ABC chairman Justin Milne leaves his home on Thursday morning.Credit:Nick Moir
Board members had already been made aware of Mr Milne's directives to Ms Guthrie in a document she prepared for the board after she was asked to resign as managing director on September 13. They agreed to sack her just over a week later.
But the subsequent publication of Mr Milne's interventions - starting with Fairfax Media's revelation he told Ms Guthrie to"get rid of"Alberici - forced the board to re-evaluate Mr Milne's position.
Mr Milne said there had been"absolutely no interference"from the government in the independence of the ABC.
"Nobody from the government has ever rung me and told me what to do in relation to the ABC,"he said."Nobody ever told me to hire anybody,fire anybody,or do anything else;they absolutely didn't."
Meanwhile,the Morrison government has ordered the Communications Department to investigate the allegations levelled at Mr Milne. Earlier on Thursday,Communications Minister Mitch Fifield declined to support the chairman continuing in the role.
"It’s a matter for every high office holder to continually assess whether they retain the capacity to effectively discharge the duties of their office,"he said.