“We’re sick and tired of the ABC being politicised by adversarial games, whether it was the Labor Party in power or the Liberal Party in power.” says Quentin Dempster, a former staff-elected director on the ABC board.
His comments follow appointment of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation columnist Janet Albrechtsen and former deputy Liberal leader Neil Brown QC to a panel which recommends appointees to the boards of the ABC and SBS.
These two have form in relation to the ABC:
- Dr Albrechtsen has previously called on ABC managing director Mark Scott to resign over the broadcaster’s publication of the story about the phones of the Indonesian president and his wife being tapped by Australia.
- Mr Brown, a former Liberal Party communications minister, has told The Australian newspaper he would sell off the ABC and start a new public broadcaster from scratch if he had his way.
At the same time, Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Communications, seems to be distancing himself from the decision to appoint these two.
For more on this see these articles:
The ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-04/turnbull-not-consulted-over-appointments-to-abc-panel/5571754
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/04/malcolm-turnbull-not-consulted-on-liberal-appointments-to-abc-panel
The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-distances-himself-from-decision-to-appoint-janet-albrechtsen-and-neil-brown-to-roles-overseeing-abc-and-sbs-board-posts-20140704-3bc1o.html
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