Ex-ABC bosses square off in battle for blame

SACKED ABC boss Michelle Guthrie yesterday told a Senate inquiry she was fired by the board after raising concerns about the then chairman, Justin Milne, bowing to political pressure from the then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Milne rejected the accusation, saying Mr Turnbull had never asked him to sack journalists Andrew Probyn and Emma Alberici.

He also claimed Ms Guthrie was sacked for her leadership style, saying she had received “shocking” results on a leadership assessment, scoring in the fourth percentile for “integrity”.

He said her results were “a source of enormous concern”, in a written submission. He said she scored in the 90th percentile for “autocracy, arrogance, criticism and distance”.

The two former ABC bosses also gave entirely opposing accounts of a June 15 phone call discussing whether the Gov- ernment would fund a $500 million project to digitally modernise the ABC if it was frustrated by ABC reporting.

Ms Guthrie claimed Mr Milne told her to sack Mr Probyn, after complaints from Mr Turnbull about the political correspondent’s reporting.

She said Mr Milne told her: “Malcolm hates Probyn … you have to shoot him.”

She said when she replied she couldn’t “fire a journalist for making a mistake”, he responded: “Your mistakes don’t upset the Prime Minister.”

Mr Milne said count: “That’s a she’s written.”

He told the inquiry they had a “robust” conversation but he never berated her and he “didn’t think” they even spoke about Mr Probyn.

In her submission to the inquiry Ms Guthrie, a former Google executive who has received an $800,000 payout from the ABC, also claimed news director Gavin Morris had complained about Mr Milne’s interventions.

In his submission, Mr Milne “emphatically and unequivocally” rejected claims that he had inappropriately touched Ms Guthrie or called her “the missus”.

He also denied Mr Turnbull had put pressure on him to sack journalists.

Labor Senator Kristina Keneally said the Senate inquiry had heard “contradictory accounts” from the two executives, which the committee would now need to test against other evidence. of this acscript that