By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
While controversies follow Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, around on home soil, the iron-ore magnate has won the admiration of Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia. His majesty bestowed the Royal Order of Sahametrei on Rinehart, the highest award for non-Cambodians, in a recent ceremony.
The gratitude of the Cambodians received far less publicity than Rinehart attracted after she failed to have Vincent Namatjira’s unflattering portrait of her from the artist’s Australia in Colour series removed from display at the National Gallery in Canberra.
And while she can’t avoid the adverse publicity that comes with long-running legal battles with some of her own children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, Gina rarely speaks publicly about her charitable efforts helping kids in Cambodia.
The award from the King comes after she received the Angkor Award back in February from Scott Neeson, founder and executive chairman of the Cambodian Children’s Fund.
Gina Rinehart has a new foreign admirerCredit: John Shakespeare
After she was shocked by reports of the country’s child sex trade, Rinehart established the Hope Scholarship program to help young Cambodian women from poor backgrounds gain a university education. Five years ago, she spoke about rescuing nine girls from extreme poverty in Phnom Penh in 2007 and treating them as part of her family.
“They started their lives very differently to each of us. They had to scavenge from sinking rubbish dumps in Cambodia, some of them sadly without parents. The rubbish dumps are not safe places for young girls,” she said.
It’s another sign that while Rinehart often bristles at a perceived lack of love from the current Labor government, she’s managed to snag a few foreign admirers. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even personally launched her book on red tape in 2015. And after showing up at Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launch, she’s surely hoping for more of that should Americans shoot themselves in the foot this November.
LEGACY LUXURY
It is cost-cutting season in Australian television and one of the biggest sequoias to topple in the forest is Bevan Lee, the TV drama executive who created Always Greener, Packed to the Rafters, Winners and Losers and A Place to Call Home. Back in the 1980s, he rescued the classic soap Home and Away, still in production today, by rewriting the first episode. He also worked on the TV classic Sons and Daughters.
Lee spent most of his career at Seven and said the call to leave came from the network, but he left with gratitude.
“I’m 74 in November. I blinked and had turned into an old c---,” he told CBD.
“We live in the economic times we live in, and they had to make choices. I had become a legacy luxury that had outlived its time. You can stay too long at the fair.”
He praised Seven drama mainstays over the years Julie McGauran and John Holmes. “I hope those continuing the legacy of Aussie drama across all the platforms are lucky enough to share such warmth and fun as they ply their craft.”
SIGN OFF
Residents of Sydney’s northern beaches take local council regulations very, very seriously.
Just ask “Les,” an enthusiastic supporter of Mackellar teal Sophie Scamps, who displayed what he thought was an innocuous banner on a Bilgola property spruiking his local MP. Buoyed by the local support, Scamps, who still doesn’t know the identity of her Liberal challenger at next year’s election, posted the picture on her socials last week.
But then somebody narced to the Northern Beaches Council. And if there’s anything local councils love more than resisting modest housing developments, it’s enforcing arcane planning regulations to the T.
It turns out the sign was in breach of clause 2.107 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes), which essentially restricts the display of political material outside of election materials. That is unless you ask the council for permission.
In correspondence to the complainant seen by CBD, the council’s chief executive Scott Phillips sent his regulatory support manager Darren Greenow to chat with the owners.
“I confirm that following my visit to the property and discussion with the owners, the sign has now been removed, and information has been shared concerning placement of election signs,” Greenow wrote.
And while the picture of the sign was swiftly taken off Facebook, the MP seems to have taken it all in her stride, with a spokesperson telling CBD: “We have lots of eager volunteers, who can’t wait for the next election.”
They must be the only ones.
DATE NIGHT
Spotted: Former prime minister Paul Keating dining at Potts Point Asian fusion joint Diana with a 30-something female companion who spoke with an eastern European lilt. This comes hot on the heels of reports in the News Corp tabloids claiming Keating was now dating a Polish waitress in her 30s, although the former prime minister’s people have remained shtum about the identity of any possible new love interest.
Keating, who turned 80 in January, is no spring chicken, and people in the room claimed there was a touch of Joe Biden about him. But we reckon he would’ve given Donald Trump a far more thorough licking in last week’s debate.