ABC boss David Anderson pockets salary of $1m-plus

Senior executives at the ABC ­enjoyed bumper salary increases in the past financial year.

ABC managing director David Anderson is now paid a salary of over $1 million. Picture: AAP

Senior executives at the ABC ­enjoyed bumper salary increases in the past financial year, with the remuneration package of the managing director tipping over $1m and the news director pocketing a 36 per cent rise.

According to figures in the latest ABC annual report, managing director David Anderson’s total remuneration package increased by more than 10 per cent to $1.098m, up from $998,000 in 2019-20.

Gaven Morris, who this month announced his resignation as the ABC’s director of news, analysis and investigations, boasted a salary package of $676,000 in 2020-21, a 36 per cent rise from his 2019-20 remuneration of $495,000.

ABC chair Ita Buttrose was paid $195,000 in 2020-21, down from $205,000 the year before.

The taxpayer-funded organisation, which receives $1.065bn in government funding each year, reported a surplus of $2.3m in the past financial year, after registering an $18.3m loss in 2019-20. According to the ­annual report, the organisation’s “employee provisions balance” for 2020-21 was $156m, an 18 per cent rise on the previous year. The spike was attributed to the need to backdate wage and superannuation entitlements owed to staff who had been underpaid in past years.

ABC employee numbers, ­including ongoing and non-­ongoing full-time and part-time staff, rose from 4257 at June 30, 2020, to 4377 at June 30, 2021.

“Outsourcing expenditure” also increased from $36.6m to $42.7m, a rise of $16.6 per cent, as the national broadcaster commissioned more external content, including Juanita: A Family Mystery, a two-part series into the 1975 disappearance and murder of Sydney-based journalist and activist Juanita Nielsen.

The series was produced by external firm Wildbear Entertainment in conjunction with the ABC, but was later stripped from the broadcaster’s iview streaming platform after problematic claims made by key witness John Innes went to air.

The broadcaster’s “promotional expenditure” rose by 70 per cent, from $6.4m to $11m.

With regards to the ABC’s “annual performance statements” – which assess 20 key benchmarks as identified by the broadcaster itself – only 13 of 20 targets were “met”, or “exceeded”. The remaining seven were not met. The benchmarks include “Australians’ trust of the ABC” (target not met), “staff engagement” (target met), “connectivity to local community” (target not met), and “editorial quality” (target met).

The ABC assessed that its in-house complaints-handling system – the Audience and Consumer Affairs Investigation unit – was meeting its stated brief as an essential tool “that is transparent and responsive to concerns raised by audiences”.

But as first reported by The Australian online last Sunday night, Ms Buttrose has now ­ordered an external review into the efficacy of that unit. Ms Buttrose said the review was a timely initiative to ensure the complaints-handling procedures met audience expectations.

A spokesman for the ABC said the broadcaster was “committed to the highest editorial standards and a rigorous complaints process”. He declined to comment on pay.