Australia's national radio and television school is interviewing for a new boss. Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:
One of the new Communication Minister Paul Fletcher’s lesser known responsibilities is the Australian Film Television and Radio School, the national broadcast academy that has been without a chief executive since Neil Peplow called it quits on Friday.
He is off to a posting at the British Film Institute.
Leading the search for a replacement are the three government-appointed board directors Russel Howcroft, Peter Tonagh and Annabelle Herd.
All three were either executives or directors of Network Ten in the months before it bumbled into administration in July 2017, so make of that what you will.
(Unsurprisingly, this detail cannot be found on Tonagh’s AFTRS biography nor his LinkedIn.)
They are advised by Blenheim Partners — the “elite international executive search firm” — run by former CTPartners partner Ian Smith.
(CTPartners went into liquidation shortly after Smith departed as its local boss, a detail that cannot be found on Smith’s LinkedIn or his Blenheim biography.)
With so many geniuses in the mix, what could possibly go wrong?
According to a draft of the position description, the successful candidate will be “managing reductions in government contributions and increasing own sourced revenue”.
Or, as ABC news boss Gaven Morris would say, manage a budget which will “cut into the muscle”.
They will also be “working within the federal government framework whilst remaining agile and commercial,” according to the document dated April.
The ideal candidate needs to also understand “the machinations of government”.
We’re told that requirement was dropped in the final description.
But good luck in trying to find even where to apply.
The job has been advertised precisely once, in print, and nowhere else.
A BOLD MOVE...
Malcolm Turnbull in 2016, attending an event with his then senior adviser David Bold.Credit: Andrew Meares
Premier Gladys Berejiklian will soon have another Turnbull government operative in her office after appointing one-time Craig Laundy man Neil Harley to her office’s chief strategy position two months ago.
And it’s none other than Malcolm Turnbull’s long-time communications head turned trusted senior advisor David “I find our conversations absolutely unbearable” Bold.
Bold, who some time ago also worked for former education minister Adrian Piccoli, will take over from Tom Payten as Berejiklian’s director of parliamentary business.
Payten, who has also worked in the office of former premier Mike Baird, is leaving 52 Martin Place for the outside world after seven years.
...AND A CREAMED HERRING
Spotted Sunday having lunch at the Ashfield Polish Club: Shooters, Fishers and Farmers boss Robert Borsak and former deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas.
It’s an unexpected catchup.
Kaldas — a well-regarded cop feted by former Labor leader Luke Foley to take over after Andrew Scipione announced he would retire as commissioner — earlier this year turned down Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s offer to be installed as the Liberal candidate in the federal seat of Reid.
Is he now considering a career with the Shooters & Fishers? We are told he is not.
He was, after all, one of three experts appointed last month to lead a review into the New Zealand Police response to the Christchurch terror attacks.
After lunch, Kaldas and Borsak retired to the bar.
On Tuesday morning, we glimpsed Manly Liberal MP James Griffin deep in conversation with departed foreign minister Julie Bishop at Chifley Tower’s District Brasserie.
And later that day, there was a most curious site in Parliament’s Preston Stanley Room.
Macquarie Street appeared to be hosting an event titled the “(Liberal) Felicity Wilson MP Appreciation Function”. It would be unkind to suggest it was thrown by Felicity Wilson.
A FIRST CALL?
Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation chief executive Simon Haines has been caught between his board and his funders at the Ramsay Foundation.Credit: Sarah Keayes
Meanwhile, relations between the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation and its funder — the $3.5 billion Ramsay Foundation — remain very, very tense.
To recap: the Ramsay Foundation no longer wants to be associated with the Ramsay Centre, whose otherwise unremarkable great books course is backed by ex-PMs John Howard and Tony Abbott.
As the Herald has reported, some Ramsay Foundation directors are "appalled" that the outfit led by former Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Simon Haines has become embroiled in culture wars. Instead they want to cut ties and concentrate on other uses for the late Paul Ramsay's money.
But Howard, through a spokesman, stirred the pot this week by telling us that it was "the wish of the late Mr Ramsay that the first call on the income of the Ramsay Foundation was to pursue the goals which inspire the work of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation".
Not everyone at the foundation agrees with this. “There is no ‘first call’,” said one source.
The conflict is made even worse because the two organisations sharing three directors: Michael Siddle, Peter Evans and Tony Clark. Clark, we are told, is particularly friendly with Howard.