Ita Buttrose shares the real reason she stepped down as ABC chairman after five years: ‘You have to know when to step aside’
Ita Buttrose will step down from her role as chair of the ABC this week, with the media veteran revealing on Sunday the real reason she left the top job.
The television and radio personality, 82, has a career in the industry spanning six decades and has been chairman of the government broadcaster for the past five years.
While her replacement Kim Williams is preparing to take over the role this week, Buttrose said Stellar is something to talk about podcast, it was just her time.
“Five years is quite a long time to serve the ABC. I know that some chairs have taken up a second term, but I am aware that I am a woman of a certain age,” she told editor-in-chief Sarrah Le Marquand.
‘Sometimes you have to examine yourself and say, “Well, I’m a person of a certain age and everything is fine, and cognitively I’m good,” but still, weigh it up.’
Ita Buttrose, 82, (pictured) will step down from her role as chairman of the ABC this week, with the media veteran revealing on Sunday the real reason she left the top job.
‘Five more years. How would it be? You have to know when to step aside. I felt that. It had nothing to do with current events,” she added.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland made the unexpected announcement last August that Ita was stepping down as chairman of ABC.
“Ms Buttrose is a giant of the Australian media industry, and the Government thanks her for her exemplary service as chair of the ABC,” Rowland said at the time, paying tribute to the media icon’s time as head of the national public broadcaster .
The television and radio personality has had a career spanning six decades in the industry and has served as chairman of the government broadcaster for the past five years.
Rowland continued: “She has a lot to do for the rest of her term and will leave the ABC stronger than when she was entrusted with the role in 2019.
“She guided the public broadcaster through a challenging period of sharp political criticism, the Covid-19 pandemic and the continued transformation of the ABC so it can remain an essential part of Australian life in the digital age.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese named Kim Williams as Buttrose’s replacement as chairman of the ABC.
As her replacement Kim Williams prepares to take over the role this week, Buttrose told Stellar’s Something To Talk About podcast that it was simply her time
Williams – a former AFL commissioner and former head of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Australia and Foxtel Empires – was appointed as the new head of the public broadcaster in January.
“Kim is so perfectly suited for the role, it’s almost like he was made for it,” Albanese said.
“He is as at home running media companies as he is running arts organizations and is a former AFL commissioner, so he also dabbles in sport.
“I can’t think of many Australians who have both studied composition in Italy and been an AFL commissioner. Kim is a true renaissance man.”