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Insider says ABC board selection system ‘abused’

The federal government is under mounting pressure to reform the way directors are appointed to the ABC board after a former selection panel member accused the coalition of abusing the system.

Neil Brown, who until last year sat on the independent panel that assesses nominations for the boards of the ABC and SBS, says the current remaining seven ABC directors should resign.

“You can ask how did they even come to be directors of the ABC? Well, they came to be directors of the ABC by a nominations system which is more honoured in the abuse than application of it,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday.

Mr Brown’s criticism comes after a week of turmoil at the taxpayer-funded ABC, which lost both its managing director Michelle Guthrie, who was sacked, and chairman Justin Milne, who was forced to resign.

Mr Milne’s departure came after it was revealed he had told Ms Guthrie she should fire two of the ABC’s senior reporters, following complaints from the government about some of their stories, because he was worried the coalition might deny the ABC $500 million in funding for an internal digital media project.

Mr Brown said the government had basically ignored the panel’s recommendations and advice.

“The spirit relating to the nominations panel has not been complied with. I think it has been ignored and ignored in a very serious and repetitive way,” he told the Herald.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanding Labor be consulted on the appointment of the ABC’s next chairman and other board members, amid ongoing questions about its independence from political influence.

Mr Morrison rejected this saying the government would follow the normal process in making board appointments.

ABC board member Kirstin Ferguson has taken over as the organisation’s acting chair.

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