The ABC is walking away from three prominent diversity and inclusion groups after long-running external pressure over whether the relationships compromise the national broadcaster’s independence.
In an internal newsletter circulated to staff and seen by Guardian Australia on Tuesday, the ABC announced plans to end its controversial memberships with Acon Health’s Pride in Diversity program, the Australian Disability Network, and the Diversity Council of Australia.
The decision marks a reset under managing director, Hugh Marks, who took over in March 2025, and follows years of internal friction and grilling in senate estimates about paying membership fees to lobby groups, including Acon, which then ranked and awarded the ABC based on its inclusion and diversity scores.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThe internal announcement said the ABC had conducted a top-down assessment of its external partnerships and concluded they were “no longer providing sufficient value” to the organisation.
It also said ABC management was reviewing other existing partnerships and sponsorships, thereby “ensuring that our standards of independence are maintained”.
An ABC statement sent to the Guardian on Tuesday said a review of workplace partnerships affirmed the ABC was meeting its obligations of editorial independence and impartiality.
“We will always invest in these fundamental principles,” an ABC spokesperson said.
“The ABC remains committed to diversity and inclusion and will redirect funding to internal initiatives.”
The spokesperson did not respond directly to the Guardian’s inquiry about whether Marks believed the partnership model with the three advocacy groups had created a perception of bias.
A spokesperson for LGBTQ+ community health organisation Acon said it made its insights and expertise available to organisations other than the ABC that were interested in working with LGBTQ+ communities, and building more inclusive workplaces for all Australians.
“We do not seek to, nor do we have, any influence over the way media outlets, who are members of Pride in Diversity, report issues, including the ABC,” the statement said.
“We will continue to offer our services to employers to advance their diversity, inclusion and belonging goals in their workplaces.”
It is believed the ABC was paying at least $12,000 a year to Acon. The partnership has been under scrutiny since the broadcaster’s own Media Watch program raised issues about possible conflicts of interest in October 2022.
Marks’ predecessor, David Anderson, had personally accepted a gold award from Acon’s Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) earlier that year.
Under the AWEI scheme, the ABC earns points toward its ranking for specific editorial content, such as the trans-themed series First Day and the Innies and Outies podcast. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws by a women’s rights group calling itself Acon Exposed revealed that Acon relationship managers had offered ABC journalists editorial tips to help the broadcaster climb the rankings, and found a record of an ABC journalist seeking advice from the lobby group on the correct definition of the word “family”.
Media Watch host Paul Barry compared the Acon relationship to the hypothetical scenario of the ABC paying Greenpeace for awards while reporting on the fossil fuel industry, arguing that the partnership led to a perception of bias that was indefensible for a national broadcaster.
Earlier that year, the ABC came under fire over its coverage of two gender issues that critics argued lacked the necessary balance.
These included the ABC’s allegedly cursory reporting on the controversial closure of the UK’s Tavistock gender clinic and its failure to cover the high-profile high court case of Keira Bell, a detransitioner who challenged the clinic’s use of puberty blockers for children.
Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose was forced to admit to “serious editorial lapses” over a separate three-part series on transgender women in sport.
Since then, the Acon partnership has become a political lightning rod during senate estimates, where coalition senators have frequently grilled ABC executives over the broadcaster’s AWEI benchmarking.
By formally exiting the scheme, Marks is effectively removing a major point of political friction, allowing the broadcaster to argue its editorial decisions are made entirely independently of external advocacy calculations. The move mirrors that of the BBC in 2021, when it withdrewfrom the UK’s Stonewall diversity program to protect its reputation for neutrality.
The Guardian has sought comment from the Australian Disability Network and the Diversity Council of Australia.
