‘Many memories, some challenges’: Ita Buttrose will not seek second term as ABC chair

The ABC’s chair Ita Buttrose won’t be seeking a reappointment when her term ends in March, giving the Labor government its first opportunity in 11 years to nominate a candidate for the top job at the public broadcaster.

While the federal government has said it did not have any preferred candidates in mind, given its ongoing review into appointment standards and processes, media industry insiders are already speculating about who will replace Buttrose.

The top internal candidate for the role is current ABC deputy chair, Peter Tonagh, a News Corp veteran, having been chief executive of Foxtel, REA Group and News Corp Australia. Aside from his ongoing directorial duties at the ABC, he is chairman of Quantium, SecureFast, Optima Technology and Bus Stop Films. However, several sources not authorised to speak publicly on the matter have suggested the government will seek an external candidate.

Ita Buttrose will not seek a second term as ABC chair.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Another former News Corp executive potentially in the running is Kim Williams, who worked for some time as an ABC executive, later joining Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Studios, before being appointed Foxtel CEO, and later boss of News Limited (now News Corp Australia).

Meanwhile, Danny Gilbert, chairman of law firm Gilbert + Tobin is considered an early frontrunner. Gilbert was a shortlisted candidate in 2019 and was suggested as a potential favourite of the Albanese government, due to his work as co-chair and director of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, and his work on the Yes23 Voice referendum campaign.

Law firm partner Danny Gilbert is being touted as a front-runner in the race to take over from Ita Buttrose. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Greg Hywood, another shortlisted candidate in 2019, would likely be ruled out due to his ongoing commitments as chair of Free TV Australia, the lobby body which acts on behalf of commercial networks Nine, Seven and Ten.

With the government potentially keen to maintain a female chair, the shortlist of potential candidates could also include former politicians Anna Bligh and Julia Gillard, and Kirstin Ferguson, who was former deputy chair of the broadcaster and acting chair between September 2018 to March 2019. Former ABC heavyweights Barrie Cassidy and Kerry O’Brien have also been touted as potential candidates.

“Ms Buttrose is a giant of Australia’s media industry, and the government thanks her for her exemplary service as chair of the ABC,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said on Tuesday.

Buttrose said in a statement that she has enjoyed her role.

“I have enjoyed my time at the ABC immensely and am honoured to have chaired such a great Australian institution for five years,” she said.

“There have been many memories, some challenges, and I have relished the opportunity to play a role in the ABC’s history.”

“There is still work to be done between now and March next year. Until then, it is business as usual.”

Appointed as a “captain’s pick” in 2019 by then-prime minister Scott Morrison, Buttrose was not one of the names included in a shortlist compiled by an independent selection panel at the time, following a search by global recruitment firm Korn Ferry. She is the second woman to hold the position, after Dame Leonie Kramer in the 1980s.

Her appointment followed a tumultuous period at the ABC, with the departure of both former chair Justin Milne and managing director Michelle Guthrie six months prior.

The government is likely to appoint a successor to Buttrose, 81, ahead of her term ending on March 6, 2024. It is a marked difference to the ongoing selection process to appoint two new directors to the ABC’s board after Joseph Gersh was not reappointed earlier this year, and following the departure of Fiona Balfour in February, less than two years into her term.

The new chair is likely to have a major decision on their hands in the first weeks after their arrival at the ABC, with managing director David Anderson’s five-year tenure up in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Jonathan Holmes, chair of ABC Alumni, said on behalf of the group: “Despite being Scott Morrison’s ‘captain’s pick’, Ita Buttrose has been a stalwart defender of the ABC’s independence. However, ABC Alumni hope Anthony Albanese will choose her successor from candidates selected on merit by the nomination panel, as the ABC Act expects.”

As recently as Friday, Buttrose said she was undecided about her future.

“I’m mulling it over,” Buttrose told ABC Melbourne’s Virginia Trioli, when asked about staying on for another term as chair.

“The five years have gone by really quickly, but it’s a big decision to decide whether or not I’ll do another five years, because I’ve got to be practical. I’m a woman of a certain age, and while everything seems fine at the moment, life is full of unexpected detours, and you never know how it’s going to turn out.”

A government spokesperson said there was no set time frame for the selection process to begin, which would include the role being advertised publicly. The independent panel includes Daryl Karp, appointed in June, with the panel’s chair, Helen Williams, also reappointed. Other members of the panel are Catherine Liddle and Derek Wilding.

The new chair is likely to have a major decision on their hands in the first weeks of their arrival at the ABC, with managing director David Anderson’s five-year tenure up in May, and Anderson yet to indicate whether he will seek another term.

“She [Buttrose] has much to do in the remainder of her term and will leave the ABC stronger than when she was entrusted with the role in 2019,” Rowland said.

“She navigated the public broadcaster through a challenging period that included strident political criticism, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing transformation of the ABC, so it can remain an essential part of Australian life in the digital age.”

It has been a volatile year for the ABC, which started with the broadcaster apologising for a one-sided radio report about an Alice Springs forum held to address alcohol-fuelled violence in the community in February. In June, a proposal to make up to 120 staff redundant – including political editor Andrew Probyn – was revealed, while high-profile journalist Stan Grant quit Q+A over excessive online abuse.

Following the selection process, Rowland and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be expected to recommend a candidate from a shortlist, with the governor-general ultimately appointing the chair.

Since its election in 2022, Labor has sought to adopt stricter hurdles around government-appointed directors to limit perceived political stacking.

This year it ordered former Australian Public Service commissioner Lynelle Briggs to review appointment standards and processes, including the advertising of roles, professional selection procedures and performance tracking of board members, not strictly limited to the ABC.

However, two separate well-placed sources have suggested to this masthead the government will look to have a say on the next chair, with Albanese having grown frustrated by recent decision-making by the broadcaster.

Four of the last five ABC chairs have been Coalition appointments. The most recent Labor chair appointment was James Spigelman in 2012 by Julia Gillard. He sat a full term until 2017, when he was replaced by Milne.

Buttrose was the founding editor of Cleo and went on to become the editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly in the 1970s when it was owned by Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press, before becoming the editor of The Daily Telegraph. Buttrose’s career has also included roles on Nine’s Today Extra program and on Network Ten.

She has also been a News Limited and Australian Consolidated Press director, and was the president of the Chief Executive Women organisation.

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