1 July 1982 [68]
5 Keith Jennings 13 August 1982 5 May 1983
6 Managing director Geoffrey Whitehead 23 January 1984 31 December 1986 [69][70]
7 David Hill 1 January 1987 25 February 1995 [71]
8 Brian Johns 17 March 1995 17 March 2000
9 Jonathan Shier 17 March 2000 31 December 2001 [38]
10 Russell Balding 29 May 2002 25 March 2006
11 Mark Scott 5 July 2006 29 April 2016
12 Michelle Guthrie 1 May 2016 24 September 2018 [60][72][73]
13 David Anderson 3 May 2019 present [74]

Criticism

Past appointments have been associated directly with political parties—five of fourteen appointed chairmen have been accused of political affiliation or friendship, including Richard Downing and Ken Myer (both of whom publicly endorsed the Australian Labor Party at the 1972 election[75]), as well as Sir Henry Bland. David Hill was close to Neville Wran, while Donald McDonald was considered to be a close friend of John Howard.[76]

In the past, appointments of commissioners and directors also drew criticism.[11] In the 1932, a majority of the commissioners were publicly conservative.[citation needed] This continued to 1942, when the Curtin and Chifley administrations appointed a more 'politically balanced' commission.[citation needed]

Once elected to power, Labor prime minister Whitlam replaced the entire board—appointed by Liberal governments over the previous 23 years—with supporters of the Labor Party.[76] His successor, Malcolm Fraser, attempted unsuccessfully to take similar action by replacing the board with politically conservative commissioners in 1976,[76] but was only able to make new appointments by adding two extra director positions onto the board.[66][76]

In 1983, Minister John Button referred proposed board appointments to an all-party committee for the first time.[76] This practice was discontinued before the end of Paul Keating's government.[76] Alan Ramsey, in a 1996 article for The Sydney Morning Herald noted that:

"12 came from overt political backgrounds, among them a former Labor premier,[11] a former Liberal senator, a former Liberal Cabinet minister, four trade union activists, four advisers to various State Labor administrations, and Labor's former opinion pollster, Rod Cameron.[11]" In short, "less than half Labor's ABC appointments over the years have had obvious party political connections, while two of them came from among the ranks of its political opponents."[66]

A 2006 restructure of the ABC board, undertaken by the Howard government, abolished the position of staff elected director.[3] The elected director was previously nominated and elected by employees of the ABC. Nominees for this director office were to have been employed at least 24 hours a week by the ABC and the term of office was two years with eligibility for re-election to a second term. An elected director was not eligible for a third term of office. Broadcaster Ramona Koval had occupied the position for the previous four years prior to its abolition amid ongoing intense controversy.[77] This drew criticism from the Labor Party, Australian Greens, and the Democrats, who saw it as a 'revenge measure' taken against the Corporation.[78][79]

In July 2007, Labor announced plans to make the system of appointments to the board independent of the Minister for Communications;[15] and also reinstate the staff election of a nominee director.[4] Initial members of the independent panel were Gonski, Smith, Allan Fels and Leneen Forde.[citation needed]

In September 2018, there was criticism raised by Labor's Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland about ABC's "independence and integrity of Australia's most trusted news organisation risk having been compromised"[80] following discussions within the ABC board about an email instruction from Justin Milne to Michelle Guthrie in May 2018 to sack senior presenter Emma Alberici, on the basis that what was reported by Alberici did not agree with the government.

On 24 September 2018, Justin Milne announced to ABC staff that Managing Director Michelle Guthrie was sacked following discussions with the ABC executive and directors.[81] Milne then announced his resignation on 27 September.[82] Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has directly appointed a majority of the current members of the board, some of whom were rejected by the nomination panel.[83]

See also

References

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