ABC Chairman to give Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture

ABC Chairman Justin Milne will deliver this year’s Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture at the Screen Forever producers conference next week in Melbourne.

Milne, who was appointed ABC Chairman in April, was previously CEO of OzEmail, helmed Telstra Media and is a current board member of the NBN.

“Justin Milne is a rare media executive who understands convergence at its core and has been pivotal in the transformation of the Australian digital landscape from technology to content and marketing. His landmark career experience offers a unique insight into the future possibilities of the nexus of content and digital distribution and disruption. We are delighted to host his much anticipated Hector Crawford Memorial speech at Screen Forever 2017,” said Screen Producers Australia CEO, Matt Deaner.

Previous speakers for the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture include John Edwards, Posie Graeme-Evans, Phillip Adams, Gillian Armstrong, Nigel Dick and Kim Williams.

Milne was appointed Australian Broadcasting Corporation Chairman in April of this year. He joined the public broadcaster at a time where his unique pedigree sweeping across technology and digital transformation is required in the traditional broadcasting and content realm most acutely.
His innate ability to anticipate the transformational powers of technology on media, business and culture has punctuated his leadership career from the Microsoft Network as MD to OzEmail as CEO and on to his prolific role at Telstra as CEO of Big Pond and Telstra Media in addition to his extensive board positions including current board member of the NBN.

Milne was at the forefront of Australia’s own dotcom boom as the CEO of OzEmail and is one of the central characters in the broadband narrative of Australia’s telecommunications coming of age. Joining Telstra in 2002 and was instrumental in the ascension of BigPond as its Group Managing Director into Australia’s most successful Internet business. At the helm of Telstra Media, he was charged with amplifying the growth of Telstra’s domestic and international content and advertising assets. The Telstra Media arm included the part ownership of Foxtel, BigPond’s suite of online and mobile properties, Sensis and new media assets.

Milne’s passion for screen content was nurtured at Flinders University with fellow undergraduate Scott Hicks and resulted in Milne’s gravitating to the South Australian Film Corporation for his first job. At the SAFC he worked on Peter Weir’s, The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Subsequently he founded Film and Television Associates, a television commercial production company. In 1992, he joined a small start-up, Globe Media, as Chief Executive Officer which was an early adopter of digital technology, designing some of Australia’s first commercial websites.

Milne is also Chairman of the MYOB Group Ltd and NetComm Wireless Ltd. He is a Non-Executive Director of Tabcorp Holdings Limited, Members Equity Bank Ltd, the Leichhardt Rowing Club and the current board member of the NBN.

Born in Adelaide, Justin was educated at St Peters College and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Flinders University.

*The Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture was first instituted by Screen Producers Australia as a keynote feature of the annual conference in 1992. The lecture was designed ‘to honour the pioneering work of Hector Crawford (1913-1991) in the development of Australia’s film and television industry and to emphasise the importance of independent production in Australia’s cultural life’. Melbourne based Crawford Productions made over 4,000 hours of television including early iconic Australian television drama series such as Consider Your Verdict, Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police. Hector Crawford also led the original ‘Make it Australian’ campaign.