That's a wrap
And that’s it, the hearings have concluded. A reminder that the hearing was examining alleged political interference at the ABC. What did we learn about that? Well, Amanda Meade will have a wrap of today’s events on our website later.
Before that, a quick summary: the former ABC chair Justin Milne admitted saying to the former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie in an email that the ABC needed to “get rid” of the broadcaster’s chief economics correspondent, Emma Alberici. But he says that was not a direction, and simply his opinion. Guthrie told the hearing she viewed it as an order from Milne.
Milne also accused Guthrie of fabricated evidence. Her claim that he had told her that the board needed to “shoot” Andrew Probyn – that is, fire him – was a “script that she’s written”. Guthrie hit back, saying the conversation definitely happened.
Guthrie, who stuck tightly to her pre-prepared submission, opened her appearance by saying she remains “devastated” by her dismissal. She has taken legal action over it.
She also criticised the make up of the ABC board, saying there was not enough “media and public sector” experience .
With that, we’re going to leave you. Thanks for following along.
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Connors says, as Gersh and Walford did too, that Guthrie’s firing had nothing to do with political interference. She says Milne stepping down was the right thing for the future of the ABC.
Hanson-Young asks why the board didn’t move on Milne first and only acted when the allegations became public. Connors says she was “appalled” by Milne’s email to Guthrie, but suggests they planned to deal with the Milne issue after Guthrie’s dismissal.
That is, the board would have dealt with Milne but had to sack Guthrie first. In the end, events got ahead of them.
Jane Connors, who is the staff-elected board member, says she hasn’t spoken to Emma Alberici since the controversy began.
She says she introduced herself to Andrew Probyn when she was last in Canberra to check on his welfare.
Hanson-Young asks about Andrew Maiden, a consultant who was helping with funding negotiations. We learnt earlier that Maiden had suggested that the ABC hire more “rightwing commentators”, according to Guthrie and Hanson-Young.
Connors says she’s unaware of that suggestion.
Updated
Connors, who joined the board in May, says she would have liked to have seen the emails from Milne to Guthrie. The board should have had the chance to see those emails and discuss them, Connors says.
Keneally asks her further about Milne’s suggestion to Guthrie that “they friggin hate” Emma Alberici.
“Can I just say how sorry I feel for people like Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn who have been drawn into this saga,” Connors says.
Connors says she wondered why the Milne email was not seen by the board for three months and only released by Guthrie to the board at the last minute (when she was being fired).
Jane Connors, a non-executive board director, is the final witness. Connors, who is the staff-elected board member, has given her opening statement and is now taking questions. She faced some criticism when the controversy over Guthrie and Milne was at its height a few months ago.
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Another light moment from the hearings.
While we wait, here's former chairman Justin Milne telling the Senate committee that he doesn't believe in kayaking pic.twitter.com/8dkF2BhqKe
— Brett Worthington (@BWorthington_) November 30, 2018
Over a period of about 10 minutes, the committee went over Walford’s role as “executive coach to Guthrie”, her role as a board member and whether she had any political affiliations.
Hanson-Young asked her if she’s a member of the Liberal party. She replied that she is not. Hanson-Young said she’s attended Liberal fundraisers before, but Walford said she works with politicians from both sides as part of her efforts to encourage more women into politics.
The hearing has now gone “in camera” as they did with Gersh so that Walford can discuss Guthrie’s dismissal.
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Walford describes conversation with Guthrie on 'inappropriate touching'
Keneally has moved on to Guthrie’s conversation with Walford about Guthrie’s allegation about inappropriate touching from Justin Milne.
Walford says of the conversation: “That’s when she said that Justin had touched her on the back, he interferes with management and he yells at me.” (Milne has denied these claims.)
Walford says she asked Guthrie three times if she could take those issues to the board. Guthrie said “yes”. Walford notes that the board includes the chair. “She didn’t say, ‘So long as it’s the board and not the chair’,” Walford says.
Briefly, a lighter moment: Walford accidentally calls Hanson-Young “minister”. “One day maybe,” Hanson-Young replies. “When we have Green government.”
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The hearing has reopened to the public and non-executive director of the board Donny Walford is giving her opening statement.
Walford notes that Michelle Guthrie has taken legal action and that she may be a witness in those hearings. Therefore she will be “limited” in what she can say about Guthrie’s dismissal.
Updated
Gersh said he would like a change to the nomination process for the ABC board to remove any suggestion of political appointments.
Hearing ‘in camera’ so Gersh can outline reasons for Guthrie’s sacking
Gersh is asked how much he makes for being on the ABC board. He doesn’t have the exact figure, but says it’s around $50,000 a year. The sum is decided by the Remuneration Tribunal, he says.
The hearing is now “in camera” so Gersh can outline the reasons for Guthrie’s sacking without jeopardising the ABC’s legal position (his argument). As you’ll remember, Guthrie is taking legal action over her dismissal.
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Gersh says the “serious” allegation of political interference is a separate discussion to the sacking of the managing director. There were “serious and substantial” reasons for Guthrie’s sacking, he says.
He still won’t outline the reasons why Guthrie was sacked unless he can do so “in camera” – which means behind closed doors.
Updated
The one question we’re all dying to know – why did the board sack Guthrie – has not been answered by Gersh in the interests of protecting the ABC from legal action. Guthrie is suing the ABC for wrongful dismissal.
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Gersh says when Guthrie delivered her 11-page dossier to the board which alleged political interference from the chairman most of it was new to him.
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Gersh is asked about Guthrie’s claim that the board lacked “media experience”. Gersh says he thinks it’s a “good board”. He says the board “could use an additional member with experience in the media or digital transformation”. He says the composition of the board is something that always needs to be under consideration.
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Welcome back. ABC board member Joe Gersh is now giving evidence.
They are discussing Gersh’s meeting with Guthrie over her complaints about Milne’s behaviour. Gersh says that he asked Guthrie whether she would consider resigning.
Guthrie had said no, and asked Gersh whether Milne would resign. But Gersh says asking her to resign was not the purpose of the meeting.
Updated
And that concludes Guthrie’s appearance. The committee hearing will suspend now for an hour, at which point Joe Gersh will appear. See you shortly.
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Guthrie 'incredibly surprised' claims about Milne relayed to him
Michelle Guthrie is talking about the accusations of inappropriate touching by Justin Milne at an event in November 2017. (He denies this.) She says she raised the issue with the board because it was not appropriate to go public or contact the government.
Guthrie says she told board member Donny Walford about her claims. She says Walford told her that another board member, Joe Gersch, would discuss them with her.
Guthrie says she was “incredibly surprised that she [Walford] had raised those issues with Mr Milne”. When Walford had asked for permission to discuss the allegations with the board, Guthrie had “thought it meant the rest of the board excluding Mr Milne”.
Of the discussion with Gersch, Guthrie claims it “became clear” the
the purpose of the meeting was not to elicit an investigation ... (but to convince her to) resign from the ABC.
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Guthrie says the idea – which she claims was proffered by Milne – that the ABC should sack Andrew Probyn in order to receive funding for the Jetstream project was the “most incredible and ludicrous proposition”.
Claims ABC told to hire more 'rightwing commentators' to win funding
Sarah Hanson-Young turns to a consultant, Andrew Maiden, who was working alongside the ABC’s chief financial officer, Louise Higgins.
Guthrie says Maiden wrote “papers for the board”. His role was to help make the case for more government funding during negotiations.
Hanson-Young asks Guthrie if she was aware that Maiden had suggested that one way to succeed in those negotiations was “that the ABC needs to hire more rightwing conservative commentators to ease political tensions”.
Guthrie: I subsequently became aware of that, yes.
Those suggestions were not made while she was present, but she was told about them.
Hanson-Young asks if she was aware that the proposal for more “rightwing commentators” was “in a draft proposal to the board that was then revised”.
Guthrie was not aware. Asked about the relationship between Guthrie and Milne, she says they had “worked together in the past”.
Updated
The six complaints from the government in five months “was regarded as unusual”, Guthrie says. She says the complaints were written in an “adversarial way”.
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Michelle Guthrie is now criticising the make up of the ABC board. She says during her time as ABC boss she “felt very strongly (there was) a lack of media experience” and “public sector experience”.
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Guthrie hits back at 'fabrication' claims
Tim Storer has asked Michelle Guthrie about Justin Milne’s claim that she “fabricated” her evidence of a phone call between the pair about Andrew Probyn. Milne told the hearing earlier that Guthrie’s recollection was “a script she has written”.
“There absolutely was a conversation on the 14th of June at 4pm where he discussed Mr Probyn in a very aggressive ... manner,” Guthrie says.
Was it a script written by her? “That is absolutely not the case,” she replies. “It (his comments about Probyn) absolutely happened.”
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Prior to August, Guthrie says she had no conversations with Justin Milne about her performance. (She was sacked in September.)
A reminder of that below.
The hearing has moved on to Guthrie’s dismissal and how board member Donny Walford became her “executive coach”.
Guthrie says the 360 review – in which she scored poorly – was a “personal development tool” not a performance review. Milne has said the review was so “shocking” it prompted moves to dismiss Guthrie.
Guthrie is asked if she knew the review would be used to move her on. “Not at all,” she says.
Guthrie is adamant about a conversation she had with Gaven Morris in which he told her Justin Milne needed to stop sending WhatsApp messages with editorial advice. Milne has rejected this, Hanson-Young says.
Guthrie says she told Morris he was right to tell Milne the conversations were inappropriate.
Updated
Guthrie says she was aware that the prime minister’s office was complaining to the head of the ABC’s parliament house bureau. She says Gaven Morris was concerned about this, but his concerns were over the personal pressures inflicted on ABC staff.
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Did Milne ever say to Guthrie that Malcolm Turnbull expressed frustration with the ABC’s reporting on his government?
Guthrie: I recall that, yes.
She says she had a conversation with Milne “along those lines a number of times”. The references from Milne, Guthrie says, were to “the prime minister and the government”.
We discussed moving on Alberici: Guthrie
Hanson-Young asks what Milne was saying to her about Alberici during April and May. “(They) were around removing Ms Alberici from her role,” she replies.
Hanson-Young notes Milne had suggested it was in fact Guthrie who first raised Alberici’s position.
Asked about this, Guthrie acknowledges she and the ABC news director, Gaven Morris, had discussed whether Alberici was well suited to the role of chief economics correspondent. They wondered whether she was well suited to writing long form, analytical articles.
Because of the February article on tax? Yes, Guthrie replies.
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Guthrie is asked about these tweets from Emma Alberici.
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— Emma Alberici (@albericie) November 29, 2018
I did not receive a reprimand in February or April or May or since
In the Innovation story of May ... we called Emeritus Professor Roy Green an adviser to Government. The PM complained that Dr Green was no longer acting in that capacity so we corrected that
Sarah Hanson-Young asks Guthrie if she had a conversation with Alberici about the issue? Guthrie says no.
Guthrie continues on Milne’s “get rid of her” email:
In my mind that was a direction in the email and it was also very clear that the ‘they’ was referring to the government of the day.
Guthrie says she had a lot of conversations with Milne about Alberici’s future in April and May. Guthrie says she told Milne there was a process to follow and that she’d received legal advice that management had “no cause” to dismiss Alberici.
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Keneally notes Milne has acknowledged earlier today that he told Guthrie the ABC should “get rid of her” (Emma Alberici). How did she respond to the email?
She didn’t, Guthrie says.
But she did talk to three board members about it. “It was more around the issue rather than the specific email,” she says.
Guthrie says she was “shocked to receive the email”. She believed it was “extremely inappropriate” that the chair would tell her to “get rid of a journalist in order to please the government”.
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Keneally asks about a conversation between Malcolm Turnbull and Michelle Guthrie at the AFL grand final.
They talked about the work Guthrie was doing to transform the ABC, which Guthrie says Turnbull supported. “And there was a comment he made to me about (ABC political reporter Andrew) Probyn’s reporting,” Guthrie says.
Turnbull did not suggest Probyn was “anti-government”, Guthrie replies to a question from Keneally. “He expressed dissatisfaction with his reporting,” Guthrie clarifies.
The complaints were about “accuracy”, Guthrie says.
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Guthrie is asked about Emma Alberici’s articles on corporate tax from February. Guthrie says they were found to have “errors of fact as well as omissions of fact that required editing”. She says there were “failures in the process”.
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Kristina Keneally kicks off questioning. What changed when Milne took over from James Speigelman as chair?
“It is very clear to me ... that the minister for communications certainly called me less often following Mr Milne’s appointment as chair,” she replies.
Why does she think that Mitch Fifield started calling her less?
Fifield was having conversations with Milne, she says, though she was not aware what about. There were more complaints in writing from the government from that point, Guthrie says.
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Guthrie says complaint about Milne was trigger for her dismissal
Guthrie says the trigger for her termination was that she complained about Milne’s behaviour towards her and his attempts at interference. She claims Milne saw his role as “conduit to government”.
Guthrie says that her pushing back at Milne’s conduct “soured our relationship” and says the board made no attempt to assist her. That was why she chose to challenge her termination, she says.
“For me personally, this is painful,” Guthrie says.
See more about Guthrie’s legal action here.
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Michelle Guthrie: 'I remain devastated'
Michelle Guthrie begins her opening statement dramatically: “I remain devastated.”
She says she believes the reasons for the termination of her five-year term were “not lawful”. Her sacking can’t be explained by personal differences between her and Justin Milne, she says.
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Michelle Guthrie is up. The committee chair, Sarah Hanson-Young, says Guthrie has asked she only be filmed via the official hansard footage.
The media has left.
Former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has asked media not film or photograph her during her testimony. The Senate has agreed to this. Initial shots were taken when she first sat at the table to give evidence. Vision of her testimony will be available via the Parliament.
— Brett Worthington (@BWorthington_) November 30, 2018
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They are a bit late coming back from the break. I suspect this is why.
Michelle Guthrie - who until recently ran a major media organisation - says she does not want to be filmed during her testimony to the Senate hearing #auspol
— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) November 30, 2018
That’s a wrap on Justin Milne’s evidence. The hearing has suspended for a brief break. Next up is Michelle Guthrie.
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Milne is asked how he sought to protect the ABC from political interference. He replies by saying “all the things I’m supposed to have done (to interfere with the ABC) never actually occurred”.
He’s asked by Keneally if political interference from the government was conveyed through Milne to the ABC management.
Milne: I reject that.
They’ve moved to accusations from Guthrie about inappropriate behaviour from Milne. Milne says those allegations were received the day after it was suggested to her that her position was “in considerable doubt”.
“It was a very severe letter,” he says.
“Subsequent to that, she ... made those allegations,” Milne says.
He explains what happened after that. Milne says he immediately called a board telephone hookup. The board decided that board member Joe Gersh should discuss those issues with Guthrie. Milne says that Guthrie was asked if she’d like to make a complaint, and declined three times.
For context: Milne was accused of “inappropriately touching” Guthrie, which he denies.
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Milne walking a fine line
Milne is trying to walk a fine line between admitting he sent emails to Guthrie saying journalists should be sacked or disciplined and insisting that it was not a direction to management.
It was only “his opinion” that he was conveying and ABC management made all the decisions about hiring and firing staff, Milne insists.
But it’s a very difficult position to be in when there are explosive emails which prove he said some intemperate things about ABC journalists, like “they friggin’ hate her” about Alberici.
Milne insists it was “collegial conversations” with ABC management and “not advice”.
The former telco executive saw his role as ABC chairman as one in which he was duty bound to keep an eye on the ABC’s output and intervene where necessary. This interpretation certainly stretches the view of an ABC chair as one which should be at arm’s length from the day-to-day running of the ABC.
It’s even more difficult for Milne in the context of an inquiry about political interference to defend his emails, which linked the perceived failures of ABC journalism to the government’s likelihood to be generous with funding in the future.
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Does he believe Alberici is biased?
Milne: No, I’m not saying that.
But he suggests her work represented “a faulty product”.
'The zeitgeist': Milne pressed on why government 'hated' Alberici
Milne is asked what happened between February (Alberici’s tax article) and May (innovation article) that prompted him to now believe that Alberici was the “linchpin of trust for the ABC”.
Alberici was “not exonerated” after the February review, Milne says. The conversation about her was “ongoing”.
Hanson-Young asks him what gave him the impression “they friggin’ hate her”. “It’s a very intemperate email,” Milne admits.
He first dodges the question but is pressed. “The zeitgeist,” he finally says.
Updated
Milne says he’s never discussed Emma Alberici with Malcolm Turnbull. He hasn’t with Mitch Fifield either, he adds, but qualifies his answer. “It may have come up in conversation but I never received any instructions,” Milne says.
Hanson-Young reads out a May email from Milne to Guthrie. It reads in part: “After two glasses of wine, of course there’s an agenda. They keep sticking it to her with a clear bias against them ... We are tarred with her brush. I just think it’s simple, get rid of her ... we need to save the corporation not Emma.”
Did he write the email? “Yes.”
Why did he write it?
“The question of trust,” he replies. But he says it’s been taken out of context, because Guthrie had “confirmed” in an earlier email that morning that she was “considering sacking Ms Alberici”. “It’s made to appear the idea ... was all my idea, which it was not.”
She says those ideas – sacking her, moving her to another role – belonged to management, not him.
He was worried, he said, that if the ABC continued to make mistakes, it would lose funding.
Updated
We’ve moved on to Emma Alberici’s controversial article on tax, which sparked a huge political fight.
“I do feel sorry for Ms Alberici,” Milne says.
Hanson-Young interjects: “You’re the one who said they friggin hate her.”
Hanson-Young notes that Guthrie suggested on multiple occasions that Milne told him that Alberici should be fired. Guthrie claims that Milne made the suggestions over email, What’s App, over the phone and in person. Does he accept that?
Milne: No.
Updated
It’s getting a bit testy now.
Senator Tim Storer suggests that Milne gave Guthrie the highest score in her 360 review, but then, after the issues over Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn, Milne’s opinion of Guthrie began to change.
Milne thinks the entire conversation is not that relevant. Hanson-Young interjects.
“Do you want me to answer?” Milne says.
“I want you to answer it without the waffle,” Hanson-Young replies.
“You’ve got the impression I gave her a very high score ... I gave her the highest of the very low scores,” he says.
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Milne on Triple J furore
Milne strongly denies saying “Malcolm will go ballistic” when told Triple J wanted to move the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day.
He says he doesn’t know any Triple J staff and doesn’t remember speaking to any Triple J staff in relation to their survey about moving the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day.
Milne makes it clear he was not in favour of the plan because he believes most Australians don’t want to move Australia Day.
Updated
Keneally puts it to Milne that he went to Triple J staff to complain about the Hottest 100 date changing, according to Guthrie’s version. Milne went to Triple J, Guthrie has claimed, without telling her.
It’s said that Milne reprimanded Triple J over the date change because “Malcolm will go ballistic”.
“I don’t have the slightest memory of that,” Milne says.
Milne says Andrew Probyn was “counselled” over his suggestion in a news report that the government had determined the date of a series of byelections.
He says Probyn came from the West Australian newspaper, where the standards of “right of reply aren’t so high”.
Milne denies trying to get rid of Andrew Probyn
“I don’t have any record of ‘shoot Andrew Probyn’ or ‘get rid of Andrew Probyn’,” Milne adds.
Of Guthrie’s submission of the conversation, Milne rejects it out of hand. “That’s a script that she’s written,” Milne says pointedly.
Keneally is reading out Guthrie’s assertions of the conversation and Milne is denying saying any of it, including suggesting Emma Alberici needed to go, or linking Jetstream funding to Andrew Probyn’s role.
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They’re now talking about a call between Guthrie and Milne after the Turnbull meeting. Guthrie outlined the call on Four Corners. Milne says wryly he doesn’t recall the details of the meeting in as much detail as she does.
He has “no recollection of berating Ms Guthrie at all”. “I wouldn’t characterise it as heated ... belligerent.” Milne says Guthrie “gives as good as she gets”.
Keneally asks Milne if he said to her that “Malcolm (Turnbull) hates (Andrew) Probyn”.
Milne: No.
Updated
Keneally asks Milne if he attended a meeting on 15 June with Turnbull and Fifield.
They had a meeting in the prime minister’s office in Sydney. He says he wanted to talk to them about an ABC project called ‘Jetstream’. (You can read about that here.)
Keneally asks if Turnbull or Fifield mentioned the ABC’s political reporter, Andrew Probyn, during the meeting. Milne says he thinks Turnbull would have expressed a view about his dissatisfaction with the ABC, which he had done publicly. But Milne says Turnbull never told him to sack anyone.
Milne turns to Emma Alberici’s tax and innovation articles, which Milne says Turnbull viewed as “sub par”.
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Keneally asks Milne if he socialised with him regularly before becoming chair.
Milne: Yes.
Does he know Lucy?
Milne: Yes.
Milne says he’s been to Turnbull’s home. He’s not been to a Liberal party fundraiser, though.
He only met Mitch Fifield when the government was formed.
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ABC chair appointment like an episode of survivor
He’s outlining how an ABC chair is appointed. Keneally thanks him for the “thorough” explanation of the process. Would it be fair to say Fifield encouraged him to take part in the “process”? Yes, Milne says.
Keneally describes the process as like an episode of Survivor.
How would he describe his relationship with Malcolm Turnbull?
Milne says he’s known Turnbull for nearly 20 years. He’s a “good acquaintance and business associate of mine”. “I consider him as a friend ... but he’s a very busy person.” “I’m just one of many people that he knows,” Milne says.
Updated
Labor’s Kristina Keneally is taking over the questioning now.
She’s asking him how he came into the job. Milne says Fifield called him and invited him to put himself forward. Milne describes it as a “funny old process”.
Updated
Milne says all of the emails he wrote to staff were “all in the nature of this is my view ... I’m just saying this but you guys need to decide”.
Hanson-Young puts it to him that it’s been suggested many times “you behaved more like a managing director than a chairperson”. Does he accept that?
“Not in the slightest,” he replies.
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Was Milne’s “eagerness” to participate in meetings ever raised with him?
He says Guthrie has painted a picture of “interference” from Milne. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he says.
He spoke with the board often, he says. Not once during the meetings about Guthrie’s performance were matters of “interference” raised, Milne claims. It “beggars belief” that they wouldn’t have done so had they had concerns about Milne.
Was there a review of the performance of board members?
Milne: Yes.
Milne says he gave Guthrie her “highest score” in the review of her performance.
Milne is asked by Hanson-Young if he acknowledges being a “change agent” (Guthrie) would require “some time to absorb negative feedback”. Why wasn’t that a consideration in the review?
Milne says Guthrie had been there for two and a half years ... but “her ... results had declined”.
“What the board felt it had was an organisation that was becoming increasingly disengaged and increasingly uncomfortable with its leader,” he says.
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Eight people in survey that led to Guthrie's sacking
Milne admits that the survey which led to Guthrie’s sacking was limited to eight people and did not include the director of news, Gaven Morris. He said he spoke to Guthrie’s direct reports, people who had left the organisation and others in the ABC. Milne declines to tell Hanson-Young the names of the people he surveyed.
In his submission he says “during March 2018 and April 2018, a 360 review regarding Ms Guthrie’s performance as managing director was undertaken. A 360 is a survey which is completed by the relevant person’s supervisors and their subordinates. In the case of Ms Guthrie, the survey was completed by Board members and those employees of the ABC that reported to Ms Guthrie”.
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“The results were so outside of the norm that they ... couldn’t be waved away,” he says of the review.
Milne says he and Ferguson met with Guthrie. The board was then notified and decided to appoint Donny Walford as a “coach” to Guthrie, he says.
“I think it’s fair to say the board, over the course of these three months ... tried to get at Ms Guthrie and where she stood in the organisation,” he says.
Milne is asked about the “inquiries” conducted into Guthrie’s performance.
They did a “360 review”, he says. “The results of that 360 were “shocking ... they were a source of enormous concern to me and Kirstin Ferguson” (head of remuneration committee).
Questioning has begun.
Sarah Hanson-Young notes Milne had said trust was important to the ABC. Asked if he has helped to undermine trust in the ABC, he replies “no”. He takes responsibility for sacking Guthrie, and the ensuing “firestorm”. But he did not “seek to undermine the ABC”.
He’s asked if he got legal or HR advice saying there were not grounds to sack Guthrie. Milne says Clayton Utz provided advice that said there were grounds to do so. He says the board engaged that firm during the process of considering Guthrie’s position.
What were the grounds for sacking Guthrie?
That the board had lost confidence in her judgment, Milne says.
Milne admits saying the ABC should 'get rid of Ms Alberici'
We’re under way. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is chairing the inquiry. She has just called Justin Milne.
Milne, who was at the helm of the broadcaster between 1 April 2017 and 17 September 2018, begins his opening statement. He hopes his statement isn’t too long, but Hanson-Young notes he will be here for two hours!
“It’s a national treasure,” Milne says of the broadcaster. Being its chair “was a role I took extremely seriously”, he adds.
Milne says Michelle Guthrie was terminated owing to her “poor leadership skills which resulted in the board’s loss of confidence in her”.
He says he never allowed his personal views or relationships to interfere with his duties as ABC chair. The board had considered terminating Guthrie for three months, and met 17 times about it. “The board viewed it as a necessary step,” he says. He says he abstained on voting on her dismissal.
He unequivocally rejects claims from Guthrie of “inappropriate conduct” towards her.
On the issue of Emma Alberici, he admits saying that the ABC should “get rid of Ms Alberici”.
“It was not a direction ... not a result of influence from any member of government.”
Milne regrets the blunt language. He says he formed that view because she had made mistakes in her work.
“I resigned not as a concession of any wrongdoing,” he concludes.
Updated
Here’s a look at the schedule for today’s hearings.
The Environment and Communications References Committee is holding a public hearing today into the allegations of political interference in the ABC
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) November 29, 2018
Live: https://t.co/9Lgw5iFZlr pic.twitter.com/sU7Y4giwIJ
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the parliamentary hearings into alleged political interference at the ABC. I’m Luke Henriques-Gomes.
This morning, we will be hearing from the former chairman Justin Milne and the former managing director Michelle Guthrie.
Milne and and Guthrie have both made submissions to the inquiry, which was established by Labor, the Greens and the crossbench. As my colleague Amanda Meade writes, Milne claims in his submissions that Guthrie’s removal was prompted by her poor performance in a survey of the executive team. You can read Amanda’s story below.
The ABC’s economics correspondent, Emma Alberici, has weighed into the saga again overnight. She is unhappy with some assertions in Guthrie’s submission.
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— Emma Alberici (@albericie) November 29, 2018
Read it here
Ms Guthrie makes a number of false claims the most egregious of which is that I received a “reprimand” for writing stories that, after much overblown angst, were found to be accurate in substance pic.twitter.com/FAxhjAuXAF
We’ll be covering the hearings live so please follow along, and leave your thoughts below the line.
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