The ABC has confirmed that a program hosted by Yassmin Abdel-Magied will end in June but has denied Australia Wide was targeted because of the controversy over her Anzac Day comments.

Since 2016 the part-time presenter has fronted a low-profile weekly show on the 24-hour news channel that showcases ABC’s reporters’ stories from around the country. She does not report but introduces the taped stories.

The news came hours before the ABC was to appear before a Senate estimates committee at which the subject of Abdel-Magied’s Anzac Day Facebook post was likely to have been raised with its managing director, Michelle Guthrie.

Despite a chorus of calls from Coalition members and News Corp commentators for Abdel-Magied to be sacked by the ABC, the national broadcaster had stood by her and said she had done nothing to violate ABC policies.

The Greens senator Scott Ludlum implied on Twitter the ABC was getting rid of the young host so they wouldn’t have to face ABC critic Senator Eric Abetz in estimates.

by stunning coincidence, the ABC drops this right before they're due to face abetz in #estimates. craven and wrong: https://t.co/fAS3DiHXyU — Scott Ludlam (@SenatorLudlam) May 24, 2017

The Tasmanian Liberal wrote to the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, in April demanding Abdel-Magied be sacked from the Council for Australian-Arab Relations but Bishop had refused.

“ABC News is changing how we deliver long-form local journalism in order to better match our audience’s needs,” an ABC spokeswoman said.

“Instead of concentrating on one weekly broadcast slot, we will be using our best local and state-based longer-form pieces across the news channel, the extended weekend 7pm News and online.

“As a result, Australia Wide has not been renewed for another season. This decision has been under consideration for some time and was not to do with any controversy over presenter Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

“Yassmin was aware the program was under review and we are discussing with her future opportunities at the ABC.”

Abetz, along with Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Peter Dutton, was among the Coalition figures who called for her to be sacked.

Abdel-Magied’s comment on her personal Facebook post was: “LEST WE FORGET (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine).” She apologised and deleted it when people pointed out it was insensitive.

Further cuts to staff numbers at the ABC are expected on Thursday. Sources say staff at ABC Radio National are bracing for cuts as they have been called into meetings with management.



According to an internal document, staff will be placed into pools – dubbed the hunger games – and a “selection matrix” will be used to score each employee “with the preliminary selection for redundancy comprising employees with the lowest scores”.