ABC boss had few options but flight

When Max Moore-Wilton approached Russell Balding just before Christmas to replace him as Sydney airport chief executive, Balding had every reason to say yes.

At 54, there might not have been too many more attractive job opportunities and Balding would have been aware his chances of having his ABC contract renewed were negligible.

By the time Balding′s contract would have expired in the middle of next year, he would have been answering to an essentially new board and could count only on chairman Donald McDonald and staff-elected director Ramona Koval to back him for a further five years.

Balding, a survivor from the ABC regime put in place during the years of Paul Keating′s government by the former managing director, Brian Johns, is rumoured to have had equivocal relationships with board members such as Ron Brunton, Janet Albrechtsen and McDonald′s deputy, John Gallagher.

It was never nasty or unworkable and there had been respect on both sides. But Balding can be stubborn, as he demonstrated in November when, knowing he would face another gruelling bout of questioning about alleged corporation bias at a Senate Estimates Committee hearing, he simply did not turn up.

"I just had the view it′s not necessary for the managing director to attend each and every Senate hearing," a reflective Balding said last night.

"I knew I had a strong, capable executive team there (seven people in all, including a possible candidate to replace him in chief operating officer David Pendleton). I knew they were capable of answering all their questions."

As Balding was snubbing the Senate, Moore-Wilton was looking for someone in a prominent managerial job with experience dealing at state and federal levels, and young enough to have a career ahead of them. Balding, who′d been finance director at the Roads and Traffic Authority when Moore-Wilton was boss, fitted all the criteria.

"My board and I knew what we wanted," Moore-Wilton said yesterday. "We talked to a lot of people and we weighed up the options. And we unanimously selected Russell."

He would not say what it took to lure Balding and denied their previous association was a big factor. "Russell has a reasonably unique range of experiences in dealing with government (and) infrastructure," he said. "And he has a strong financial background and a very good track record in stable management."

ABC board members contacted yesterday declined to comment on Balding′s reign, except for Koval, who echoed staff in saying Balding′s great achievement had been to steady the broadcaster after the Jonathan Shier era.

Shier, who′d made it clear he wanted to make drastic changes to the corporation, lost his job just 19 tumultuous months into a five-year contract. It was an era marked by uncertainty, widespread dismissals, falling audiences, scandal, boardroom splits and low staff morale.

"After the turmoil of the Shier years, Russell Balding has been a steady hand on the tiller," Koval told The Weekend Australian.

"I worry that a suitable replacement might be hard to find. This is the most important public institution in the country and needs to find a managing director who′ll resist pressures from (antagonistic) political forces."

Director of radio Sue Howard, seen by some as a candidate to replace Balding, agreed Balding had brought stability to the ABC. "He did it with dignity and a lot of (management) skill. I′ll miss him," she said

Balding′s greatest flaw seems to have been that he was "a bit dull". One well-placed insider said: "He may not have been exciting but he brought a calm which, I think, pretty well everyone appreciated."

Even so, the timing of his departure - planned for late March - could hardly be worse.

Balding has been integral to the broadcaster′s input into the Government′s funding adequacy and efficiency review and to the corporation′s submission for its next three years of funding.

He also leaves the ABC extraordinarily short of executive continuity and corporate memory, something which will be accentuated should McDonald, 67, not be offered a third term as chairman.

"The timing might not be perfect, but these opportunities don′t come along all that often in this life," Balding said. "On the other hand, I believe I′m leaving the ABC in good shape. I don′t think we have a thing to fear from the funding adequacy review.

"By the standards of any national public broadcaster you care to think of, we′re underfunded. And the Government will already have been deliberating the triennial funding deal so I suspect nothing I could say at this stage would make much difference."