An alleged discussion about the Hottest 100 date change has emerged as one of a number of sticking points at a Senate inquiry into political interference from the government in the ABC.
Former ABC chair Justin Milne told the inquiry today that he had “zero memory” of ever discussing the Hottest 100 with Triple J staff, including that he told staff then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull would “go ballistic” about a possible date change.
“I don’t know any of the staff at Triple J to contact them. I have zero memory of ever discussing (the Hottest 100) with Triple J staff,” Mr Milne said.
But sacked managing director Michelle Guthrie said she was told by ABC director of radio Michael Mason that Mr Milne had met with Triple J staff in November 2017 about changing the timing of the Hottest 100, which is generally broadcast on Australia Day.
Ms Guthrie said she couldn’t recall whether Mr Mason had said he was at the meeting or had just heard about the comments from Triple J staff.
The inquiry now hopes to unearth witnesses to the alleged meeting with Mr Milne as they try to reconcile the differing viewpoints of Mr Milne and Ms Guthrie.
While Mr Milne said he probably did have “football-type conversations” with Mr Turnbull about ABC journalist Emma Alberici, or discussed Andrew Probyn during the “preamble” to a meeting, he denied Mr Turnbull ever pressured him to sack them.
“Did (Mr Turnbull) ever suggest to me that anybody should be sacked, got rid of, punished or demoted? No. He never ever required anything of me like that,” Mr Milne said.
Mr Milne acknowledged there was a friendship with Mr Turnbull, that he had socialised and attended personal events at his house but did not see him very much once he became prime minister.
He said he had known Mr Turnbull for nearly 20 years but it was difficult to describe their relationship as the former PM was “very busy”.
He said he considered Mr Turnbull a friend but said the former PM had many friends and Mr Milne wouldn’t put himself at the top of the tree.
Mr Milne said Mr Turnbull did not raise concerns about Triple J moving the date of its Hottest 100 countdown, or his alleged displeasure of Mr Probyn.
“(Mr Turnbull) never suggested anything like that to me, by implication or otherwise,” Mr Milne said.
But his recollections of events differ quite strongly from Ms Guthrie’s, who said she felt “undue pressure” from Mr Milne to fire journalists in order to “please the government”.
Ms Guthrie said she believed Mr Milne thought his role was to be a “conduit” to the government.
She said she felt strongly that complaints from the minister or the prime minister were “amplified” rather than “resisted” when they were conveyed to her and felt under significant pressure because of that.
Even though she took her concerns to various ABC board members, Ms Guthrie said none of them gave her any concrete advice or intervened in any way to help stop the Chair’s behaviour.
“What is the board’s responsibility around that?” she said.
Ms Guthrie said clearly it was not appropriate to take her concerns public but “the question for me is, where can I go?”.
“I remain devastated by the termination of my appointment as managing director,” she said.
Earlier Mr Milne revealed that he got a call from former communications minister Mitch Fifield, shortly after a recruitment agent contacted him, who encouraged him to participate in the recruitment process for the position of ABC chair.
During his appearance, Mr Milne described the “funny old process” of being recruited as chair of the ABC board. He said a recruitment agency generally compiled a list of potential applicants to discuss with a nominations committee, which is appointed by the government. This is unusual because the recruitment process is managed separate from the board and in other companies the committee was a subcommittee of the board.
The committee interviews a short list of applicants and applicants also had to provide a CV and short essay of why they wanted to be chair.
Mr Milne has also continued to shift the blame for the saga that has engulfed the ABC this year to Ms Guthrie.
“I take responsibility for terminating Ms Guthrie, and her subsequent actions since have led to this firestorm, that’s for sure,” Mr Milne told the inquiry in Canberra on Friday.
“It was a great honour to serve as the ABC chairperson. I resigned, not as a concession of any wrongdoing, but because of the media storm which followed the leaking of an out-of-context email.”
Mr Milne says Ms Guthrie was sacked from her high-profile position in September due to “poor leadership skills leading to a loss of confidence and trust in her”.
Mr Milne has also emphatically denied inappropriate conduct allegations levelled against him by Ms Guthrie in a written submission to the committee.
“I have never referred to Ms Guthrie as ‘the missus’. I acknowledge that I have used the terms “chicks” but never as a pejorative or in a denigrating manner,” he said.
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