John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Of course it was accurate! I shouldn't pay any attention to interjections, should I, Madam Deputy President? It was a good report. That's why I liked the ABC, because it really gave attention to rural Australia. It's the same these days: I walk down to my kitchen every morning and the radio goes on to ABC Tamworth, where we listen to Kelly Fuller—Caitlin Furlong filling in at the moment—and many others, with the local news, the weather reports and the stock market with Mike Pritchard. They do a great service. They have a big budget each year: about a billion dollars. I have many friends in this building who have worked for the ABC, Sabra Lane, Lucy Barbour, Anna Henderson, Stephen Dziedzic et cetera, who do their job very well.

When it comes to the accusations and the political football being thrown around now about who blamed who, who was responsible for the managing director resigning, who was responsible for the chairman of the board, Mr Milne, resigning, and who caused all the troubles, I don't know. I see it as a dispute within the ABC. There are accusations that the minister and the former Prime Minister were involved. Claims that the government sought to undermine the ABC's independence through budgets, reviews and board appointments are without basis. The legislation provides for an independent nomination panel process to be initiated for each board vacancy. This has occurred on each occasion—it's as simple as that. All appointments have followed the legislative requirements. Decisions have been taken by cabinet and appointments made by the federal executive council. On Thursday, 11 October, the Minister for Communications received the report from the inquiry undertaken by the Secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts. This report states that both the former chair and the former managing director advised the inquiry:

… there was no request or suggestion by the former Prime Minister or any Government Minister to terminate the employment of a journalist or ABC staff member.

It's well worth noting that the report says that.

With more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding every year, the ABC enjoys greater funding certainty than any other media organisation in Australia. How true that is! They've got a billion-dollar budget. Have a look at the competition in the private sector, with the amalgamations, cost cutting et cetera, and the job losses of other networks trying to compete—a pretty tough industry, the media these days. But, as I said, I'm a big fan of the ABC. The government will apply an indexation clause to the operational basis funding of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over the next triennium funding period, from July 2019 to June 2022. They, like any other business, have to be efficient with their money, cut their costs and not waste taxpayers' money. I'm sure they do their best at that, but, of course, you can always do better.

On 12 September, the former chair, Justin Milne, advised the minister for communications that the board no longer believed the managing director was best placed to lead the organisation. That was the chairman's position at the time and how he informed the minister. The minister for communications, Senator Fifield, said:

I indicated to the chair that I respected the managing director's position was, under the legislation, a matter for the board.

On 23 September, the former chair advised the minister that the board had just met and resolved to terminate the tenure of the managing director effective the following morning. The minister for communications advised the Prime Minister shortly afterwards. So, on 24 September, the minister issued a statement reiterating the board's independence in deciding to end Ms Guthrie's tenure, a decision by the board. So, with the accusations going here, the political football keeps being kicked around. On 26 September, following reports about the former chair's involvement with staffing matters, the minister met with the Prime Minister to undertake an inquiry to establish the facts, to be headed by the secretary of the department of communications. On 27 September the chair resigned, and so it goes on. But the main thing is that the ABC keeps doing its job. It'll be kicked around as a football. No doubt Senate estimates will have plenty of questions, and we'll see how that eventuates.