By Kishor Napier-Raman and Liam Mannix
Unlike Kevin Rudd, who as CBD reported landed in Washington, DC last year ready to get loose, his fellow Labor comrade, our high commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith, has a more complicated relationship with parties.
Selling Australia: Stephen Smith.Credit: Joe Benke
This column revealed last year that Smith’s decision to scrap the much-loved London pride party caused a minor diplomatic incident, such was the event’s reputation as the place to be seen during George Brandis’ stint in Australia House.
To be fair, Smith had already held an event that year to coincide with Sydney World Pride, hosting a special screening of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, in March, complete with drag entertainers, all costing around £5000 ($9700).
Later last year, Smith set off a fairly avoidable culture war by announcing a plan to cancel the annual Australia Day gala dinner citing “sensitivities” about the day. Deputy prime minister Richard Marles had to step in and rebuke the high commissioner, insisting there would be an Australia Day event in London.
And indeed there was, costing the taxpayer around £14,000. That figure included £1680 on hiring 10 eucalyptus trees to bring an Aussie touch to the London winter gloom. Despite Smith’s apparent reluctance to hold an event on a now deeply controversial national day which First Nations Australians see as a celebration of genocide, the High Commission managed to put together quite the exclusive invite list, even if not everyone showed up.
Both then-prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer (who is now in Number 10) were on the guest list, but ended up snubbing the event. Even the Brits are cooling on Australia Day, it seems.
“The Australian High Commission in London has, under all High Commissioners, used public diplomacy events to promote and build a better understanding of Australia and Australian government policies in the United Kingdom,” a DFAT spokesman told us.
“Hosting events that draw attendance from diverse, influential stakeholders is a core part of diplomacy and advancing Australia’s policies, priorities and interests internationally.”
You can’t write that!
Body+Soul is CBD’s favourite destination for coverage of the full moon’s effect on our sex life, and what we should expect during a sound bath session. All good fun of course, and no one is making serious medical decisions based on the phase of the moon (we hope).
But there’s wellness and there’s wellness, and now health regulators are alleging Body+Soul, a magazine and website produced by News Corp, has crossed the line.
Last month the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia’s drugs watchdog, issued three infringement notices worth $56,340 to News Life Media over an article in Body+Soul that allegedly unlawfully advertised medical cannabis.
“It is alleged that an article published on Body+Soul promoted the use or supply of medicinal cannabis to treat serious diseases or conditions, such as anxiety and chronic pain, in contravention of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989,” a statement from the watchdog reads.
It’s pretty rare for a media organisation to come a cropper under the TGA Act; more often it’s a company trying to shill penis enlargers or fake cures for cancer.
“Media platforms are responsible for ensuring their content does not directly or indirectly promote the use or supply of therapeutic goods to the public in a way that contravenes advertising requirements,” Nick Henderson, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care said in a statement.
It’s not clear from the TGA’s statement which article they were concerned about, and News did not return requests for comment.
But CBD has some sympathy for Body+Soul – they are far from the first mainstream publication to breathlessly report on the medical benefits of pot. With the amount of “incredible” and “miraculous” results people seem to be getting, the general public could be forgiven for thinking it is a wonder drug. No wonder prescriptions are skyrocketing.
But before you inhale, remember: despite years of study, there’s still no evidence it helps with chronic pain – and it shouldn’t be given to people with anxiety disorders at all.
AB nothing to C
The ABC’s decision to sack fill-in presenter Antoinette Lattouf last year for sharing social media content from a human rights organisation following a lobbying campaign by a group called Lawyers for Israel hasn’t aged well for the national broadcaster.
The sacking brought a steady drip of negative headlines for Aunty, and further antagonised long-suffering ABC staff who took a vote of no confidence in managing director David Anderson in January.
Then there’s the small matter of Lattouf’s unfair dismissal case against the ABC, which is headed to trial in the Federal Court after mediation failed in June. For the ABC, and by extension, the Australian taxpayer, defending that case hasn’t come cheap.
According to responses to questions on notice from a recent session of Senate estimates, the ABC has retained two barristers, plus one partner and two senior associates from law firm Seyfarth Shaw.
And how much did that cost?
“Disclosure of information about the amount of legal costs in ongoing litigated matters can prejudice the ABC’s position in those legal proceedings,” the ABC said in its answer to Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. But given the going rate for barristers – particularly those with the experience of employment law silk Ian Neil, SC, who led the ABC’s case – it can’t have been cheap.
The ABC declined to comment.
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