It was the most notorious court case of the past decade. And Australia’s fascination with triple murderer Erin Patterson, sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years, is far from over.
Podcasts, documentary series and books have been rushed out about the mushroom case, which continues to play out in the courts. Patterson is appealing her convictions, while the director of public prosecutions is seeking a harsher sentence and arguing the 51-year-old should never be released from custody.
Former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne is not immune to mushroom case fascination.Credit: Arsineh Houspian
The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations about a Triple Murder Trial, a book by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, is arguably the most anticipated piece on the case.
So it’s no surprise that an event featuring the three authors – or “throuple” as Krasnostein described them – sold out faster than any other in Wheeler Centre history.
CBD hears guests at Monday’s Melbourne Town Hall event included cook and vegetable enthusiast Alice Zaslavsky, authors Jessica Stanley and Jaclyn Crupi, and moderator and radio host Raf Epstein.
Also spotted queuing patiently – alongside hordes of self-described middle-aged women with statement earrings and Gorman clothing – Kenneth Hayne, a former High Court judge who led the landmark royal commission into banking misconduct. Seems Hayne is as fascinated by the case as non-legal folk, even picking up a copy of the book.
The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial authors, Helen Garner, Sarah Krasnostein and Chloe Hooper.Credit: Peter Tarasiuk
CBD contacted Hayne to hear his thoughts on the case and get some health tips from the 80-year-old.
Hayne retired from the High Court in 2015 and has now returned to the Bar. In a blog post, Hayne’s long-time personal training business says he “continues to travel internationally, walk long distances, enjoy cultural and family events, and live a lifestyle that many half his age would admire”. Impressive stuff.
Hayne told CBD he attended the event because he had been a supporter of the Wheeler Centre for some time, as well as a long-time admirer of Helen Garner’s work.
“Like just about everything that the Wheeler Centre does, it was a very interesting discussion – about questions the authors deal with in their book and which go beyond the immediate issues at the trial,” he said.
La Mama on your wall
When indie theatre company La Mama announced it would not stage any shows in 2025 because of bruising funding cuts by the federal government’s arts body, it promised to find alternative revenue streams beyond government and philanthropic organisations.
“That means new streams of income, new partnership, new staffing structures, new models of working with artists,” chief executive Caitlin Dullard said in March last year.
Caitlin Dullard, chief executive and artistic director of La Mama.Credit: Eddie Jim
The organisation is now preparing to reopen for 2026, promising free coffee for guests, which must be classified as catnip for Melburnians.
La Mama relies on funding from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne, as well as box office sales. In turn, it gives an unusually high 80 per cent of box office takings to artists. The remaining 20 per cent goes to operational costs.
So what of the supplementary revenue sources? Well, La Mama is now selling wall art to supplement its work on the stage.
La Mama limited edition vintage prints
In a novel approach to fundraising, La Mama is promoting limited-edition vintage prints, priced at $200 each or $700 for four.
Dullard said she was thrilled with early sales, particularly to people outside the La Mama world who are into arts and feel nostalgia for Melbourne of the ’60s and ’70s. “We needed a win,” she told CBD. “Everyone has to trial different things.”
Fans can choose between five prints, including the original poster for seminal David Williamson play The Removalists and a vivid La Mama Company print from 1969.
La Mama is not the only arty type selling merch to boost cash. Literary journal Overland sells A3 prints of its front covers for $100 each.
Singer Paul Kelly is also offering limited edition Kelly football jerseys and signed photos of himself, as part of a publicity blitz for his new album, Seventy. In these straitened times, every dollar counts.
Singer Paul Kelly is selling limited edition football jumpers.
Office politics
Plenty of things are unusual about Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal Party. Her gender, her punk rock history, the second S in her first name, her hobby of flying planes.
Another unusual element of Ley’s leadership is found in the make-up of her office. Listed in the Parliament House staff directory, within Ley’s team, is a separate “Office of the Chief of Staff”.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.Credit: David Beach
It’s a rather unusual arrangement, we’re told, and one causing a few internal gripes, particularly since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slashed the opposition’s staffing allocation after Labor’s election triumph.
Also because, as far as we’re aware, the “office” in question is just two blokes – Ley’s chief of staff, Dean Shachar, and a more junior adviser.
But CBD was assured that it’s nothing crazy – the junior staffer in question doesn’t work for Shachar, but is part of Ley’s broader policy team, with the unusual structure probably the result of an administrative update.
That said, perhaps a bit of unorthodox blue-sky thinking is just what the Liberals need right now.
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