Applications close at the end of this month for a vacancy on the ABC board. So what sort of talent does Auntie need, and what kind of person is it likely to get?

Names being mentioned around the traps include Steve Harris, the former Age and Herald Sun editor in chief who recently tried out for the Fairfax board, and the immediate past chairman of Minter Ellison, Peter Bartlett, who has decades of history as an adviser to media companies and is recognised as the man to call when you have a defamation problem.

Harris and Bartlett have declined to give me any comment on the speculation.

Look through the current line-up on the board, and it is clear that certain talents and attributes are in short supply. One is left with the impression that the ideal candidate, if such a creature existed, would be a female ethnic lawyer with commercial experience in media and a firm handle on Web 2.0 and new media.

This will be the second time that appointments will be made through the new arm’s length selection process in which a committee makes recommendations to the minister. The last two appointments through this process were those of academic, journalist and former ABC executive Julianne Schultz and arts administrator Michael Lynch, both  exactly qualified for the position, which has given most of us faith that the new appointment process is working well.

The current vacancy is caused by the expiry of Janet Albrechtsen’s term. She was one of the “cultural warriors” appointed by the Howard government.

Over the next two years, the board will almost completely turn over, with banker and lawyer Steven Skala leaving next year, followed by Adelaide publican Peter Hurley and Quadrant editor Keith Windschuttle in 2011, followed by the chairman Maurice Newman. This will expunge the last of the Howard government’s highly political appointments, and will mean that for the first time in ABC history, the board will have been appointed on the basis of merit by a process at arm’s length from politics.

What will this mean for Auntie?

The board doesn’t leak these days, but rumblings from within Auntie suggest that management has found the political appointees something of a struggle. Albrechtsen, by all accounts, has proven smarter than her inflammatory newspaper presence might suggest, while Windschuttle has lived up to his reputation as what polite people call an iconoclast and less polite people term as a ratbag.

Peter Hurley, one of the least explicable Howard government appointments, has made little impact.

The changes in the board, together with the arm’s length selection process, mean that the dynamic of the organisation is changing, with the new appointees likely to bring not only expertise, but informed opinions to the ABC. Depending on who is chosen, the result is likely to be a challenge and an adjunct to the power of management.

Present managing director Mark Scott and chairman Maurice Newman work well together, making now the first time for many years when the relationship has worked well and relatively free of tension.

The notable lacks on the board include solid experience and understanding of new media futures — although this is increasingly seen as Scott’s area of strength.

Legal knowledge will clearly be needed when Skala departs, if not before. Meanwhile, Albrechtsen’s departure leaves Schultz as the only female on the board.

The selection process under way also includes a position on the SBS board. I’ll write on what is going on there before too long.