Peter Marks, former ABC Technician and current ABC Alumni Board member, reports on the passing of the baton at the top of the Alumni.

Like other organisations, (including certain political parties), the conclusion of the Federal election cycle is a trigger for a re-focus of our objectives and activities. Since 2021, the ABC Alumni board has been chaired by the highly respected and experienced broadcaster Jonathan Holmes. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Jonathan who has served a double duty of administrative leader and also public spokesperson for the organisation.

Jonathan signalled to the board that he would like to step away from the role a while ago but he was asked to stay until after the election. He will remain on the Alumni board a while longer.

Michael’s CV can be seen on the Alumni website here.

We are very pleased to announce that board member, Dr Michael Ward, has agreed to be our new Chair. Michael is not a former TV or radio presenter, so is not widely known to the public, but he is an experienced former ABC television executive and is now an academic at Sydney University with a special expertise in public broadcasting. His diligent work on the comparative decline in ABC funding over the past half century has formed the backbone of the Alumni’s campaigns for years now.

 

We look forward to Michael’s leadership, along with other well-known ABC Alumni, in contributing to the public discourse about public broadcasting in Australia.

ABC Alumni worked closely with ABC Friends during the recent federal election campaign. In Victoria in particular we would like to thank ABC Friends Ballarat, and particularly Maureen MacPhail, who helped line up speakers for the “vox pops” videos  which were used in the campaign.Â