Former ABC News chief’s payout revealed
Former ABC News director Justin Stevens was given a $353,000 payout when he abruptly exited the public broadcaster in May.
Stevens, who spent 19 years at the ABC, resigned and departed on the same day in late May. It emerged that he was in the process of being replaced by the public broadcaster, with managing director Hugh Marks having already lined up his replacement, Simon Robinson.
Marks later said that Stevens wasn’t aware the public broadcaster was in the process of replacing him before his eventual exit. He told Radio National Breakfast that Stevens’ exit was “inevitable” after the pair had disagreed on the right direction for Australia’s largest newsroom.
The figure, which could include leave and other entitlements, was revealed in the ABC’s annual report, released on Monday evening as executives from the broadcaster prepare to appear in front of a Senate estimates committee on Tuesday.
The ABC has experienced significant turnover in its senior ranks since the arrival of Marks. Almost his entire management team has been replaced during this period, including the recent exit of chief operating officer Melanie Kleyn, who has been replaced by Trent Dickeson from Seven West Media. Kleyn was paid a full package of $869,771 in 2026 and is expected to have landed a severance package as well.
Marks was paid a total package of $1,199,856 in the 2026 financial year, which includes a base salary of $1,134,639. ABC chair Kim Williams was paid $226,000.
ABC staff expect major changes to its news division under Robinson. Last week, Robinson told staff the broadcaster had axed The Business, a business news program that has been running for 20 years.
In the annual report, Marks hinted at the direction of future changes, saying the ABC will evolve its news offering to give greater emphasis on live, local and distinctive services, in particular by addressing “duplicated news outputs that compete for the same audiences”.
“The Corporation will offer audiences more relevant, local and in-depth reporting and investigations,” he said. He will also try and explore ways to cut the ABC’s high transmission costs, which could mean the closure or shift to digital-only for a number of radio or television stations like News Radio or the ABC News channel.
Britain’s public broadcaster BBC announced the closure of several channels including BBC Three and BBC Scotland last week as part of wide cost-savings measures.
The ABC’s total radio network grew in the 2025-26 year, putting an end to four successive years of declines. While its beleaguered local radio network continued its downward trend, there was audience growth most noticeably for News Radio, and triple j.
The ABC also grew its audience for weeknight 7pm news bulletins, up seven per cent to 899,000 on average nationally across both free-to-air broadcast and live streaming. Foreign Correspondent was the ABC’s standout performer, with audiences up 29 per cent compared to the 2024-25 year, while 7.30 also grew its audience by six per cent, giving it an average viewership of 864,000 each evening.
Marks and other ABC executives are expected to be pressed on a series of issues on Tuesday, including the fallout from the saga surrounding former Four Corners reported Mahmood Fazal, who was sacked by the ABC in May after setting up an unauthorised podcast. Several episodes of his investigative reporting for Four Corners and Background Briefing were later removed due to concerns over his sourcing.
The ABC’s own independent ombudsman later said the failings relating to two episodes published in 2023 and 2024 undermined trust in the broadcaster.
The entire reporting line responsible for the relevant episodes, including Fazal, Four Corners boss Matthew Carney, investigations boss Jo Puccini, Stevens and then-managing director David Anderson, have all left.
More to come
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