ABC boss under fire
FORMER ABC chairman Justin Milne has admitted the public broadcaster can’t afford to ‘irritate’ the government.
Mr Milne quit yesterday after a “firestorm” of allegations contained in a document recently sacked managing director Michelle Guthrie presented to the board on Friday.
It revealed that Mr Milne had called Ms Guthrie to say then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull “hates” political editor Andrew Probyn and “You have to shoot him”.
Mr Milne said last night: “I don’t remember saying that. What I would have done is have a conversation with Michelle and members of the leadership team about what I will call ‘The Probyn issue’”.
OUTGOING ABC chairman Justin Milne says no government MPs ever asked him to sack journalists because they didn’t like the broadcaster’s reporting.
He says he quit yesterday because the controversy around him was putting pressure on the national broadcaster.
The Communications Department boss is investigating reports Mr Milne asked former managing director Michelle Guthrie to fire senior journalists Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn because the Government didn’t like their stories. The ABC board met yesterday morning without Mr Milne and asked him to step aside during the investigation.
“I said ‘well I think actually I should resign because clearly there is a lot of pressure on the organisation’,” Mr Milne told the ABC yesterday. “It’s clearly not a good thing for everyone to be trying to do their job with this kind of firestorm going on, so I wanted to provide a release valve.” An email has shown Mr Milne asked Ms Guthrie – who was herself sacked on Monday – to fire Ms Alberici in May.
“They (the Government) hate her,” he wrote in an email to Ms Guthrie obtained by Fairfax Media.
Mr Milne is also said to have ordered Ms Guthrie to sack Mr Probyn by telling her “you just have to shoot him”, because Mr Turnbull hated the journalist.
“Nobody from the Government has ever rung me and told me what to do in relation to the ABC,” Mr Milne said.
“Nobody ever told me to hire anybody, fire anybody or do anything else. They absolutely didn’t.”
Mr Turnbull says he did not ask for specific reporters to be axed. “That is not right. The bottom line is I have never called for anybody to be fired,” the former prime minister told reporters in New York. “My
IT’S CLEARLY NOT A GOOD THING FOR EVERYONE TO BE TRYING TO DO THEIR JOB WITH THIS KIND OF FIRESTORM JUSTIN MILNE
concern has been on the accuracy and impartiality of news reporting.”
The board was meeting again yesterday to decide who would be acting chair.
“ABC board and chairman have made the right call,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted.
“Time for the ABC to resume normal transmission, both independently and without bias. That is what Australia’s taxpayers pay for and deserve.”
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has ordered his department secretary Mike Mrdak to run an inquiry and report back within days.