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Govt appoints new chairman for ABC

The Hon. James Spigelman AC QC becomes chair of the ABC for five years.

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The government has appointed The Hon. James Spigelman AC QC as the new Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation following the exit of Maurice Newman.

Spigelman has more than 40 years in the legal profession and is currently Chairman of the National Library of Australia Council. He was also Chairman of the Film Finance Corporation from 1990–1992.

The government appointed him under its merit-based process for the ABC and SBS boards.

Steven Skala has been Acting Chair of the ABC Board over the last three months.

Spigelman’s appointment was finalised today, and his five year term as Chair of the ABC will commence on 1 April 2012.

4 Responses

  1. They should never have cut Collectors or The New Inventors and others.

    Woodley and Outland should be on ABC2 not the main channel, and Gruen should already be back on air.

    Stop wasting millions on shows like Crownies The Slap and The Straits, use the money better.

  3. Interesting observations Victor, we all live in hope! How much influence does the Chair really have over the commissioning structure and process that leads to their programme offering across each genre? Does he engage with the Director of TV at all? High quality content comes from high quality commissioning editors. Industry training is certainly in crisis.

  4. This appointment could not have come at a better time for the ABC. Spigelman’s track record is impeccable and should not be questioned from any side of politics. And it is clear from ABC Television’s declining and mediocre performance both in terms of production, programming and audience that it needs a chair who can seriously analyse management performance and strategy. The current management has lacked any clear idea for content and audiences are deserting it. Let’s hope he helps restore ABC Television to a centre of excellence with high quality content and make it a place where people want to work or a destination of choice for independent filmmakers. He should re-establish the ABC as a training institution, a hotbed for young creators. After all when you think that the ABC invested at least 16 million in The Straits and Crownies what if just a fraction of that could have been diverted into a new trainee scheme across the network as is the practice for both the BBC and Channel 4. There is a real opportunity here Mr Spigelman.

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