Nearly a thousand staff and supporters have crowded the foyer of the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters to protest against the removal of the staff elected director’s position from the ABC board.
The lunch time protest meeting yesterday was held inside the ABC building, unusual for this kind of action, which is mostly held in the street outside 700 Harris Street. It coincided with today’s ABC Board meeting, one of Ramona Koval’s last meetings if the legislation is passed.
One attendee told radioinfo: “There was a real sense of this being supported by the whole of the ABC by being inside.”
Several past staff elected directors addressed the meeting, including Quentin Dempster (pictured below), Tom Molomby and Kirsten Garrett. The protest was timed to coincide with this month’s ABC Board meeting. After the meeting Ramona Koval also came downstairs to speak to the crowd (pictured above).
Koval commented in principle about the position of staff elected director, but did not reveal anything about the board meeting that had just finished on the floors above. “She never does comment on internal board discussions, that’s what they can’t understand,” said one attendee at the protest meeting.
CPSU spokesperson Graeme Thomson has told radioinfo:
”There is no conflict of interest, only in the mind of the minister, everyone else understands the distinction between the roles of being a staff member and being a member of the board.
“The method of selection may be different, but once they are part of the board they abide by the same rules as other members. It’s the union’s role to represent staff, not the staff elected director’s role. Everyone seems to understand that except the Minister.”
Thompson says the staff elected director is the only person on the ABC Board with any real understanding of how the ABC works on a day to day basis and the potential conflicts on issues of editorial policy.
“Staff elected directors have been in there fighting for the editorial independence of the ABC for a long time, because they understand the significance of these issues.”
Yesterday the legislation to enact the abolition of the staff elected position was rushed through to the second reading stage in parliament, making it potentially only a few weeks until the necessary legislative changes to the ABC Act are completed.
In her second reading speech on the amendments Communications Minister Helen Coonan said:
“The position of a staff elected director is uncommon amongst Australian Government agency boards. The position at the ABC was introduced in 1975. It was abolished in 1978, reintroduced in 1983 and given legislative backing in 1985.
“The position of a staff elected director is not consistent with modern principles of corporate governance and a tension relating to the position on the ABC Board has existed for many years.”
In her speech Coonan said there was a potential conflict that exists in the position, saying the election method creates a risk that a staff elected director will be expected by the constituents who elect them to place the interests of staff ahead of ABC interests. She says the Uhrig review recognised this potential conflict on government boards. Coonan says the bill resolves those potential conflicts.
Opponents of Coonan’s view have made the point that the staff elected director acts more in the role of an independent director to keep the other government appointed directors honest.
The Friends of the ABC has also opposed the abolition of the staff elected director position, citing five other government boards that have staff elected directors on them.
Meanwhile ABC supporters have also begun a funding campaign, with an online petition calling for supporters to add their names to a submission that will be taken to Parliament (see link below).