Sacked ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie’s claims false, says Emma Alberici

Former chairman Justin Milne reveals why Michelle Guthrie was sacked including her very poor results in a leadership review.

Former ABC boss Michelle Guthrie. Picture: ABC

Former ABC chairman Justin Milne has given detailed reasons for the sacking of managing director Michelle Guthrie in September.

In his submission to a Senate inquiry, Mr Milne, who resigned three days after Ms Guthrie was sacked after alle­gations of his interference leaked, said the termination was due to very poor results in a 360 leadership review, including that Ms Guthrie’s score for integrity was in the fourth percentile, meaning 96 per cent of people scored above her, while her score for ­autocracy, arrogance, criticism and distance was in the 90th percentile, meaning only 10 per cent of people scored above her.

“Ms Guthrie was terminated due to poor leadership skills leading to a loss of confidence and trust in her by the board of the ABC and many of its employees,” Mr Milne said.

“I have never ­allowed any politician or government body to ­influence or ­attempt to influence my role as chairperson of the ABC and unequivocally reject any and all allegations of political or government influence, ­attempted or otherwise with the ABC.”

Both Mr Milne, Ms Guthrie and other board members are due to appear today before the Senate committee in Canberra inquiring into allegations of political interference in the ABC.

MORE: Follow Stephen Brook’s ABC Senate hearing blog here.

Mr Milne said he did not vote when the board made its decision to sack Ms Guthrie, because of her ­allegations against him.

He admitted to having used the words “chicks” but never in a derogatory and pejorative sense, and denied calling Ms Guthrie “the missus”.

Former ABC Chairman Justin Milne. Picture: AAP

“I emphatically and unequivocally deny that I have inappropriately touched Ms Guthrie,’’ he said. “I have never had any inappropriate contact with Ms ­Guthrie and note that she has not provided any evidence or identified any witnesses that are able to corroborate her allegation.’’

Guthrie and journalist Emma Alberici clashed over a submission to the inquiry that the ABC’s chief economic correspondent says contains false claims about her stories.

Ms Guth­rie told the inquiry into allegations of political interference in the ABC, that Alberici was “reprimanded” over her ­stories on company tax and innovation, some of which contained errors in fact and omission, that drew complaints from the prime minister and government ministers.

“There was also a conversation with Ms Alberici that included a reprimand, and a conversation with her editors,” Ms Guthrie said.

Alberici responded in series of nine Tweets accusing Ms Guthrie of making false claims, “the most egregious of which is that I ­received a ‘reprimand’ for writing stories that, after much overblown angst, were found to be ­accurate in substance”.

Alberici went on to say that “The fact remains that 1 in 5 of the country’s biggest companies didn’t pay corporate tax for at least 3 years. Qantas didn’t pay for close to 10 years & @newscorpaus didn’t pay for 4 years,’’ she wrote.

“Michelle Guthrie jumped the gun by suggesting I had made substantive and catastrophic errors before proper ABC processes were allowed to run their course. Complaints go through an independent system of review.

“The thorough & forensic review of my work found that I absolutely did not confuse profit and income as my many critics in government & business continue to assert.

“The independent review also found that I had given appropriate context in explaining that @qantas & others had reduced their corporate tax payable to zero through legal means

“I was found to have properly explained that, for instance, @qantas carried forward their previous years’ losses & @newscorpaus availed themselves of the R&D Tax Incentive (which the Turnbull Government subsequently cracked down on)’’

“I did not receive a reprimand in February or April or May or since. In the Innovation story of May ... we called Emeritus Professor Roy Green an adviser to Government. The PM complained that Dr Green was no longer acting in that capacity so we corrected that. Enough.’’

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Ms Guthrie makes a number of false claims the most egregious of which is that I received a “reprimand” for writing stories that, after much overblown angst, were found to be accurate in substance pic.twitter.com/FAxhjAuXAF

— Emma Alberici (@albericie) November 29, 2018

Ms Guthrie detailed disagreements with the board over her editorial management of contentious events, including reports by Alberici and political editor ­Andrew Probyn, and that the board reprimanded her for not responding to Melbourne radio announcer Jon Faine’s public criticism of her for not standing up to the government.

She also said director of news Gaven Morris complained to her that then ABC chairman “Justin (Milne) WhatsApped me with comments and complaints from Malcolm (Turnbull) about editorial issues but I told him this was inappropriate and that he needed to stop contacting me in this way.”

In her submission, Ms Guthrie accused the ABC of firing her unlawfully because she made complaints about Mr Milne’s conduct, “including his attempts at political interference”.

She said she experienced “months of undue pressure by the then chair of the ABC to fire journalists in order to ‘please the government’ and as a quid pro quo for supposed funding of $500 million for Project Jetstream”.

“When I disagreed with the chair, the pressure increased,” Ms Guthrie said. “In those circumstances, I had nowhere to go to raise the appropriateness and impact of this pressure and intervention by the chair. When I did raise it with individual board members, they said they were supportive of me personally but were not prepared to confront the chair. It is apparent that my employment was terminated for an unlawful reason, namely that I made complaints about Mr Milne’s conduct towards me.”