Ms Guthrie alleged Mr Milne told her she should fire chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici at least four times, in exchanges on WhatsApp, phone, email and in person. “On numerous occasions, in conversations with Mr Milne, I have defended the independence of the ABC from government and the fact that we can’t fire journalists including [political editor] Andrew Probyn and Emma Alberici because the government of the day complains about their reporting,” Ms Guthrie told the board. The government is bracing for a parliamentary inquiry into the affair, which could call board members and even former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to give evidence. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said there was no proof any minister had ever asked for ABC reporters to be fired. The Guthrie dossier also reveals the full extent of the board’s misgivings about Ms Guthrie’s leadership, including frequent absence from the ABC office, a failure to act as editor-in-chief, keeping the board in the dark on major issues including finances and a dysfunctional relationship with directors.

In the letter, Ms Guthrie rejected those allegations and said she believed relations with the board “can and should be repaired in the best interests of the ABC”. The board also felt there was a “lack of trust” between Ms Guthrie and her direct reports, that she had “frozen out people” and that “people feel bullied” by her. Her leadership style was described as "delegate and abandon". But she warned: “If the board resolves to terminate my appointment, the reasons appear to me to be in part because of my disclosure about the chair’s inappropriate conduct towards me and [interference] in the independence of the ABC. In summary, any decision to terminate my appointment would not be based on a valid reason.”

The letter was provided to directors including Dr Ferguson on Friday, September 21 - days before the board sacked Ms Guthrie half-way through her $900,000 a year, five-year term. After extracts of the document became public this week, Mr Milne resigned as chairman on Thursday. The document portrays Ms Guthrie’s version of events, and does not include copies of what Ms Guthrie said - if anything - in email exchanges with Mr Milne about Alberici and the comedy show Tonightly. In the document, Ms Guthrie said she had asked for her concerns to be addressed “separately and confidentially from any consideration about my future”. Mr Milne would not comment. However, other people close to the process said Ms Guthrie was offered the opportunity to make a formal complaint about Mr Milne's conduct but did not take it up. Ms Guthrie recounted a phone call with Mr Milne in June during which he “continued to yell at me and berate me” about the need to fire Probyn. She said when she finished the call: “I was shaky and upset and close to tears. I was with a friend and my 16-year-old daughter and they both asked after me.”

Ms Guthrie told the board it was “totally inappropriate” that she had to defend the independence of the ABC against interference by the ABC chairman. She alleged Mr Milne told her she was putting the ABC’s future at risk by jeopardising $500 million in government funding for its digital transformation plan known as Project Jetstream. “I told him that there was no sense that the government would give us that funding, and he then yelled and accused me of calling him a liar,” Ms Guthrie wrote. The former managing director declined to comment. Financial woes also played a key role in the breakdown of relations between the managing director and the board, according to the dossier. Directors alleged Ms Guthrie had not kept them fully informed on matters including a $28.7 million budget blowout in 2017-18, leading to a $71.2 million loss. The ABC's funding was frozen in the May budget but it still receives about $1 billion per year. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Ms Guthrie addressed the board’s concerns that she was too often away from the ABC office, including numerous trips to Singapore, where her husband lives and where she is a director of telco Starhub. She said she continued to work on ABC matters while on personal leave for those trips, including a three-hour discussion about triple J’s Hottest 100.