By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
There’s been another altercation involving a Costello.
But this time Seb Costello, a reporter with Nine’s A Current Affair, rather than his father Peter, former chair of this column’s parent company Nine Entertainment.
A Current Affair reporter Seb Costello.Credit: Nine
Long story short: On Monday, Costello, while on assignment with an ACA crew, chased a finance company executive the program was attempting to interview into a women’s toilet and filmed him over the top of the locked cubicle.
The incident occurred on Monday morning when the crew took Peter Aquino, who closed his business Construct Homes after taking loans from Oak Capital, to Melbourne’s ritzy Rialto office tower.
Aquino spotted Oak executive Mo Ahmed entering the complex and asked him to answer his questions and it was game on. Ahmed fled up Collins Street and eventually shut himself in a cubicle of a women’s toilet in the nearby Intercontinental Hotel. Aquino, Costello and the crew from ACA followed him in, asking questions.
The blowback has been considerable from Oak, which is alleging assault by “a Nine Network reporter”.
Aquino, who has separately taken legal action against Oak, told CBD: “I can’t thank ACA enough and thank Seb Costello enough. Losing my business was like losing my child.”
Peter Costello was chair of Nine Entertainment until an incident at Canberra Airport in June, which resulted in a reporter from The Australian sprawled on the terminal floor, also while attempting to conduct an interview. Costello departed as chair a short time later.
Oak earlier this month issued a statement about an investigation by corporate regulator ASIC.
“Oak Capital strongly refutes all ASIC’s allegations and we will defend our position. All our loans comply with relevant laws and industry standards,” the company said.
CBD understands the ACA team has been stood down pending an investigation. Costello declined to comment.
A Nine spokesman said: “While we are aware of a range of allegations made against Nine by an individual representing a company facing legal proceedings commenced by ASIC, we believe the legal claim has no basis.”
Spirited tabloid pursuit on behalf of the common man, or foot in the door badgering? We report, you decide.
Quite the hide
Then: Back in 2009, Christopher Pyne, as newly appointed manager of opposition business in the House of Representatives, is taunted by then-deputy prime minister Julia Gillard as a mincing poodle.
Former Liberal politician Christopher Pyne.Credit: Matt Loxton
Now: Pyne, with his stint as defence minister behind him, quit parliament in 2019 and then set up lobbying shop Pyne & Partners, and was due on Thursday night to attend a meeting with another former defence parliamentary secretary David Feeney in Melbourne with Incolink, a construction industry workers’ entitlement scheme with lots of links to Labor and union types. The chosen venue? None other than a smart Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, cocktail establishment by the name of Poodle Bar & Bistro.
As Pyne commented dryly when contacted by CBD: “I have a hide like a rhinoceros, which has been useful in my choice of livelihood.”
Making it official
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese might be having trouble selling his Sydney investment property, as this column reported on Monday.
Anthony Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, bought this clifftop house for $4.3 million.
But the purchase of his $4.3 million clifftop house on the NSW Central Coast is now very much a done deal. The home which launched a thousand hot takes about the prime minister’s tone-deafness during a housing crisis is now listed on the prime minister’s register of interests.
The house is listed on the register as an investment, leading us to presume that the PM, who has The Lodge and Kirribilli House to choose from, would be keen to rent it out.
For any prospective tenant’s sake, we hope he doesn’t lose the next election.
Fired up
When he’s not hanging out in a box at Royal Randwick, the permanently embittered Mark Latham is taking potshots against his numerous enemies from behind the shield of parliamentary privilege in NSW state parliament.
Radio presenter Ray Hadley (left) and NSW politician Mark Latham.Credit: SMH
Among the latest targets for Latham’s increasingly intemperate sprays has been shock jock Ray Hadley, one never to shy away from delivering the odd verbal barrage during a lengthy career that comes to an end next month.
But on Thursday, Hadley hit back. Rather spectacularly. On his 2GB morning show, the host began by reading our Sydney colleague Alexandra Smith’s column documenting some of Latham’s recent antics, before dropping some allegations of his own.
“I’ve refrained from commenting on the vile attack on me under parliamentary privilege,” he said.
“I don’t have the luxury of that privilege to share any number of stories about Latham’s personal life and his apparent hatred of homosexuals.”
Latham – a contender for prime minister 20 years ago – has also had a few cracks at Hadley’s son Daniel, who quit NSW Police after having a cocaine charge against him dismissed. He’s now at Racing NSW, another body with which Latham has grievance.
“As a man, my son would buy and sell a low life like Latham every day of the week,” a fired up Hadley said on air.
“My son is not a coward that seeks to vilify people in parliamentary chambers where he would be protected.
“His courage in dealing with dark, dark days makes him a man to be admired, not attacked as he is by this grub Latham, simply because his last name is Hadley.”
Recently, Latham was found to have defamed state independent MP Alex Greenwich over a homophobic tweet, and ordered to pay him $140,000 in damages. Hadley challenged Latham to reveal who had been paying his legal bills in the case, suggesting the MP would have to declare any external funder.
We put this to Australia’s one-time alternative prime minister to see whether he’d reveal anything. Naturally, we didn’t hear back.
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