Such is the Albanese government’s permanent state of crank toward the Greens that it’s rare to see them on the same page these days. But it seems like both parties have come around to the blinding whiteness of the ABC board. Much like senior leadership in media companies across the country, the board of the national broadcaster is entirely white.
Modern Australia is not. Senator Mehreen Faruqi took aim at the “unacceptable” lack of diversity on the ABC board. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Communications Minister Michelle Rowland took some baby steps toward changing that this week, with the government updating the selection criteria for the appointment of non-executive directors to the board.
The new criteria includes a direction that board members must possess “an understanding of, or the ability to credibly represent, the communication needs of Australia’s diverse society”. Coincidentally, this update came weeks after Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi wrote to Rowland slamming the “unacceptable” lack of diversity on the ABC board. “The ABC board is completely and embarrassingly bereft of diversity,” the senator thundered, saying she had “no doubt” this contributed to the treatment of former Q&A host Stan Grant and fill-in presenter Antoinette Lattouf.
Grant, a Wiradjuri man, accused the broadcaster of “institutional failure” over its lack of support when his analysis of King Charles’ coronation prompted a deluge of racist abuse. Lattouf was sacked aft.