Kamahl no fan of the ABC over Yes ‘favouritism’
The legendary singer believes the public broadcaster is favouring the Yes camp in the upcoming referendum.
Legendary singer Kamahl is no fan of the ABC and he reckons the public broadcaster is favouring the Yes camp in the upcoming referendum.
The Malaysian-born singer has told Diary “it’s not cricket” for the ABC to have given video and audio content for the Yes campaign’s John Farnham You’re the Voice television ad.
“If it is favouring one side and not the other, it’s not cricket,” he said.
“It should be 50/50.
“I’m surprised that John personally allowed the song to be involved.”
The ABC has since said it should not have provided the content but that it can’t do anything about it due to the “relevant contract” preventing the licence agreement from being terminated.
Kamahl certainly has had his grievances with the public broadcaster.
In February, The Australian revealed that the ABC was forced to issue three letters of apology to the singer after broadcaster Phillip Adams labelled him an “honorary white” in December.
Kamahl’s Voice stance is loud and clear: he posted last week on X, formerly Twitter, that he would be voting No in the upcoming referendum. He even amended lyrics to Farnham’s hit single that explain that he doesn’t understand the proposal.
“What’s the voice, I don’t understand it,” Kamahl posted on X.
“It’s just noise and it’s not clear.
“Vote no-o-oh-o-oh-o-o-o.
“We’re not going to vote apartheid.
“We don’t want one race privilege.
“Vote no-o-oh-o-oh-o-o-o.”
The legendary singer has since been doing his homework and posted a comment about an article that caught his eye.
Written by Michael Yabsley, a former minister in the NSW Greiner government and federal treasurer of the Liberal Party, it helped Kamahl to come to a decision to vote No.
Mr Yabsley’s piece, “Why the referendum should be cancelled”, was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.
I believe I have a better understanding now
— Kamahl AM (@OfficialKamahl) September 15, 2023
as to why I voted NO in the Referendum.Michael Yabsley's Article helped to better understand my decision to vote NO.
"Why so many people are unkind?"@OfficialKamahl
Mr Yabsley wrote: “The Voice referendum is a gift that should have been taken back. It was a dud gift. A poisoned chalice.”
This resonated with Kamahl who posted on X: “I believe I have a better understanding now as to why I voted NO in the Referendum.”
And Kamahl isn’t the least bit impressed with the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said in 2017 the Voice to Parliament body “would be seen as a third chamber of parliament” but is now a staunch supporter.
Turnbull posted a photo on social media of himself alongside wife Lucy, teal independent and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender and Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek, all wearing Yes T-shirts while campaigning in Sydney.
Kamahl replied to a picture of the foursome and wrote: “What a pathetic quartet, with a YES instead of a NO. When will we ever learn the truth? #VoteNoAustralia @officialKamahl”.
What a pathetic Quartet, with a YES instead of a NO.
— Kamahl AM (@OfficialKamahl) September 10, 2023
When will we ever learn the Truth ?#VoteNoAustralia@OfficialKamahl
Nine staff ordered to cut their expenses
Staff at Nine Entertainment’s newspapers including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review have been put on notice about their expenses including flights, accommodation and taxi and Uber usage.
Among many media companies who are watching their bottom lines, Nine is putting extra measures in place to make sure staff don’t go overboard when waving their plastic at the till.
A recent email from Nine’s publishing boss James Chessell said that there is a renewed focus on managing costs this financial year and there will be a “tighter oversight” of spending.
“All editorial staff need their manager’s approval before taking out a contact/interviewee for a meal costing more than $60 per head for food and drink,” he said in an all-staff email obtained by Diary. While inflation is slowly coming down, $60 might be a struggle to stick to, unless it means taking a contact out for a cheeky parma and pot lunchtime special.
Chessell also explains that head honchos can take staff out for lunch or dinner, but at the same capped price.
“Only senior managers are permitted to take staff to lunch/dinner, at a cost of no more than $60 per head for food and drink.”
As for taxis and Ubers, the rule is: “If Uber has a surge of more than 1.4, you will be unable to use the Uber business account.
“Only in these circumstances can you take a taxi and claim it on your Pcard.”
Chessell also said “depending on the circumstances” other transport options such as car pooling could be used.
Nine Entertainment’s chief executive officer Mike Sneesbydelivered the company’s full-year results last month, and they showed publishing revenue was $575.2m, down 4 per cent, while earnings fell by 8 per cent to $164.7m.
Williams v Guardian
Music sensation Robbie Williams has quickly become one of Carlton Football Club’s most famous fans and the team’s thrilling two-point semi-final victory over Melbourne on Friday night caused the British star to go on a bit of an Instagram rampage from a Singaporean hotel room
One of his posts in particular caught the attention of Diary, that is, his very pointed swipe at The Guardian Australia. He fished out an article written by journalist Jonathan Horn on June 12 that splashed the headline, “It may be time for Carlton to admit Michael Voss is not the man for the job.”
Horn’s article explained that the Blues had lost their eighth game in nine weeks and he wrote: “Maybe the right decision would be to admit this isn’t working and that he’s not the man for the job”.
Well, who is having the last laugh now?
Williams took a screengrab of Horn’s article and posted it for his 2.8 million followers with a swipe at the online website: “Well this headline aged well”. He added a poo emoji on the opinion piece.
Voss and Carlton have booked themselves a spot in the preliminary final against Brisbane on Saturday, the first time the Blues have come this far in the finals in 23 years.
News gremlins
When you’re in the box seat and about to go live to air it always pays to be on guard: you never know when something could go wrong.
For Seven News Melbourne’s 6pm news bulletin on Saturday night, the 780,000 metro viewers who tuned in may have been a tad confused about what on earth was going on.
Instead of opening the news with vision of co-hosts Rebecca Maddern and Mike Amor, awkward footage showed reporter Nick McCallum sitting like a stunned mullet in Seven’s Melbourne newsroom ready for a live cross after the breaking news of the death of football legend Ron Barassi.
Perhaps the gremlins got into Seven’s control room?
When the news did begin and Amor reported Barassi’s death, he and Maddern were nowhere to be seen, instead there was just a giant white wall bearing the Seven logo.
Can’t be too much of a concern for Seven because the awkward vision is still available for viewers to see on its streaming app, 7Plus.
Hard choice for ABC
Surely it’s no coincidence when addresses to the National Press Club by two of the nation’s most-prominent No campaigners – Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine – are apparently snubbed by ABC TV’s main channel?
Anyone who referred to the national broadcaster’s online TV guide on Thursday morning – just hours before Senator Price was due to give her powerful address in Canberra – could see that the live airing of her 12.30pm speech was not on the ABC main channel’s schedule.
Instead, an episode of Hard Quiz was scheduled, and viewers seeking Senator Price’s speech would have had to switch to the ABC NEWS channel, which draws far fewer viewers.
A check of all the newspaper TV guides said the same thing: Senator Price’s address would not air on the main channel.
3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell informed his listeners of this on Thursday morning, telling them: “Normally, you would expect ABC television to broadcast the speech. Well, an email from Bernadette points out to me that they are not, they are going to put Hard Quiz on air instead. That can’t be right. That’s got to be an oversight. There is no way they would be so blatant to say, ‘Jacinta Price is going to argue no, we will put a quiz show on instead’.”
Diary has been reliably informed it was Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson who took matters into her own hands on Thursday morning when she got wind of the ABC’s eyebrow-raising move.
The former ABC presenter phoned managing director David Anderson.
Whatever was going on behind the scenes, it appears this call had significant impact because an 11th hour decision was made to air Senator Price’s speech.
Despite this, there was still no mention on the ABC’s online TV guides before the speech began and even the ABC’s helpline was telling callers they should switch to ABC NEWS channel to watch her address. Diary asked the ABC what was going on and mid morning was told that Senator Price’s speech would be on the main channel due to “particular public interest in this event during the referendum campaign”.
When Senator Price’s spokesman was asked on the weekend why the ABC drastically changed its tune, he said: “Our office was alerted to this on Thursday morning, but we understand that when the matter was raised the ABC took action to run Senator Nampijinpa Price’s address on the main ABC channel.
“We believe it’s important that voters have equal opportunity to hear from all sides of the debate, and we’re glad the change in their programming schedule was able to be made.”
Apparently, only the Wednesday NPC addresses are routinely aired on both ABC channels, which is fortunate for Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, voice architect Professor Marcia Langton and Indigenous lawyer Noel Pearson, all planned for that midweek slot.
But what do viewers want to watch? Well, ABC TV’s YouTube channel shows viewers wanted to watch Senator Price in droves. Her NPC address has drawn 84,000 views so far, compared to Professor Langton’s 17,000 and Minister Burney’s 10,000.
Mr Mundine is due to give his NPC address on Tuesday, September 26, so Diary checked the ABC’s online guide to see where viewers could watch it. Not on the ABC.
Instead, they were to be treated to an episode of the British series, Call the Midwife.
After Diary put questions to the ABC, Mr Mundine’s address appeared on the ABC NEWS channel schedule, although not the main channel.
Diary asked Mundine about it on Sunday and he said, “It’s the ABC. They put all the Yes campaigners on the main channel and the No campaigners they drop to second class. “They are not taking the referendum seriously. They are also picking a side.”
The ABC was asked about this on the weekend but did not respond.
On Sunday NPC president and ABC journalist Laura Tingle issued a statement saying suggestions that the timing or staging of Senator Price and Mr Mundine’s speeches on days other than Wednesday “were in any way driven by racism or disrespect for either speaker are highly offensive to club and to me as its president.”
She said the decision on whether the ABC would broadcast the addresses is “up to the respective broadcasters,”
Nick Tabakoff is on leave.
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