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‘Excellent decision’: ABC staff react to their boss’ shock termination

Current and former ABC staff have been among the most vocal in reacting to the sudden sacking of managing director Michelle Guthrie, just two and a half years into her five-year tenure.

Sally Neighbour

One of the strongest early reactions came from Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour, who said it was an “excellent decision”.

Jon Faine

In Melbourne, radio presenter Jon Faine described Ms Guthrie’s legacy as an “astonishing fail” on his morning show.

“Staff morale has never been so low,” he said.

“[She was] given the benefit of the doubt because she was a woman. She was smart and we were excited. But she was only interested in a few parts of the organisation.

“She wouldn’t advocate for us, which is an astonishing fail. She’s been all but invisible. Every time you tried to get something from her, it was all jargon.”

Rafael Epstein

Rafael Epstein, host of Drive on ABC Radio Melbourne, said his “best guess” was that the board did not like the way Ms Guthrie “treated senior execs [and] staff and were unimpressed with the way she deals with Canberra”.

“‘Good job’ is not glowing praise,” he said, referring to the comments of ABC board chair Justin Milne.

Philip Adams

Veteran Late Night Live presenter Philip Adams said: “Michelle, we hardly knew you.”

He then joked he was in the running.

“ABC board decides on an internal appointment. I thank the board for their confidence in me,” he wrote on Twitter.

Tom Ballard

Comedian Tom Ballard, whose ABC show Tonightly was controversially axed recently because of funding cuts, joked that he wanted the job.

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