Bill Shorten attacks ABC Board as Mitch Fifield accused of stacking ABC board appointments

BILL Shorten has attacked the ABC board’s members, as Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has been accused of stacking it with the government’s preferred picks.

BILL Shorten has blasted the ABC board, demanding answers over what they knew about the former chairman’s call for two journalists to be sacked after complaints from Malcolm Turnbull.

It comes amid fresh allegations that Communications Minister Mitch Fifield stacked the board with the government’s picks and ignored the independent selection process today.

“I think probably the board has questions to answer,” the Opposition leader said today.

“What do they know and when did they know it?” Mr Shorten said, questioning whether the remaining seven board members were “just mushrooms kept in the dark” while former chairman Justin Milne and former managing director Michelle Guthrie were “at war”.

“Are we assuming Justin Milne was a sort of lone wolf operating here and just issuing edicts to Michelle Guthrie? What is the job of the board? Are they there for a digestive biscuit and a tea?” he said.

Most Australians would expect to lose their job if they behaved like the directors of banks or the ABC, the Labor leader said while adding that the government needed to “hang its head in shame” for ignoring the independent selection process.

Bill Shorten has taken a swipe at the ABC Board. Picture: AAP

Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd has called for a wide ranging royal commission into “the abuse of media power”, which would also look at future models for public and private media ownership.

In an opinion piece published by Fairfax Media, the former prime minister has also called for the independent selection process for the ABC to be enshrined in law to put it “beyond partisan political reach” and for the core funding for the ABC to also be legislated.

It comes as Senator Fifield again rejected claims today that he ignored the proper selection process for board members.

Neil Brown, a former member of the independent panel tasked with recommending ABC and SBS board members, accused the federal government today of treating the selection process as a “charade” as the fallout continues from a chaotic week that left the ABC leaderless.

Mr Brown, a former Fraser Government communications minister, has also accused Senator Fifield of “misleading” the public about the selection of certain candidates and blasted the government’s appointment of ABC board members Vanessa Guthrie and Donny Walford, saying Ms Walford’s appointment “came from nowhere”.

“We nominated five people; Donny Walford was not one of them. That’s a clear breach of any recognition of the panel process being of any value whatsoever,’’ Mr Brown toldThe Australian.

“In all of those cases the minister is holding up a figleaf in what is a government directive to ­appoint individuals, using the charade of going through the nominations panel process.”

Mr Brown also slammed Senator Fifield for saying in 2016 that the panel had recommended ­Bulent Hass Dellal to be SBS chairman.

Minister for Communications and the Arts Mitch Fifield says he has never tried to have anyone from the ABC fired and is not aware of any other government members doing so, including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP

“What the minister did was take the one who was our last ranked, and said that we recommended him. That is in my view quite misleading,’’ Mr Brown told the publication.

Mr Brown said the government selected Mr Dellal despite the panel’s top ranked candidate being “head and shoulders above everyone else”.

Senator Fifield told The Australian last night: “Dr Hass Dellal was one of the candidates recommended by the nomination panel. He is an outstanding chair of SBS, is supremely qualified and well respected in the community and across the parliament.”

Mr Brown’s criticism of the government’s appointments comes just days after ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie was sacked and Justin Milne quit as ABC Chairman in a “firestorm” over his call for Guthrie to sack two journalists after complaints from then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Brown also revealed overnight the panel had not “recommended” Mr Milne, despite Mr Turnbull and Mr Fifield making that claim when appointing the businessman to run the ABC in 2017.

Former ABC Chairman Justin Milne (left) and former Managing Director Michelle Guthrie during the ABC Annual Public Meeting in Ultimo, Sydney, in February. Picture: AAP

“The minister said we recommended Mr Milne, which is not true. We nominated five people and said they were qualified. That is not the same as a recommendation,” Mr Brown told The Australian.

A spokeswoman for Senator Fifield told News Corp today: “The current chair of SBS and the former chair of the ABC were from the list of recommended candidates provided by the independent panel.”

“All board appointments have been made in accordance with legislated requirements,” she said.

Mr Brown’s criticism comes amid calls for the remaining seven ABC board members to quit after it was revealed they knew for a week about Mr Milne’s call for journalists Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn to be sacked and did nothing.

The government is also under pressure to overhaul the selection process for ABC and SBS board members, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mr Fifield have so far rejected.

Yesterday, Mr Morrison rejected Labor leader Bill Shorten’s call for the Opposition to be consulted on any future ABC board appointments.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also shot down calls for US-style confirmation hearings for future board members if there wasn’t bipartisan agreement on the candidate.

Originally published as Bill Shorten attacks ABC Board as Mitch Fifield accused of stacking ABC board appointments