News Corp to the ABC chair: Kim Williams succeeds Ita Buttrose

He has held CEO positions across the creative industries, including the Australian Film Commission, Southern Star Entertainment, Fox Studios Australia, Foxtel, and News Corp. He resigned from News Corp after less than two years and was widely known to have butted heads with newspaper editors.

He also has deep connections to the Labor Party – he is married to former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s daughter, Catherine, and launched former treasurer Chris Bowen’s book in 2013 while News Corp CEO.

Mr Albanese said the appointment was not a “captain’s pick”, but that Mr Williams was nominated for the role by the independent nomination panel.

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Mr Williams said it was a “solemn responsibility” to take the helm of the ABC.

“It’s [a role] which is guided by the charter and obviously has a responsibility to work with colleagues on the board of the ABC to give life and personality to that charter,” he said.

“The charter is often invoked but rarely read, and the charter is a refreshingly broad statement as to the responsibilities.

“It speaks to the cultural diversity of Australia, it speaks to the responsibility to national identity in the process of informing and entertaining the nation, it speaks to the necessity of being innovative and comprehensive in the approach that is taken across all of the delivery methodologies of digital media,” Mr Williams said.

“It also has international responsibilities, education responsibilities, and, of course, an array of responsibilities in relation to what I described charmingly in the act as ‘the musical and dramatic and other arts’.

“I certainly think giving life to those responsibilities is one of the great enduring challenges in Australia, and it’s a privilege to do so.”

Mr Williams will take over the ABC as it faces significant internal divisions over coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Earlier this week, the ABC’s union house committee passed a vote of no-confidence in managing director David Anderson, saying the broadcaster’s leadership had “consistently failed to protect our ABC’s independent or protect staff when they are attacked”.

The ABC board held a long meeting on Tuesday, after which Ms Buttrose said it was “abhorrent and incorrect” that Mr Anderson had not shown support for independent journalism and journalists.

The current outrage was amplified by a decision to pull broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf from a role hosting an ABC morning radio show three days into the role after she shared a Human Rights Watch report on Israel’s alleged use of starvation as a tool of war in Gaza.

She has taken the broadcaster to the Fair Work Commission, saying she was racially discriminated in the decision.

Mr Williams’ appointment was welcomed by high-profile and former ABC staff.

“Someone with actual broadcasting experience, but more importantly a background in butting heads with moguls (Murdoch, Stokes, Packer),” business reporter Peter Ryan wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “His News Corp life (CEO at News Ltd, Foxtel) was deep but ended badly – a good thing for ABC independence.”

Former 7.30 presenter Quentin Dempster noted he had advocated for original Australian content, but faced questions about funding and plans to rebuild top shows.