- Kim Williams defends brutal decision to punt popular Sydney radio host
- Insists broadcaster never sacked controversial host Antoinette Lattouf
ABC boss Kim Williams has defended the decision to dump popular radio host Sarah McDonald before taking swipes at former presenter Phillip Adams and sacked host Antoinette Lattouf.
Mr Williams, who succeeded Ita Buttrose as the national broadcaster’s chair in March, said he fully supported axing McDonald as ABC Radio Sydney‘s mornings host as the ABC looks to revitalise its radio division under audio director Ben Latimer.
‘Changes in media are part of life,’ he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday. ‘They are part of the programming fabric of all organisations.’
ABC staffers were shocked by the move when it was announced alongside a raft of sweeping changes at the taxpayer-funded service last Thursday, greeting the news with a round of boos in their Sydney headquarters.
McDonald – who joined the ABC as a cadet and has spent more than three decades with the broadcaster – announced her exit live on air last week.
However, Mr Williams was adamant McDonald, who is well-liked and highly regarded throughout the industry, was not been fired – it was just that her job had been given to someone else.
‘It’s inaccurate to say that Sarah McDonald has been sacked,’ he said.
‘Her role has not been renewed. They are different conceptually.
‘In a similar way, management has determined that it wishes to take that service in a different direction.
‘That decision is a management decision, and I fully support our management in making relevant decisions as to the direction and content of the services that the ABC provides.
‘So, yes, I do support that decision.
‘I do support the notion of refreshment in the various services that the ABC offers.’
The ABC has reportedly been inundated with complaints since McDonald revealed she had been given the boot live on-air on her show on Thursday morning.
‘Well, here’s the news from me in terms of disappointment,’ she told her listeners.
‘I’m not going to be on the radio with you next year, the ABC has decided not to renew my contract here at Mornings.
‘I am proud of what I’ve done. The ratings are up.’
Acknowledging the internal and external backlash against the decision, Mr Williams said it was impossible for the broadcaster to evolve without making difficult calls.
‘The public reaction would actually say that you can never change anything, ever, unless the person impacted by the change is entirely in agreement with that change,’ he said.
‘And I think that in a media-working environment, that’s a very impractical view of the world.’
He drew the same distinction when it came to Lattouff, who was axed by the ABC midway through a week of casual radio presenting shifts last December.
Lattouf is suing the ABC in the federal court and claims the broadcaster breached its employee enterprise agreement by ‘sacking her without a proper basis and without due process‘.
However, Mr Williams insists she was not sacked either.
‘Matters with Ms Latouff are, of course, the subject of legal disputation currently, and we have been impeccably silent about the matter, unlike Ms Latouff and her representatives, who seem to have been devoted to sharing on a regular basis with the media,’ he said.
‘On that matter…we will continue to persist in aiming for that to be capable of respectful, constructive resolution between the ABC and Ms Latouff.
‘But I must correct you – Ms Latouff was not dismissed.
‘She was on a five-day contract and…the contract was brought to a close at the end of the third day.
‘So it affected the final two days of that contract which, of course, were paid.
‘It keeps on coming up, saying that she was “sacked”.
‘I don’t know where that leaves us? She was not sacked.’
The media executive’s claim is at odds with a decision by the Fair Work Commission that found in June that Lattouf had indeed been sacked, rejecting the argument she was not terminated because she was paid for the full five days.
Mr Williams also went on to have a dig at Adams, who signed off as host of the ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live program in June after an incredible 33-year reign.
The outspoken media veteran, who once hired Mr Williams while heading the Australian Film Commission, has been widely critical of Mr Williams’ appointment as ABC chair.
He told the Guardian’s Amanda Meade following his retirement that he was not ‘a great fan of Kim Williams’.
‘Kim and I have a lot of history. I’m not happy that he got the big job,’ he said.
‘Although Kim wouldn’t have been my first, second or third recommendation, I wish him well in trying to save the joint. It’s in pretty terrible shape.’
Asked about claims’ Adams had actually ‘backed’ him to apply to be the ABC’s managing director when he was just 28, Mr Williams laughed before saying: ‘What an interesting question!’
‘Philip Adams never backed me for the role of managing director of the ABC. This is part of the continuing fiction that is Philip Adams,’ he said.
‘I certainly did apply for the job of managing director of the ABC when I was 30.
‘And on the rebound from the application when I was 30, I was appointed as the chief executive of the Australian Film Commission by Philip Adams, and by Philip Adams’ board at that time.’
He said he no longer harboured any ambition to take on the role and was not interested in succeeding incumbent David Anderson, who announced his resignation in August and will step down as soon as a replacement is found.
‘I am not and would not accept being a candidate as managing director of the ABC now, because I don’t think that it would pass the pub test,’ Mr Williams said.
‘I have a very clear formed view as to the difference between governance responsibility, which involves policy and priority setting, and advocacy, I might add, as compared with execution on a day-to-day operational basis by the people who are charged with running the place.
‘I do not seek to transfer from the governance strategic prioritisation and advocacy role across into the operational role.’
