Incoming ABC chairman Justin Milne says he has deep respect for Malcolm Turnbull but his longstanding friendship with the Prime Minister will have "zero impact" on his role at the public broadcaster.
In an interview with Fairfax Media the telecommunications veteran said he would reduce his board appointments but would continue to serve on the board overseeing the rollout of the National Broadband Network. He also flagged that supercomputers capable of analysing huge amounts of data could be used in the future to assess the ABC's coverage for bias.
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Mr Milne, who replaces former NSW chief justice James Spigelman, got to know Mr Turnbull when he ran OzEmail, the internet service provider Mr Turnbull co-founded.
The pair became friends and Mr Turnbull appointed Mr Milne, who also ran Bigpond and MSN, to the NBN board in 2013.
![Incoming ABC chairman Justin Milne says he will not take an "interventionist" approach at the public broadcaster](/web/20170329180828im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/2/l/4/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv756t.png/1490580143048.jpg)
"Malcolm is a high-minded public servant," Mr Milne said.
"I've seen the way he operated at the NBN.
"He wants robust, well-managed institutions; he doesn't want to be the king of Australia.
"I don't think he will be ringing me up and saying, 'Get that person off Q&A; or anything like that.'
![ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie.](/web/20170329180828im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/n/i/i/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv756t.png/1490580143048.jpg)
"I have got to know him over a number of years and have a great deal of respect for him."
Mr Milne, who was approached to apply for the role by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, said the ABC was accountable to the audience rather than to either side of politics.
![The ABC's next chairman Justin Milne ringing the ASX bell.](/web/20170329180828im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/z/e/3/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv756t.png/1490580143048.jpg)
"The ABC is owned by the people of Australia, it's almost entirely a taxpayer-funded service," he said.
"The audience are the people we must not be independent from - they are our shareholders and that's to whom we owe our alleigance."
Although Mr Milne has a vast amount of experience in media and telecommunications, he said would not be tempted to micro-manage the organisation or interfere with the work of managing director Michelle Guthrie.
"I don't see myself as an interventionist chairman - it's not my job to decide on programming or to second-guess journalists or other staff," he said.
"At the successful organisations I have been a part of the boards don't do that.
"There is an expectation that a new chair will try to stamp his mark on the organisation or come in with a new broom - I won't be doing any of that."
Mr Milne said he would "definitely" remain on the board of the NBN and that there was "no conflict at all" with his role at the ABC.
But he said he was reviewing his other board appointments to see which he could offload to make time for the ABC.
Mr Milne is also chair of accounting software group MYOB and NetComm Wireless, and sits on the board of Tabcorp Holdings.
Despite the regular complaints of conservative commentators, Mr Milne said he did not believe the ABC has a problem with political bias.
"Bias is in the eye of the beholder," he said.
"The ABC goes to a great deal of trouble to be unbiased.
"I'm sure the ABC wants to drive a line straight down the middle of Australia and provide all Australians with a news service they can trust.
"In the era of blogs and 'fake news' the ABC is more important than ever."
Mr Milne said he expected to continue the external audits of ABC coverage launched by his predecessor James Spigelman and these could be deepened in future years through the use of "big supercomputers".
Machines could potentially analyse a huge amount of data in a more objective way than human reviewers, he said.
"Supercomputers like IBM's Watson can read and understand and are able to look for keywords in the same way a human being does," he said.
"They can understand what the intent of a piece of information is and what the biases are, the perceptions behind it."
Mr Milne said the biggest challenge facing the ABC was the shift among younger consumers from traditional broadcasting to digital media.
The ABC must prepare for the day more Australians consume television through digital devices, such as their mobile phones, than a TV set, he said.
Mr Milne's five-year term officially begins on April 1.