Twist in move to trademark the ‘river’; Rob Mills saga takes another turn
Well, it was only a matter of time before someone tried slapping a registered trademark over the phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, the loathsome rallying cry for the state of Israel to be, you know, cleansed of Jews.
You’d expect an activist like Hash Tayeh, owner of burger chain Burgertory, or Nasser Mashni, leader of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, to make a run for this slice of intellectual property. After all, both have led crowds who’ve shouted the phrase hoarse through the streets of Sydney and Melbourne each week.
But – plot twist! – they’ve actually been beaten out by lawyer Hamish Rotstein, husband of “energy reader” Rochelle Gance, the daughter of Chemist Warehouse multibillionaire Jack Gance (net worth $3.26bn in combination with his brother, Sam, both ranked in 39th place on The Australian’s 2024 Rich List, which is due for an imminent refresh.)
The application for trademark – still under consideration – was submitted by From the River to the Sea Pty Ltd, which lists Rotstein as its director and secretary, according to records filed with the corporate regulator.
Presumably he isn’t seeking to trademark the phrase because of any personal enthusiasm for its message, especially when he’s on record – and all over LinkedIn – describing himself as a “proud Jewish man” and grandson of Holocaust survivors.
Instead, we imagine this manoeuvre is strategic, an attempt to block the phrase from being freely deployed on stickers and banners, or mentioned in classrooms. Needless to say, we asked Rotstein twice to clarify his interest here but we received no reply.
No word yet on whether the trademark has actually been approved because the paperwork’s still edging through the machinery of IP Australia, the government agency tasked with managing intellectual property law in this country.
And who do its minions report to? Ah, who else but Industry Minister Ed Husic. He’s made it clear on multiple occasions that he’s certainly no fan of Israel, the “aggressor”, as he sees it, in the conflagration consuming the Middle East. YB
Another mystery
Front page of The Australian’s business section on Monday ran the latest instalment in a series of pieces concerning acclaimed architect Rob Mills and his practice, Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors, where at least two employees have filed Fair Work Commission complaints.
The latest news emerged from a claim lodged by former employee Alice Zhou. She settled her FWC case last week ahead of some scheduled hearings, and these were expected to be amply spiced with allegations that Mills “constantly threatened and bullied her” over a three-year period. No need to relitigate every choice phrase laid out in the filings, but Mills didn’t do a bad job of channelling brash LA talent agent Ari Gold when, according to Zhou, he allegedly said “f..k you Alice” while telling her to write an email, and then “drop the act” when she asked him to “communicate respectfully”.
Zhou, on Mills’ account, was allegedly dismissed due to her poor performance working on two residential projects, one being “Kambala”, a site located in Bellevue Hill. And who owns Kambala? None other than former Aussie Home Loans chief James Symond, close buddy of Merivale chief Justin Hemmes and namesake of Hemmes’ George Street eatery Jimmy’s Falafel.
Actually, we wrote about Symond and his Kambala pile two years ago on account of the financial blowout with his DA. What started as a pissy $9.5m build on a block of land overgrown with 150-year-old Morton Bay Figs ended up getting bogged down in years of construction costs that ended up well into the neighbourhood of $20m. Given the alleged slap fight between the architects on the job, we can put that mystery to bed. Odd, too, that the Kambala project, with its own dedicated webpage and impressive graphic design, seems to have disappeared entirely from Mills’ website. YB
Raising funds
The election nears, and as Anthony Albanese weighs a date to visit the Governor-General it’s becoming obvious how his cabinet will be spending their spare evenings.
Fresh policy ideas? Budget submissions? Don’t be stupid. Seems they’ll be trying to stuff every last dollar into the campaign war chest – or so we surmise from the volume of fundraising invitations sliding into our inbox.
The PM is the topmost banana at a $6000-per-seat lunch in Melbourne on Friday, with Deputy PM Richard Marles fronting a dinner in Canberra the following week at $4000 a head, or $3000 for paid-up members of Labor’s business club. Health Minister Mark Butler is down to wow Adelaide’s lunchtime corporate crowd on February 18, with Penny Wong hosting a $4000 afternoon tea in Melbourne the following day. And yes, that seems overpriced for scones and jam, although we’d say anyone paying to listen to Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles in Canberra on February 25 is probably being ripped off.
Not that Labor is alone here. Peter Dutton’s shadow cabinet is rattling the tin aplenty. Would-be Home Affairs boss James Paterson is hosting a boardroom policy forum on February 4 and Angus Taylor will deliver an economic update in Canberra on the 11th (hosted by the Tech Council, and aren’t they happy to show their face again now that the Richard White/WiseTech imbroglio has become so last season).
The Nationals are running a “Welcome Back” event at Parliament House on February 4 followed by drinkie poos the next day – both hosted by David Littleproud. Barnaby Joyce and Michelle Landry will headline an event run by the party’s National Policy Forum on the 12th, with much internal betting on who’ll draw the bigger crowd – the blood-mooned Barnaby or the bespectacled Littleproud. Time will tell.
Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin is also getting in on the action with a Feb 5 dinner to (supposedly) raise for the Prahan by-election. It’s miffed the feds because he’s cutting their grass on the pool of available donor cash. Then again, he’s only charging $1200 a seat. Chump change by the usual standard. NE
More Coverage
Coal-fired ScoMo has a solar epiphany
Life out of politics for coal-fired-up former PM Scott Morrison is all sunshine now and his plans for 18 rooftop solar panels on his soon-to-be home suggest he’s seen the light.
Game, set and much posturing at opening salvo
Let’s call it the first — and ultimate — status update of the corporate season. School assembly for the CEOs. The gathering of big-shots and silverbacks. The Australian Open tennis finals.