Ita Buttrose named new chair of the ABC

Ita Buttrose will be the new chairwoman of the ABC, taking over in the wake of the dramatic clash between Michelle Guthrie and Justin Milne.

Ita Buttrose has been named the new chairwoman of the ABC, pending formal approval from the Governor-General.

The media veteran, who has worked as a businesswoman, journalist, broadcaster and magazine editor, will replace Justin Milne, who left the job six months ago after clashing with former managing director Michelle Guthrie.

“The ABC plays an extremely important role in Australian life and has done for generations. It’s an important Australian institution,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a press conference with Ms Buttrose in Sydney.

“When you ask someone to take on the role of chair, it needs to be someone you know can be trusted with that important institution. That’s exactly who I believe we’ve been able to find.”

Mr Morrison said he was “absolutely thrilled” that Ms Buttrose had accepted the role.

“Ita has the strength, the integrity and the fierce independence that she is known for to take stewardship of this important Australian institution,” he said.

“The reason she has been so successful in publishing, in broadcasting, is she has always put her viewers, her listeners and her readers first. And you know what? That’s what the ABC needs to do as well.

“We have someone who has demonstrated throughout her career that the best way to run a broadcasting and publishing organisation is to focus on the people it’s for.

“Australians trust Ita. I trust Ita. And that’s why I’ve asked her to take on this role.”

Ita Buttrose. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Ms Buttrose thanked the Prime Minister for his “very kind words”.

“I’m very honoured to have been asked to chair the ABC. I consider it one of the most important cultural and information organisations in our country,” she said.

“It is the voice of the Australian people. I think it reflects our identity, it tells our stories.”

She revealed she was a devoted ABC listener, and said her father had worked there for a number of years.

“So I do know the culture of the ABC particularly well. And I wish my dad was still alive to see me here today,” Ms Buttrose said.

“I’m a passionate believer in the independence of the ABC and I will do everything in my utmost power to make sure it remains that way.”

Ms Buttrose alluded to the damaging fallout from Ms Guthrie and Mr Milne’s time running the organisation.

“I think my most important role is to restore stability to the management of the organisation, to reassure the staff that life will go on as usual and to reassure the board, who’s also gone through a period of unrest, that it’s time to get the ABC functioning again with proper, stable management and good, frank discussion between the chair and whoever is the managing director,” she said.

“If there’s not a close relationship between the chair and the managing director, you cannot make an organisation work efficiently and well.”

Ms Buttrose said there would be an “open field” of candidates to become the new managing director, and that would include the man currently acting in the role, David Anderson.

“I know that the acting managing director has applied, but the applications for the role do not close until tomorrow, March 1. So therefore we’ll have to look at his credentials in line with all the other people who have applied. I’m assuming there are quite a few.”

Ita Buttrose. Picture: AAP

The relationship between the government and the ABC was at the centre of the controversy that led to Mr Milne’s exit.

He was accused of interfering with the organisation’s editorial independence after it emerged he had told Ms Guthrie she should “get rid of” journalist Emma Alberici.

“They fricken hate her. She keeps sticking it to them with a clear bias against them,” Mr Milne wrote.

“We are tarred with her brush. I just think it is simple. Get rid of her. My view is we need to save the corporation not Emma.”

Ms Buttrose committed to defend the ABC’s independence, and said she was used to politicians complaining about the media.

“It’s not only the ABC that gets complaints from politicians. I’ve copped plenty of complaints from politicians in previous roles, especially when I was editor-in-chief at News Limited,” she said.

Ms Buttrose’s appointment comes after a five-month search for Mr Milne’s replacement, which cost taxpayers more than $160,000.

Ms Buttrose was not on the shortlist of candidates eventually recommended to the government by an independent panel.

Today the Prime Minister said all the usual processes for appointing a new chair were followed. He pointed out that there were no female candidates at all on the shortlist.

“Where I feel that the recommendations that were made to me don’t meet the standards or the requirement that we have, then we’re at liberty to make a further nomination,” he said.

Ms Buttrose, 77, has enjoyed a long and illustrious career in the media, which started when she became a copy girl at the Australian Women’s Weekly at the age of 15.

She launched the magazine Cleo in 1972, was editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly a few years later, and went on to become the first woman to edit a major Australian newspaper.

She was named Australian of the Year in 2013 for her work raising awareness of public health issues.