By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Our dear readers simply couldn’t get enough of CBD’s recent revelation that former Socceroos captain turned human rights crusader Craig Foster had been cancelled by Sydney Grammar School.
The $40,000-a-year institution wouldn’t answer questions about whether Foster’s strident criticism of Israel played a part in its decision to can a planned lecture, but made vague noises about the “wellbeing” of the school community. This came months after Foster quit as co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement after falling out with fellow chair Nova Peris over the Middle East conflict.
Audience with the Foz. Sydney Grammar students will hear from Craig Foster at a State Library talk.Credit: Rhett Wyman
But it looks like Grammar boys will get a chance to hear from Foz after all. A group of concerned parents have booked a room at the State Library for a talk next month.
“In light of the cancellation of last week’s Sydney Grammar lecture, which was full, parents of the boys, particularly mothers, asked if I would still take the time to speak to their sons,” Foz said on the socials this week, adding that he’d be discussing his pet topics of multiculturalism and social cohesion. We’re hoping someone also asks for his hot take on how to fix Manchester United.
Within a day, the event was oversubscribed, and the organisers have doubled capacity and added a live-stream option. Before uttering a word, Foz had already delivered the Grammar boys a valuable lesson on the Streisand Effect.
Rory the teal Tory
Tuesday night’s launch event for former AFR columnist Joe Aston’s headline-grabbing book on Qantas was the hottest ticket in town for Sydney’s business community.
But down the road at the Sydney Opera House, pollies from both sides of the aisle were gathering to watch British Conservative Party MP turned hit podcaster Rory Stewart, in Australia for a tour.
Spotted (but not together) in the bipartisan crowd were state Labor minister Anoulack Chanthivong, Liberal MP Chris Rath, and the former member for Bennelong John Alexander.
Stewart, who was beaten to the Tory leadership in 2019 by Boris Johnson, spent the evening offering withering assessments of the former British PM, who is also set to grace these shores soon, as CBD revealed.
Stewart, who was sharply critical of Brexit and populism, seems to have veered so far from his few remaining Tory colleagues in Westminster that he described himself as a “teal” on Tuesday night.
Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell: The duo behind the The Rest Is Politics podcast.Credit: Facebook
Rory’s The Rest is Politics podcast, co-hosted with Tony Blair’s former spinner Alastair Campbell, has been a runaway success, rumoured to earn the pair some £100,000 a month. Despite the duo’s irresistible on-air chemistry, it’s Campbell who remains the bigger drawcard for local pollies, who scrambled to see him during his Australian tour this year.
That included NSW Premier Chris Minns, who had a meet and greet with the inspiration behind Malcolm Tucker in Westminster satire The Thick of It. He hasn’t met Rory.
Aunty diaries
Whoosh! The government tabled the ABC annual report late on Tuesday, catching a few on the hop.
Whoops! The cover star of the annual report cover is none other than Tony Armstrong, whom last we heard had quit his post at ABC News Breakfast and had headed for the Byron Bay hinterlands for some much-needed downtime. Tonaaayy, as he is known on the Instagram, maintained a gnomic silence when CBD got in contact with these developments and to ask about his plans.
The report was the usual story of softening ratings and large executive salaries. But that’s all media everywhere, isn’t it?
Managing director David Anderson is heading for the exit, but collected $1.16 million, including super and benefits, while head of content Chris Oliver-Taylor trousered $672,744, and head of news Justin Stevens $556,626.
But page 226 caught our eye. It was the number of highly paid ABC staff who aren’t key management personnel or senior executives.
The national broadcaster employs 151 staff whom it is paying more than $250,000. And the highest staff member who is not key management personnel nor an executive took home $562,570. A nice little earner.
Board moves
Not in the ABC annual report but worth noting: the government has just appointed well-regarded arts supremo Katrina Sedgwick to the ABC board for a five-year term, replacing Abbott government-appointed efficiency reviewer Peter Lewis.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Sedgwick would provide a “strong creative boost” and noted her appointment would increase the ABC’s diversity (meaning they have appointed someone from outside Sydney!)
Rowland’s supplied bio noted Sedgwick is chief executive of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation and has previously run the Adelaide Film Festival and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as well as held board positions at Back to Back Theatre, Chunky Move and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Oh, and she was ABC head of arts.
What the bio didn’t note: Sedgwick played Sarah McKillop in 48 episodes of 1980s Network 10 soapie E Street.
We guess with Ita Buttrose (former panellist on Ten’s daytime talkshow Studio 10) leaving the ABC as chair, the national broadcaster had to welcome a former staffer from an even more iconic Network Ten program. Diversity in action.
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