The days of stacking the ABC board and its nominations panel with captain’s picks may be over. The Labor government has pledged to make sure ABC board members are appointed on the basis of expertise in a transparent and impartial way and are able to operate independently, the new minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, said.
In the decade since an independent nominations panel was established by Labor to appoint ABC board members based on merit rather than political affiliation, the Coalition has ignored or circumvented its spirit. The Abbott government made a mockery of the process by appointing vehement ABC critics to the panel, including Janet Albrechtsen and former Liberal minister Neil Brown, who once called for the corporation to be privatised.
