Incoming ABC chair Ita Buttrose won't have to wait long to help make a decision that will hold weight at the broadcaster for years to come.
The 77-year-old, who Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Thursday as the next chair of the ABC, will soon have a hand in picking its next managing director.
Applications for the position close on Friday, with acting managing director David Anderson among those in the running.
"We'll have to look at the acting managing director's credentials in line with all the other people that have applied. I'm assuming they have quite a few," Ms Buttrose told reporters in Sydney.
Ms Buttrose replaces Justin Milne, who left the taxpayer-funded broadcaster six months ago after clashing with former managing director Michelle Guthrie.
The former editor of Cleo and Australian Women's Weekly magazines and 2013 Australian of the Year has vowed to restore stability to the broadcaster's management.
Her relationship with the new managing director will be key to that goal, she stressed.
"If there's not a close relationship between the chair and the managing director, you cannot make an organisation work efficiently and well," she said.
"It's time to get the ABC functioning again with proper, stable management and good frank discussion between the chair and whoever is the managing director."
Mr Morrison said Ms Buttrose, whose media career spans more than 60 years, has the "strength, integrity and fierce independence" needed to lead the ABC.
"Australians trust Ita, I trust Ita, and that's why I've asked her to take on this role," he told reporters.
The prime minister said he would recommend the appointment, under a five-year contract, to the governor-general.
Labor has wished Ms Buttrose well but is not pleased the coalition spent $163,000 on a recruitment process - required through legislation brought in by a Labor government - that it then ignored.
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