The ABC’s independent complaints department a total failure, Michael Kroger says

Former ABC board member demands action after a Four Corners complaint was handled by the show’s executive producer.

The ABC’s independent complaints department is a “total failure” and is “broken” after it was revealed Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour investigated and cleared high-profile ­reporter Louise Milligan after a complaint was made about her to the separate disputes body.

Former Victorian Liberal Party president and ABC board member Michael Kroger said the internal review process at the public broadcaster was flawed and it “cannot be trusted”.

“A completely separate independent ombudsman with appropriate resources needs to be established to properly investigate complaints against the ABC,” Mr Kroger said. “Four Corners investigating Four Corners is a shocking governance failure in the modern era, this cannot be taken seriously.”

Mr Kroger was an ABC board member for five years from 1998 to 2003.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said it was vital the ABC had an ­independent disputes mechanism to handle complaints.

“It is imperative that the ABC have operational and editorial independence,” she said.

Former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani made an official complaint to the ABC’s complaints department on August 11, claiming she was misrepresented in a tweet by Milligan, and she told The Australian she was “shocked” when she was subsequently contacted by Neighbour – Milligan’s boss – who reviewed the matter and cleared her staff member of any wrongdoing.

Ms Mani made a complaint after she said Milligan tweeted about her despite being a “source on background” before the ABC aired the Inside the Canberra Bubble episode last November.

Ms Mani was a friend of Kate, the woman who alleged she was raped by federal cabinet minister Christian Porter in 1988.

Mr Kroger said Ms Mani had “every right to be aggrieved by the Caesar judging Caesar approach adopted by the ABC”.

ABC reporter Louise Milligan. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The Australian understands that recent editorial controversies involving Four Corners and issues surrounding staff using social media have been discussed at board level.

The ABC’s complaints department, Audience and Consumer Affairs, was set up to be, “separate to and independent to the content-making teams of the ABC” and its role is to “review and, where appropriate, investigate complaints alleging that ABC content has breached the ABC’s editorial standards”.

But when Ms Mani made her complaint, its head Kirstin McLiesh emailed her and said it wasn’t within the scope of the department and instead the matter was referred to the news division before being handed to Neighbour.

“Personal Twitter accounts of ABC staff do not amount to ABC content,” she wrote to Ms Mani.

Former ABC board member and Liberal Party president Michael Kroger. Picture: David Caird

WA Liberal senator Ben Small, who was at the Senate hearing into the ABC in June, said the “extraordinarily brazen move” by Neighbour to “mark her own homework” showed contempt for taxpayers who provide more than $1bn in funds to the public broadcaster each year.

“It’s proof that the ABC’s complaint arrangement is totally broken,” he said. “Sally Neighbour and Louise Milligan have cost taxpayers at least a million dollars this year in defamation proceedings, including more than $100,000 for Louise Milligan’s tweets about Andrew Laming.”

A defamation battle between the ABC and Mr Porter also cost the public broadcaster $780,000.

Former ABC presenter and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said the handling of the latest Four Corners’ complaint was a farce and the separate disputes body had failed.

The ABC was contacted but would not respond to questions.