The ABC has ‘pink-slipped’ various state managers in a restructure of the organisation’s senior management approved by the ABC board at its last meeting.

The affected managers were notified this week.

Interestingly, one of the key jobs for ABC State Managers is complaints handling, an issue that has been in the spotlight lately.

In parliament this week Senator MACKAY asked a question about this issue saying: “Given the minister has flagged he wants to set up a complaints mechanism for the ABC, what guarantees will the
minister give the Senate that such a complaints mechanism will be independent? What appointment
processes does the minister intend to establish for such a complaints body? Will there be government
appointments to this body? How will appointments be made which are independent of both the ABC and the government?

Senator ALSTON replied: “… The reality is that what we are
proposing to the ABC is not that we determine independence
but that they have mechanisms in place
which will provide the public and the parliament with
sufficient confidence that their own assessments—
peer group responsibility exercised by executive directors
and others—meet that crucially independent
test of accountability, because at the end of the day it
is not for governments to make a judgment about
impartiality. It is about the ABC honouring its statutory
obligations.”