Businesswoman, journalist and former magazine editor Ita Buttrose has been named as the next chair of the ABC.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the 77-year-old’s appointment to the public broadcaster’s top job on Thursday, despite her not being included on a shortlist of recommendations for the position given to the government.

Mr Morrison declared she has the “strength, integrity and fierce independence” needed to do the job.

“Australians trust Ita, I trust Ita, and that’s why I’ve asked her to take on this role,” Scott Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

Buttrose, who under a five-year contract, will replace Justin Milne who left the ABC six months ago after clashing with former managing director Michelle Guthrie.

“I consider it one of the most important cultural and information organisations in this country,” Buttrose said.

Her first job will be restoring stability to the management of the organisation after the sudden and disruptive departures of Mr Milne and Ms Guthrie.

“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,” Buttrose said.

“If there’s not a close relationship between the chair and the managing director, you cannot make an organisation work efficiently and well.”

She also promised she wouldn’t be afraid to ask the government for more funding and defended the ABC push into the online news space, saying it had a right to be there.

Respected media career

Buttrose started her media career as a 15-year-old copy girl at the Australian Women’s Weekly before landing a spot as a cadet journalist on the women’s section of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Buttrose appointed women’s editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph at the age of 23.

She shot to national prominence in the 1970s as the founding editor of Cleo magazine, helping it to become the top-selling monthly women’s magazine in the country.

Buttrose became editor of The Women’s Weekly three years later.

In 1980, she became the first female editor of an Australian metropolitan newspaper at The Daily Telegraph and later The Sunday Telegraph.

She was also first woman appointed to the News Limited board in 1981.

Buttrose has used her prominence to raise awareness of a range of health issues including breast cancer, HIV/AIDS and prostate cancer.

She was named Australian of the Year in 2013 in tribute to her groundbreaking media career and role in raising awareness of health and media issues.

Buttrose was a host on Channel Ten’s Studio 10 program for five years from the show’s inception in 2013.

She has two children with her first husband, architect Alasdair “Mac” Macdonald.