Ita Buttrose will be named as the next chair of the ABC, bringing the five-month hunt to fill the top job to an end.
The media veteran was first floated as a potential frontrunner for the position earlier this week.
Her selection comes after Senate estimates heard last week that the company brought in to run the recruitment process was paid more than $160,000 to whittle down the list of potential names.
The ABC was given an extra $15,000 for further vetting for the chair position.
At the time, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asked how the Government came to consider a candidate who was not on the original shortlist of candidates appointed by the secretary of the Prime Minister's Department.
He said: "Ita Buttrose's name has risen in circulation.
"She's a lovely person, [a] very respected Australian, but her name has risen to be chair of the ABC because the company the Government contracted couldn't even get the process right and now we've got more political interference."
From copy girl to media giant
Ms Buttrose landed her first job in journalism at 15, dropping out of school to work as a copy girl at the Australian Women's Weekly.
She next joined The Daily Telegraph as a cadet, where she is believed to have nabbed her first byline in 1959 at the age of 17, and became women's editor in 1965.
Ms Buttrose's next job was with Woman's Own in the UK, where she worked until receiving a personal telegram from Sir Frank Packer, who coaxed the journalist back to Australia with the offer of her old job as women's editor at The Daily Telegraph.
It was not to last — Ms Buttrose went on to launch Cleo magazine with Mr Packer in 1972, forever altering the landscape of Australian women's magazines.
Ms Buttrose was Cleo's editor-in-chief until taking the top job at the Australian Women's Weekly in 1975. She moved to a role as publisher of the Australian Consolidated Press Women's Division, where she stayed until 1981.
She then became the first woman to edit a major Australian metropolitan newspaper, The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, in 1981 — a role she held until 1984.
In the following years, Ms Buttrose founded her own now-defunct publishing company and launched her own eponymous magazine.
She has published nine books including an autobiography, and has worked on various TV programs for stations including Network Ten and Nine Network.
To top it all off, in 2013 Ms Buttrose was recognised as Australian of the Year for using her media profile to raise awareness of a number of public health issues.
How did she come to be the ABC chair?
The recruitment process for the ABC chair position was kept under wraps, so it is not known how or when Ms Buttrose became an option.
Prior to her appointment, former media executives Kim Williams and Greg Hywood had been favourites for the job, along with Sydney lawyer Danny Gilbert.
However, speaking following the revealing of the list of potential candidates for the chair position, Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who has approved Ms Buttrose as chair — said he was disappointed no women were on the shortlist.
"It is true that she [Ms Buttrose] was not one of those who have been independently recommended, and I can confirm that the independent recommendations did not include a female candidate," he said.
"I've known Ita for a long time and I think she's an extraordinary Australian — Australian of the Year.
"There's been few people more than Ita that I think have lifted the standards of journalism in this country, and I think that says a lot about her character and her abilities."
Following the resignation of Justin Milne in September, Ms Buttrose will now start a five-year term, becoming the second woman to be picked as ABC chair, after Dame Leonie Kramer.
It will be Ms Buttrose's job to lead the ABC Board, which according to legislation has to:
- Ensure that the functions of the ABC are performed efficiently and with the maximum benefit to the people of Australia
- Maintain the independence and integrity of the ABC
- Ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism
- Develop codes of practice
Some people cannot qualify for the position of ABC chairperson, including anyone who in the past 12 months has served as a Federal or State MP, a senator or senior political staffer.
The candidate for chairperson is put forward by the Prime Minister and ultimately approved by the Governor-General.
The Governor-General is also the only person who can fire the ABC chairperson, at the advice of the Prime Minister.
Former chairman Justin Milne bowed to pressure last September and resigned in the wake of allegations he sought to have senior journalists fired in response to political pressure.
His departure just days after managing director Michelle Guthrie was sacked left two vacancies at the top of the ABC.
Former ABC entertainment and specialist director David Anderson stepped in as acting managing director while a permanent replacement for Ms Guthrie was sought.
Previous ABC chairs ran the gamut from former graziers to school principals
In its 90-year history, the ABC has had 18 chairs — many of whom were public figures like Ms Buttrose before taking on the top job, but only one of whom has been a woman.
Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, who became the organisation's first chairman in 1932, was a businessman and patron of the arts.
He handed the job to William James Cleary in 1934, who lasted 10 years before leaving.
Richard Boyer, the next ABC chairman of note, was a grazier and broadcasting chief before helming the ABC in 1940.
Sir James Darling, the former headmaster of Geelong Grammar School, followed, chairing the ABC for six years from 1961.
Sir Robert Madgwick, a fellow educationist, next took on the job in 1967, before handing the role to Professor Richard Downing in 1973, who in turn left for Sir Henry Bland to take over in 1976, only to give the job to John D Norgard the same year.
The corporation was shaken up in 1982, though, when the role was given to Dame Leonie Kramer, who became the ABC's first female chair.
But not only was Dame Leonie the first chairwoman of the ABC — she was also the first female professor of English in Australia, and the first female chancellor of the University of Sydney.
The sea change did not last long, however, as Dame Leonie handed the ABC chair position back to a man.
Ken Myer, notable for being a member of the family behind Melbourne department store Myer, next took the role, before bowing out to business leader and author David Hill in 1987.
Next up was Bob Somervaille in 1987, who stayed in the job until 1991, when Professor Mark Armstrong took over.
As the ABC matured, the high chair turnover rate slowed.
Since 1991, the ABC has only had four chairs: Donald McDonald, who took the job in 1996, Maurice Newman, who was named chair in 2007, and former judge James Spigelman, who received the honour in 2012 before handing the job to Justin Milne in 2017.
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