Funding battle looms for new ABC boss

At the top of the agenda for the new interim ABC leadership team will be to lobby over the ABC’s triennial funding package.

Interim ABC boss David Anderson.

At the top of the agenda for the new interim ABC leadership team will be to lobby the federal government over the ABC’s triennial funding package.

The ABC’s budget over the next three years will be announced in the 2019 federal budget in May and come into effect on July 1.

After the chaos of this week saw the ABC board sack managing director Michelle Guthrie — who was widely loathed in Canberra — and then see chairman Justin Milne, a friend of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, fall on his sword over allegations he pressured management at the behest of government, a claim he denies, the ABC was left waiting to find out last night who had been selected as interim chairman by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield.

But interim managing director David Anderson and finance and strategy chief Louise Higgins, are viewed more favourably by government figures than Ms Guthrie was. And if board member Peter Lewis, the former chief financial officer of the Seven Network, is appointed interim chairman, the government will be dealing with the man it appointed to lead an efficiency review into the ABC.

Mr Lewis is also chair of the ABC audit and risk committee.

Last night, Senator Fifield was considering a list of nominees forwarded to him by the ABC board.

Whoever is appointed, the ABC will end the practice of separate lobbying trips after a schism between Mr Milne and Ms Guthrie over budget strategy resulted in Mr Milne sacking Ms Guthrie on Monday, and leaked emails revealed allegations that Mr Milne attempted to interfere in programming and staffing decisions.

Ms Guthrie had pursued a strategy of attempting to get an indexation freeze announced in this year’s budget reversed. The freeze, in effect an $84 million cut, comes into effect on July 1. But now the budget outlook looks more favourable.

Mr Milne, who thought the ABC had few friends in Canberra, wanted to improve government relations to get a favourable reception for his Project Jetstream concept, said to cost $500m and act like a giant iview for a time when the traditional television signal was switched off and television consumed via streaming services.

When the $84m indexation freeze was announced in the 2018 budget, the ABC was stung.

News director Gaven Morris said there was “no more fat to cut” after the indexation freeze and the federal budget decision would “cut into muscle” of the organisation. The ABC then pointed out that it had faced $254m in cuts since 2014.

Ms Guthrie vowed to fight the cut. “I am very disappointed and concerned that after the measures we have introduced in recent years to deliver better and more efficient services, the government has now seen fit to deliver what amounts to a further substantial budget cut,” Ms Guthrie said in a statement distributed to the organisation’s staff.

She said the decision would make it very difficult for the ABC to meet its charter requirements and audience expectations.

When the 2018 Turnbull budget was released, ABC executives were also led to believe by the Communications Department that a newsgathering grant of $43m would be cut. But the government later said the ABC was free to reapply for the money as part of the triennial funding process.

A month ago, two budget issues upset Mr Milne and caused problems for Ms Higgins, a $50m “black hole” was found in the accounts, causing a deterioration in the cash position from a shortfall of about $20m to $70m. The ABC’s high redundancy bill was one key factor.

The cash shortfall prompted a “heated discussion” as to how it came about.