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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Michael McGowan

Government announces inquiry into ABC turmoil – live

ABC staff outside the Ultimo, Sydney, building after meeting on Wednesday.
ABC staff outside the Ultimo, Sydney, building after meeting on Wednesday. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Right, we’ll leave it here for the night, I think. Bit of a day, eh? What began with an explosive story in the Fairfax papers has roiled and rumbled into a full-blown crisis of leadership at the public broadcaster.

The ABC chairman, Justin Milne, is facing calls from his own staff to resign, two inquiries into his behaviour and has received virtually no public support.

He’s digging his heels in though. Knowing the ABC act makes him virtually unsackable, he’s so far refusing to step down.

Here’s a recap of how today unfolded:

  • The day started with the explosive revelation that Milne sent an email to the now-departed ABC managing director, Michelle Guthrie, in May in which he appeared to suggest she sack high-profile reporter Emma Alberici. “[The government] hate her,” he wrote. “We are tarred with her brush. I think it’s simple. Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC – not Emma. There is no guarantee they [the Coalition] will lose the next election.”
  • Alberici told ABC radio it was “disappointing” and “very disturbing”. Milne sent the email the day after the former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, sent an 11-point email to the ABC complaining about Alberici’s reporting.
  • Milne issued a statement in which he did not deny the allegations, but said: “The job of the ABC board is to independently govern the corporation, protect its best interests, ensure that it is well funded, well managed, and that our content is of the highest standards. That is precisely what the board has done and will continue to do.”
  • A host of high-profile media figures – including the head of the journalists’ union, Paul Murphy, and a former ABC chairman and managing director, David Hill – called on Milne to step aside, citing suggestions of political interference in the public broadcaster.
  • At 1pm staff at the ABC in Sydney held a meeting – attended by hundreds of staff – in which they unanimously called for Milne to step aside pending an investigation into his actions. They were followed by staff in Melbourne. In Brisbane, ABC staff called for his immediate resignation.
  • Labor and the Greens said they would initiate a Senate committee inquiry into allegations of political interference at the ABC. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said Milne’s position was “untenable”.
  • The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, then announced he had instructed the secretary of his department to run its own investigation into the allegations levelled at Milne.
  • After an emergency phone hook-up with board members, Milne refused to budge. He sent a text message to ABC journalist Rafael Epstein saying he would not stand down.

Thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with this image of someone’s lovely lunch at Sydney restaurant Rockpool today.

Updated

Finally, he’s asked how he dealt with the inevitable political pressure that ABC employees face. (Sorry, I feel like a fanboy, but when Kerry speaks ...)

The only way to do a job like that is to have an eye fixed on the horizon and walk a straight line. That’s what you do. To listen to the white noise, beyond obviously needing to know what’s going on around you, but to be affected by it is slow death.

“I’m not Robinson Crusoe. I would like to think that’s the only way any journalist would conduct themselves. It’s part of the ethos of the place; it is a part of its survival mechanism. We cannot afford to be seen to be compromised.”

Updated

More from O’Brien. He notes this is not the first time the ABC has stared down editorial interference.

I think the whole issue of how the board is appointed has been a vexed one for along time. Both sides of politics have got their hands dirty at times.

“But there is a kind of trust in this process. We don’t talk about the audience enough but the ABC has a proud history of independence. And it has withstood pressures in the past – and we know pressures have been applied in the past at various times going back to when I was a young journalist in the early 70s.

“But we have survived and prospered as an institution because people feel confident that they can have a trust that what they are seeing on the air or hearing on the air has been professionally put together in the pursuit of excellence, in the pursuit of accuracy and in the pursuit of fairness and balance.

“If that trust is eroded by this process that we are seeing now, then I think that’s not only a tragedy, it’s just an appalling piece of sabotage.”

Updated

The veteran ABC broadcaster and former 7.30 Report host Kerry O’Brien is speaking on the ABC Drum program.

Unsurprisingly, he’s taken a dim view of Milne’s reported actions.

He either knew what he was doing and that’s reprehensible or he was dangerously naive and that’s reprehensible. I don’t think he has a place to hide if this is true.”

He’s also noted the difficulty of removing Milne if he refuses to go.

He can’t be removed. He has to come to this view of his own volition [and] there’s an enormous weight of responsibility that goes on the rest of the board now once they have established the veracity of this email ... The onus is on them to basically tell him he should go.”

Updated

Morrison government announces inquiry into Milne email

Milne may now be dealing with two inquiries. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has just released a statement revealing he’s asked for a departmental inquiry into Milne’s email to Guthrie over Alberici.

Having met with the prime minister this afternoon, I have asked the secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts to undertake an inquiry to establish the facts in relation to today’s media reports surrounding the ABC.

“The secretary will report his findings to me as soon as possible.

“It is important for the community to have confidence in the independence of the ABC.”

Updated

The Greens media spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, confirms the Greens will join Labor in moving for a Senate inquiry into political interference at the ABC. She says it’s possible hearings could happen before parliament next sits in a little over a fortnight.

Updated

Milne won't resign, ABC reports

The ABC is reporting Milne is digging his heels in and won’t resign.

After an emergency phone hook-up with board members today, the beleaguered chairman is refusing to quit.

Updated

A small but important detail on the chairman’s position, given the events of today.

Should Milne decide not to heed calls for his resignation, the ABC act provides for the governor general to remove the chairman.

“The governor general may remove a non‑executive director from office for misbehaviour or physical or mental incapacity.”

Updated

Interesting intervention from one of the ABC’s hardest-hitting investigative journalists, Caro Meldrum-Hanna.

The now-infamous email from Milne to Guthrie was reportedly sent on 8 May. On 7 May, Malcolm Turnbull had sent a list of 11 grievances to the ABC’s news director, Gaven Morris, about Alberici’s innovation article.

Updated

Bill Shorten says Milne's position 'untenable', Labor seeks inquiry into interference

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has weighed in, blaming the government for making Milne’s position “untenable”.

No political party has the right to interfere like this with the ABC. No journalist should be sacked at the request of a political party.

“It’s time for the Liberal party to back off. The ABC is owned by Australians, not the Liberal party.

“I’ll always fight for its independence.”

At the same time, Labor’s communications spokeswoman, Michelle Rowland, has confirmed Labor will move to establish a Senate inquiry into political interference at the ABC. The Greens will support it too. Because it’s voted on within committee and doesn’t need a full Senate vote, it means it has the numbers.

Updated

Some movement out of Canberra. Sky is reporting the ALP will support a motion for an urgent Senate inquiry into the situation at the ABC, meaning Milne would be compelled to answer questions.

Russell Crowe weighs in.

This from Richard Glover, the host of ABC Sydney Drive. He says “the who, where and how” behind the Milne email still need answering.

Here’s the full motion passed by ABC staff in Melbourne.

ABC staff in Melbourne are calling for the chairman, Justin Milne, to stand aside while an independent inquiry takes place.

“The ABC is, and always has been, a fiercely loyal independent news organisation and it is of no concern to our program makers or journalists whether they are hated by any government.

“We are dismayed that the chairman of our own board is exerting political pressure behind closed doors.”

Updated

Per journalist Margaret Simons, Melbourne ABC staff have passed the same resolution as Sydney.

They want an independent inquiry into the allegations against Milne, and have called on him to stand down in the interim.

Updated

ABC staff are now meeting at their Melbourne headquarters at Southbank.

Gosh, I missed this earlier. Andrew Bolt has also called for Milne to resign. The famous alliance between Australia’s rightwing cause célèbre, the Labor party and the journalists’ union holds strong. Erhm.

Updated

Confirmation the ABC union meeting was genuinely moved because there were puppies in the foyer. I’m sure a more Aunty thing has happened, but nothing is immediately springing to mind.

A little more from inside that meeting from our reporter Lisa Martin:

Stephen Long called for the chairman to stand aside while an investigation is carried out.

“Our board of executives needs to protect us from political interference from Canberra.”

Greg Miskelly, the branch president of the MEAA at ABC Ultimo, said:

“This is a situation that no journalist from across Australia can stand for.

“Political interference in any form of journalism is akin to state control of the media.

“We don’t know what has happened, we don’t know what the facts are.

“The response from Justin Milne has been inadequate.”

Updated

The excellent Amanda Meade has just published this cracker.

The ABC chairman, Justin Milne, vehemently opposed moving the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day and tried to convince the ABC board to reverse the Triple J decision, saying “Malcolm [Turnbull] will go ballistic”, she writes.

Reaction from a Triple J journalist below, too.

Staff at the ABC in Brisbane have gone further with their motion, calling on Milne to “immediately resign” if the reporting on his email to Guthrie is true.

“This meeting calls on the chairman to publicly acknowledge if the political interference in the reported email is true and, if so, immediately resign from his position.”

Updated

ABC staff have moved their meeting outside. Our reporter at the scene, Lisa Martin, tells me staff chanted “hands off the ABC”.

More from that National Press Club speech being given by Greens leader Richard Di Natale.

Updated

Here’s some of the speech from the staff meeting. Stephen Long, an investigative journalist at the ABC, was the speaker.

We all know the ABC is under strong and growing political pressure. We accept that’s the territory we live in [but] what we need is a management and a board who will stand up for us.

“A journalist being sacked because they had done work which offended the government is not OK. It’s not OK. This is not about Emma Alberici or the merits or otherwise of the particular stories. They were handled through editorial processes. This is about the appropriate role of the chairman and board, and that is not to act as a conduit for pressure from the government or any other powerful vested interests to have journalists sacked who aren’t liked by government ministers or any other powerful vested interests.

“[Milne] has said he was acting appropriately to defend the ABC. Not so. The core of what we do is our integrity. The reason the public trust us and why there is overwhelming trust in ABC reporting is because we are trusted to do our jobs without interference.”

Updated

ABC staff pass a motion calling for chairman Justin Milne to step-aside

OK, the ABC staff have just passed a unanimous motion calling for Milne to step aside while an independent inquiry is held into the allegation he sought to have Alberici sacked.

Here’s the wording from the floor of the meeting:

That we call for an independent inquiry into the allegations that have been made in the media today, and for the chairman to stand down in the interim while the investigation takes place. The idea behind the investigation is to secure the editorial independence of the ABC from top to bottom.”

Updated

A few ABC reporters are Tweeting images from inside the meeting at Ultimo.

The ABC staff had to move their meeting from the foyer because of an, erm, scheduling clash. Security aren’t letting our reporter on the ground into the building, but I’ll try to bring you updates as they happen.

Updated

We’re getting close that staff meeting at ABC headquarters but the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has been asked about Milne’s emails during a brief press conference just now. He’s refused to weigh in directly because the veracity of the email is yet to be confirmed by Milne.

The ABC is an independent broadcaster funded by the taxpayer. I expect the ABC to behave in a professional way and everyone who works there [to] respect the fact [it is] funded by Australian taxpayers and should conduct itself in a highly independent, unbiased way.

“[It is] not a perfect organisation and it gets things wrong. From time to time they report inaccurately [and] when that happens they’ll get caught out there is [proper] a process for that.

“When I have had issues with the ABC in the past that’s where I’ve raised those issues and how the ABC deals with it is up to them.”

Updated

Greens leader Richard Di Natale is speaking at the National Press Club.

Media reporting on media. Always tricky.

The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has released a statement in which he denies having ever involved himself in staffing matters. Fifield, of course, has made a habit of complaining to the ABC about stories he considers inaccurate.

From time to time, I have raised factual errors in ABC reporting, but have always respected the legislated operational and editorial independence of the ABC.

“I have never involved myself in staffing matters, nor am I aware of any member of the government who has sought to do so.

“The operations of the ABC are entirely matters for the board and management of the ABC which, by law, the minister does not have a role in.

“Questions about the ABC’s board and management are matters for the ABC.”

Updated

OK. This has all moved very quickly, so let me take you back to the beginning.

On Monday the ABC announced the shock departure of Michelle Guthrie halfway through her term as the chief executive of the public broadcaster.

The ABC’s chairman, Justin Milne, gave scant detail for the sacking, although there has long been disquiet surrounding a perceived failure of Guthrie to publicly defend the ABC, and an apparent hands-off management style.

Shortly after the announcement Guthrie released a statement saying the board had no reason to trigger her termination clause and threatening legal action.

“While my contract permits the board to terminate my appointment without cause and with immediate effect, I believe there is no justification for the board to trigger that termination clause. I am considering my legal options.

“I am devastated by the board’s decision to terminate my employment despite no claim of wrongdoing on my part. I wanted to continue the transformation of the ABC.”

Then, this morning, the latest bombshell. Milne reportedly told Guthrie to fire the chief economics correspondent, Emma Alberici, after the former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, complained about her reporting of tax policy.

This one requires a bit of background. In February the ABC removed an analysis piece about the government’s proposed corporate tax cuts by Alberici.

It followed Turnbull making a 12-point letter of complaint to the ABC about the article, and an attack in parliament, where he labelled it “one of the most confused and poorly researched articles I’ve seen on this topic on the ABC’s website”.

Milne and Turnbull are friends and former business partners, and this morning Alberici seemed to suggest the ABC’s chairman may have had a conflict of interest because he is the chairman of a company her article criticised.

Updated

Paul Murphy, the head of the journalists’ union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, has also been on the ABC. The union wants Milne to resign.

If [what has been reported] is true the chairman of the ABC has no understanding of the basic and fundamental principles of editorial independence and also of his role to act as a guardian and a protector of the independence of the ABC. What has been reported indicates just the opposite. That in fact he is enabling political interference in the ABC.

“You cannot have as the chair of the ABC, someone who is not prepared to stand up to the government of the day or indeed any other politicians, and defend the independence of the ABC. [It is] deeply troubling and [puts him] in an untenable position.

Murphy said he was “astonished” by the reports of Milne’s intervention.

I can’t recall an instance like this. I cannot recall an instance where there has been reason to question the dedication of the chairman of the ABC and its board to protect the ABC’s independence.

“The ABC is a public broadcaster, broadcasting in the interest of the community. It is not a state broadcaster; it is not broadcasting state propaganda.

“To have a suggestion that a journalist should be sacked because the government of the day is unhappy with their reporting is just extraordinary, disturbing and intolerable.

“I think that the chair is in an impossible position. That is our view. The level of concern being expressed to us by our members at the ABC and indeed our journalist members across the country in other media organisations is unprecedented. They all understand they can’t do their jobs unless they are protected, unless their independence is protected and they are allowed to report free of interference in the best interest of the public.”

Updated

So we’ve known for a while that there will be an ABC staff meeting in Sydney at 1pm. Here’s an email sent to staff from the ABC’s house committee.

“This is perhaps the most important staff meeting since the Shier era. We need to send a message that it is not OK for the chairman of the board to bow to political pressure about ABC coverage. This is vital to the ABC’s independence and our ability to report fearlessly and independently.”

Here’s a copy of an MEAA motion circulating the newsroom:

Updated

Former ABC chairman says Milne "has to go"

The former chairman and managing director of the ABC, David Hill, has just appeared on the ABC and said Milne “has to go”.

If these reports are true it’s deeply disturbing. Fundamentally the role of the board of the ABC and its chairman, indeed its legal responsibility, is to protect the independence and impartiality of the ABC, and here we have reports the chairman, to handle political pressure from Canberra, is suggesting the managing director dismiss, offer as sacrificial lamb, one of the ABC’s top journalists.

“It’s quite extraordinary.”

Hill said Milne had “clearly” been reacting to political pressure, and said he “has to go”.

[He is] saying that to relieve political pressure from Canberra the managing director should sack one of its senior journalists. I’ve never heard anything like it.

“Sadly i think [he has] got to consider his position and I think he has to go. It’s not the board’s role or the chairman’s role to decide on hiring or firing of staff. That’s a matter for management.”

Updated

The national president of ABC Friends, Margaret Reynolds, has expressed alarm over the revelations.

“Clearly all this debate about why the managing director was sacked is destabilising and now there are revelations regarding interference in the ABC just because an economics reporter had a different view to the government,” she said.

Reynolds, a former Labor senator from Queensland, said she understood that governments are sometimes unhappy with reporting of issues on the ABC.

“I totally understand the treasurer and the prime minister being unhappy, and that is totally political.

“But ABC’s role is to be impartial. Isn’t that democracy?

“I am certainly disappointed that the chairman would interfere in such a direct way and such a partisan way.

“I am not saying he is the first to do so. It seems as if we have forgotten the meaning of independence and the meaning of public broadcasting.”

Updated

When the squad’s riven with internecine cultural warfare and paralysed by internal political pressure.

Updated

The deputy leader of the Labor party, Tanya Plibersek, said that if the government had any role in pressuring the ABC to sack Alberici it would be “a shocking abuse of power”.

If it is true that the government or the prime minister himself have pressured the ABC to get rid of reporters whose reporting they don’t like, that is a shocking abuse of power.

“One of the things Australians love and treasure about their ABC is its integrity and independence. It’s the most respected news organisation in Australia and it can only maintain that integrity and independence with the support of its board and an absolute refusal to buckle to political interference.”

Updated

The former ABC chairman James Spigelman was also on ABC radio this morning. He suggested that the ABC is under increased political pressure, and said he would not have pressured Guthrie into sacking a staff member.

Spigelman said he had “no idea” why Guthrie was sacked, but that he would not have intervened in the same way.

“I wouldn’t have thought so. Well I wouldn’t have done it. I was surprised, and I wouldn’t have done it.”

Spigelman, who hired Guthrie, said he did not know why Guthrie had been fired.

“Let me say that a number of members of the current board were among her most fervent supporters of her appointment and also the most fervent supporters of her policies at the time I was chair, so something’s happened in her relations with the board and I don’t know what it is.

“I think it’s just a function of a government trying ... Look we saw what happened to Malcolm Turnbull. There’s no point in appeasing bullies.

“All I can say is that it’s a function of the government being under pressure from one of its internal groups and reacting to that.”

Updated

The Greens have also called for Milne to go.

Their media spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said this morning that the ABC chairman’s position was untenable.

“As the chair of an organisation that is supposed to be independent of government, Milne has shown he can’t be trusted with the ABC.

“Protecting the ABC from political interference is the most important responsibility of the chair.

“There can be no more serious breach than the apparent demand that a journalist be sacked at the behest of the prime minister of the day.

“The board’s responsibility is to uphold the ABC charter and ensure that the broadcaster is independent at all times and that its journalists and staff can do their jobs without fear or favour. Mr Milne must go.”

Updated

A number of ABC personalities have also weighed in. Barrie Cassidy, the host of Insiders and a senior ABC figure, said the issue “goes straight to the heart of the ABC’s independence”.

Quentin Dempster, the former host of Stateline in New South Wales, said Milne “will now have to consider his position”.

Updated

To say the reaction to the Milne email has been dramatic would risk understatement. This morning Alberici appeared on ABC radio where she said the story was “disappointing if it’s true” and suggested Milne may have a conflict of interest because he chairs a company she criticised in her now infamous piece on corporate tax.

“It’s disappointing if it’s true, obviously. You don’t want your chairman to hold such a dim view of you and your journalism.

“But it does strike [me] as odd and very disturbing, if the other reports are true, that the minister was also somehow expressing a view about my continued employment.

“I just think it really undermines the independence of the ABC [and] that’s certainly why I work there.”

She suggested Milne may have a conflict of interest because he chairs one of the companies criticised in Alberici’s corporate tax story.

“All I’ll say [is] I don’t think someone should be making recommendations on something if they have a conflict of interest or at least have an appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Normally what is the case in business certainly is that people recuse themselves from a board meeting if there is even an appearance of a conflict of interest.”

Milne has since also appeared on ABC radio, where he said he wouldn’t be “running commentary on day-to-day issues”.

“The job of the ABC board is to independently govern the corporation, protect its best interests, ensure that it is well-funded, well managed, and that our content is of the highest standards.

“That is precisely what the board has done and will continue to do. I do not propose to provide a running commentary on the day-to-day issues which arise as we carry out our duties.”

The opposition spokeswoman on communications, Michelle Rowland, called Milne on Wednesday demanding an explanation and saying the ABC’s integrity had been compromised.

She has since said she was not satisfied with the response and has left the door open to demanding his resignation.

“If these reports are true, this is an extraordinary situation in which the independence and integrity of Australia’s most trusted news organisation risk having been compromised.

“The independence and integrity of the ABC is paramount. It must remain free from political interference and withstand criticism even if, and particularly if, that criticism comes from the prime minister of the day.”

Updated

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the ructions inside the ABC after the sacking of its managing director, Michelle Guthrie.

The fallout from her unexpected departure is mounting. This morning Fairfax Media published the stunning revelation that the chairman of the ABC, Justin Milne, had previously told Guthrie to fire the economics editor, Emma Alberici, after the former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had complained about her reporting of tax policy.

That’s led to calls for Milne to resign.

You can read our latest coverage of the saga here. We’ll get into that, and follow the story as it unfolds here.

Updated

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