February 18, 2008
THE federal Government hopes to appoint an independent panel to select future ABC board members within the next eight weeks.
The Labor Government has promised to take the politics out of the national broadcaster's board, which in the past has been stacked with government appointees, raising allegations of bias.Under Labor's plan, an independent panel would provide Communications Minister Stephen Conroy with a shortlist of candidates for board vacancies.
If Senator Conroy decided not to appoint someone from the panel's list, the minister would be forced to explain why in parliament.
Senator Conroy today said the government had commenced the process of appointing the panel.
"I would hope to have it in place in four to eight weeks, perhaps a little longer just depending on how many people apply," Senator Conroy said during a Senate Estimates Committee hearing today.
"We're committed to getting some integrity into those processes.
"We're committed to ensuring that there's a very much merit-based selection process and we will be announcing all the criteria (for panel members) very shortly."
Senator Conroy said he would ultimately decide who was appointed to the panel.
Under Labor's plan, the appointment of former politicians or political staffers to the ABC board would be banned.
Labor would also require the chairman of the national broadcaster to be jointly nominated by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
The scheme is similar to the board appointment process used for the British Broadcasting Corporation.
- AAP
