Choosing the Next ABC Chairman
In contrast to the focus of the government, board, and managing director on the openness of the work of ABC staff, we have little but secrecy and careful avoidance of scrutiny when it comes to the choice of the next Chairman. The various objections to an open process have never been shown to have any foundation.
WA and other Friends of the ABC organisations have long campaigned against the current method of appointment to the ABC Board, which simply involves arbitrary appointment at Ministerial whim. After all, Ministers as ignorant of the AWB bribery exercise as the current group claim to be can hardly claim to be competent to appoint a Chairman. As the SMH pointed out about Alexander Downer, for instance, "His department did not vet the contracts, did not have the expertise to vet them, and did not ever seek to gather that expertise." Others may suggest plausible deniability.
One noteworthy aspect of past appointments is that the appointees' political affiliations have never been publicly acknowledged - or disclosed, where they aren't public knowledge - by the current Minister, Senator Coonan, or her predecessor, Senator Alston. In recent times, the ABC has suffered:
- Keith Windschuttle - associated with the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) and Quadrant magazine;
- Rod Brunton - Conservative, associated with the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)
- Janet Albrechtsen - Conservative, associated with the IPA
- Stephen Skala - director, CIS
- John Gallagher - new deputy Chair, believed to be a capital "C" Conservative
- Judith Sloan - Academic Advisory Council, CIS
Given that consistently Hard Right pattern, on the balance of probabilities one is entitled to infer that Donald McDonald's replacement will be a Hard Right sympathiser, therefore biased.
It is long past time that Senator Coonan and John Howard accepted their responsibility to introduce integrity both in appointments to the ABC Board and regarding Ministerial appointments generally.
The ALP has produced its Better Boards Policy, while the U.K. has its Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments. The latter emphasises seven considerations: Ministerial responsibility, Merit, Independent scrutiny, Equal opportunities, Probity, Openness and transparency, and Proportionality. Those are how the next Chairman should be selected.