Kirstin Ferguson promises to resist government pressure as Labor calls for board overhaul

Extract from The Guardian

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Interim ABC chair would not be drawn on when the board knew Justin Milne had asked Guthrie to sack journalists

Amanda Meade

Fri 28 Sep 2018 16.39 AEST Last modified on Fri 28 Sep 2018 16.41 AEST

The interim chair of the ABC, Kirstin Ferguson. Labor and the Greens have called for an overhaul of the board nomination process and a Senate inquiry. Photograph: QUT

The interim chair of the ABC, Kirstin Ferguson, has said she is “very grateful” Justin Milne resigned but she would not be drawn on when the board knew the chairman had asked Michelle Guthrie to sack journalists.
In her first interview since being appointed deputy chair by the government on Friday, Ferguson said she had “never seen evidence in our board discussions from my current board of any political interference” but she accepted the board needed to regain the trust of the public.
Labor and the Greens called for an overhaul of the board nomination process and a Senate inquiry.

“A strong, independent media is critical to a healthy democracy and in Australia we know that our public broadcaster is vital in providing this strength,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said. “We need a genuine, transparent, cross-party process to make sure the ABC is governed by people who are truly independent and non-partisan.”
Ferguson distanced herself from Milne’s interventionist style. She said she had no relationship with the government and, if a minister called her, she would be polite and do nothing.
“For a minister to expect that I’m going to do something differently or pass it on or make any comment about editorial processes or individuals, they’re not going to get very far,” Ferguson said.
“I’ll very respectfully listen but I think it is very important and [at] the very forefront of my mind [that] we are an independent public broadcaster. We must never waver from that and, under my leadership, until a permanent chair is appointed obviously, actions speak louder than words but that is my focus.”
Ferguson’s style appears to differ from Milne who said in an interview on 7.30 that he saw himself as a conduit with government and not a wall.

  'There was no interference': Milne defends tenure as ABC chairman – video

“You can’t go around irritating the person who’s going to give you funding again and again and again if it’s over matters of accuracy and impartiality,” he told Leigh Sales.
The Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said there was a cloud over the whole board.
“The ABC certainly is a mess and board members who can’t do their job should be considering their position,” he said. “What the board needs is people on it who will stand up for the independence of the ABC. It is critical that it be a public broadcaster, not a government broadcaster.”
But Ferguson rejected calls for the whole board to resign, saying it was not in the best interests of the ABC.
“The matter of who the government might select to be board members is a question for them,” she said. “But I can tell you the board is very united and focused on what is only in the best interests of the ABC.
Ferguson refused to say what the board knew about Milne’s interventionist style but Guardian Australia understands members were made aware of the email to Guthrie demanding the sacking of Emma Alberici last Thursday night when she sent it in a package of documents in an attempt to ward off her sacking.
The board was disturbed by the allegations from Guthrie, sources said, but remained resolute the managing director had to go.

Ferguson said the timeline would be revealed by the government inquiry and she would cooperate entirely.
Ferguson confirmed Milne wanted to reverse Triple J’s decision to move the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day, as revealed by Guardian Australia, but said it was important to remember the decision was not changed.
“They did an extraordinarily thorough process in making sure they could come to a really sound decision and the board definitely endorsed that decision,” she said.

The governor general accepted the government’s recommendation on Friday to appoint Ferguson as deputy chair until 2020.