ABC Friends label Janet Albrechtsen and Neil Brown panel appointments a 'declaration of war on independence'

Extract from ABC News

Updated Fri 4 Jul 2014, 7:35am AEST

Photo: Former Liberal government minister Neil Brown and columnist Janet Albrechtsen. (AAP/Twitter)

ABC Friends has condemned the appointment of conservative columnist Janet Albrechtsen and lawyer Neil Brown QC to the panel overseeing appointments to the broadcaster's board as a "declaration of war on the ABC's independence".

The pair will join Ric Smith and David Gonski, who were both re-appointed last year, on the panel which makes recommendations to the Government when positions arise on the ABC and SBS boards.
Dr Albrechtsen, a columnist with The Australian newspaper and a former lawyer, was appointed to the ABC board by the Howard government and served from 2005 to 2010.
Mr Brown served as a federal Liberal government minister between 1981 and 1983. He also served as deputy Liberal leader from 1985 to 1987.
ABC Friends is a group that, according to its website, "represents the community's interest in its independent national public broadcaster".
Its national spokesperson Glenys Stradijot says the new appointments are "alarming".
"It appears we are in for a return to the bad old days when the Howard government stacked the ABC's governing board with its political supporters," Ms Stradijot said in a statement.
"Ms Albrechtsen is widely perceived as a right-wing political warrior. It is disturbing that someone so clearly partisan and a strident opponent of the ABC should be appointed to such a position."
Ms Stradijot says Mr Brown is a known critic of the ABC.
"ABC Friends worked long and hard for the introduction of a system which would depoliticise appointments to the ABC board, one in which board members would be appointed on merit," he said.
"The appointment of Ms Albrechtsen and Mr Brown undermines the integrity of the ABC Board appointment process. Their appointment is a declaration of war on the ABC's independence."
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) national president Michael Tull said the Government was trying to "wind back the clock" with the appointments.
"The nomination panel was supposed to depoliticise the process of appointing board members to the ABC and SBS," he said.
"Appointing two right-wing figures makes a mockery of that intention and points to what we have been saying all year, that this Government has its sights set on editorial control of the ABC." 


The terms will run for three years.