By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
The Melbourne Boat Show is upon us down at Docklands, with more than 200 boats on sale to inspect and buy, valued at more than $100 million, including “the debut of the long-awaited Jeanneau Yacht 55, visiting the southern hemisphere for the first time”. The vessel is worth $2 million.
A deckhand cleans the hull of Solomon Lew’s superyacht Texas in Victoria Harbour.Credit: Paul Rovere
Exciting stuff, if indeed that, er, floats your boat. Yes, we went there.
Ambassadors including AFLW star and water enthusiast Libby Birch and AFL Hawthorn star, keen fisherman and Hokball enthusiast Jack Ginnivan.
Ambassadors do not include billionaire retailer Solomon Lew who owns several superyachts, including the 45-metre Texas, which CBD was slightly alarmed earlier this week to see parked slap-bang at Melbourne City Marina in Docklands, right where the boat show was set to reside.
CBD has absolutely no insight into discussions or negotiations which led to the vessel’s departure, but a spokesman for Lew said the Texas was now happily moored across the other side of Docklands’ Victoria Harbour.
A boat show spokeswoman said: “It is usually moored at Melbourne City Marina and, as it does every year, it moves to Victoria Harbour for the boat show.” Phew.
MOVING ON UP
SPOTTED: The nation’s most famous public servant (even people in Sydney know about this guy), Jeroen Weimar walking the corridors of power in the Parliament of Victoria on Thursday morning.
Weimar, the state’s former COVID-19 tsar, is leading the government’s housing strategy.
Former COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar could be heading for a top job.Credit: Getty Images
But our interest was piqued after we heard an item on 3AW’s Rumour File segment about an imminent appointment to the powerful position of secretary of the Department of Transport and Planning. The situation is vacant after Paul Younis announced he was off at the end of the year after five years. No-one was named, but sources are linking the job to Weimar.
We reached out to the government and Weimar, but neither responded to our questions. A government source said Weimar has been in parliament a lot recently talking about the response to the government housing statement. And that applications are open to replace Younis.
Certainly, overseeing the combined transport and planning mega-department would suit the Dutch-born, Anglo-Australian public servant’s skills. He worked for Transport for London for nearly a decade, was chief executive of Public Transport Victoria and, since February 2024, has been in charge of leading the state’s housing strategy.
One salient fact to keep in mind when considering the rumours: Premier Jacinta Allan is a huge fan of Weimar’s work.
&*?!@^$
Who knew that the nation’s public service broadcaster is dealing with a potty mouth pandemic? That’s the impression given by a “timely reminder” memo from an ABC executive that instructed newsroom staff to stamp out the swearing and to be “respectful of those working near us from other teams”.
“Bad language won’t be tolerated from any team at any site,” it reads.
At issue is the migration of newsroom staff from the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters in Sydney to what many of the broadcaster’s Sydney staff regard as the western outpost of Parramatta.
This has caused journalists to mix in with civilian teams, with apparently disturbing results.
So much so that alarmed acting NSW Metro editor John McElhinney issued a stern memo to news staff asking them to be respectful of others.
Discussion program Q&A famously had an open-mic policy regarding swearing for many years. Maybe it can follow McElhinney’s suggestion: “Please also go to a quiet space if you need to have long phone calls that could be disruptive to others.”
FOZ CANCELLED
Cancel culture has overtaken former Socceroo and football pundit-turned-human-rights activist Craig Foster.
Craig Foster’s planned lecture at Sydney Grammar School has been cancelled.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The Foz was invited to give a lecture in the rarefied $45,000-a-year surrounds of Sydney Grammar School as part of its Ithaka Lectures.
But in an email to parents on Tuesday, Grammar headmaster Dr Richard Malpass said that Foster’s speech wouldn’t be going ahead.
“We are very mindful that our Ithaka Lecture series must also acknowledge and be respectful of the impact it may have on the wellbeing of members of our community,” he said.
“Accordingly, we believe it is not in the best interests of our community at this time for the lecture scheduled for 23 October to proceed.”
What was Foz’s great sin? While his recent posts on X (nee Twitter) snubbing an invitation to meet King Charles III ruffled a few feathers, CBD suspects it’s Foster’s staunch criticism of Israel’s conduct during the Middle East war which has made him unpalatable.
Foster held a leadership role with the Australian Republic Movement until May, when his fellow co-chair, ex-Labor senator Nova Peris quit over differences of opinion over the war. Foster, who had recently written to Football Australia calling for it to support a push to ban Israel from FIFA, followed her out the door soon afterward.
When asked by this masthead whether Foster’s stance on the conflict led Grammar to pull the pin, Malpass said the school remained committed to hearing a wide range of views, perspectives and opinions. He didn’t exactly deny it.