Govt rewards Peter Lewis with appointment to ABC Board

“The Government’s appointment to the ABC’s governing board of Peter Lewis conveys an alarming message about the ABC’s future,” said Glenys Stradijot, ABC Friends National spokesperson. “ABC Friends believes his appointment is improper and inappropriate.”

The Government has announced the appointment of Peter Lewis – the former chief financial officer of Seven West Media and Southern Cross Austereo and the person who conducted the

“Mr Lewis’s background is in commercial media finance – skills which are totally unsuited to the governing board of a public broadcaster and the country’s foremost cultural institution.

“Mr Lewis’s appointment appears to be a reward for him having devised a blueprint for how the ABC should be cut. It also looks to be an attempt by the Government to impose an agenda of commercialisation on the ABC.

“Peter Lewis should never have been appointed to conduct a review of the ABC due to his recent employment in senior roles with media companies that are competitors of the ABC. It is even worse that someone with such a clear potential for conflict of interest has been appointed to the broadcaster’s governing board.

“With its cuts to ABC funding and its first appointment to the ABC Board, this government is demonstrating contempt for the nation’s independent public broadcaster, said Glenys Stradijot.
Glenys Stradijot, ABC Friends national spokesperson