Axed TV weatherman drops on-air bomb on the way out; Laura Tingle blasts ‘Trumpian’ Dutton
A veteran Channel 7 weatherman let go by the network on Saturday delivered a final sign-off for the ages | WATCH
Veteran Channel 7 Queensland weatherman Paul Burt was let go by the network on Saturday, and his final sign-off was one for the ages.
Having read the weather one last time, Burt dropped a truth bomb.
“If I’d had the opportunity I wouldn’t have wanted to go this way; it’s what happens when you get sacked,” he announced at the end of the 6pm news, before the bulletin awkwardly cut to a cheesy montage of ‘‘Burtie’’ in happier times — doing belly flops into the pool at charity events, abandoning a live cross at the beach to save a drowning boy, and hamming it up on fishing boats.
Burt, who has been at Seven since 2013, told Diary he was given just “55 seconds to say my goodbyes”.
While newsreader Samantha Heathwood thanked the Gold Coast weatherman for his “passionate weather reporting over the past decade and a bit”, when we caught up with the 51-year-old on the weekend he was less than impressed with the handling of his sacking.
It was Seven’s Brisbane news director Michael Coombes who delivered the bad news last month, but unlike how Coombes handled the sacking of newsreader Sharyn Ghidella (he told her career was over while she was at a hairdressing appointment), Burt was instead invited to have a “one-on-one” with him in his office.
“I really don’t understand it, why people are being treated this way,” Burt told Diary.
“It was a shock, I was told to come in and have a meeting which I did and I was told my contract was not being renewed.
“It was rather embarrassing for my wife and children. They found out before I could even tell them. Obviously things get leaked.
“Some of the decisions made lately are quite harsh. I’ve lost a lot of friends who have been made redundant or got the sack.”
Since Anthony De Ceglie took the reins as network news boss in April, many experienced staff have been shown the door in favour of younger colleagues.
De Ceglie has also drawn criticism for adding horoscope readings, comedy sketches and, just last week, movie reviews to the news bulletin.
Seven’s entertainment editor Wenlei Ma gave her assessment of the new Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds’ superhero film Deadpool & Wolverine during a news bulletin on the weekend, describing it as “over the top and silly” and awarding it three-and-a-half stars.
But, the angst among staff at Seven doesn’t end there. Melbourne news boss Chris Salter has hired former ABC presenter Karina Carvalho, an appointment one well-placed insider describedasan “ultimate kick in the guts” for axed stars, including Ghidella.
Diary understands Melbourne viewers should expect to see Carvalho filling in for Rebecca Maddern when she goes on leave in a few weeks — the newcomer will also be seen across the network’s various bulletins, including at 4pm.
Peter Mitchell, Mike Amor and Maddern better watch out — already the rumour mill is swirling Carvalho would be the obvious choice to take over from Mitchell when he moves on, which will no doubt put many noses out of joint.
There were recent reports that Seven West chair Kerry Stokes was planning to head to Seven’s headquarters in Sydney this week to meet with management amid the turmoil at the trouble-plagued network.
On Monday, Seven denied these reports.
Tingle has go at Dutton for ‘Trumpian language’
The ABC’s chief political correspondent Laura Tingle has taken another swing at her favourite punching bag, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Tingle accused Dutton of using “Trumpian language” and a “loose assertion of facts” during an on-air chat with journalist David Marr, the new host of ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live program.
Just two months ago, Tingle delivered a bizarre take-down of Dutton’s housing and migration policies at the Sydney Writers Festival, saying the Opposition Leader’s proposals would encourage Australians to “abuse” migrants at open home inspections.
Those comments were later described by ABC managing director David Anderson as a “mistake and a misstep”, but it seems Tingle hasn’t been deterred by the slap-down from her boss.
In her chat with Marr last week, Tingle, who is also the ABC’s staff-elected board member, doubled down on her Dutton grievances.
She sarcastically accused the Opposition Leader of plugging “nuclear power (that) offers you a future unlike those terrible renewables that the Labor government is offering”, with Tingle claiming many young ’uns wouldn’t have a clue about the “nuclear disasters like Chernobyl, so that’s a problem”.
Tingle went on, accusing Dutton of using language similar to US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, which prompted Marr to attempt to inject some much-needed balance to the conversation.
“Laura, apart from abusing the government’s many, many, many failings in Peter Dutton’s mind, this is about the only positive policy he’s got at the moment,” Marr asked.
“Is there actually some kind of agenda for fighting an election and perhaps even returning to power? Is it just nuclear?”
Tingle replied: “I’ve got to say, David, it’s a very unusual policy position to be in with less than 12 months, probably eight months until an election campaign.
“People in the Coalition say … there really isn’t the formation of a normal comprehensive policy agenda that you would take to an election.”
Tingle told Marr Dutton’s nuclear policy was nothing more than “an accident of internal or factional inter-party warfare within the Coalition”, and “an accident, a slip of the tongue”.
As for those pesky Coalition MPs and senators, Tingle said they do nothing more than show “hostility towards climate change” and “absolute hostility towards renewable energy”.
No immediate examples were cited.
After roasting Dutton, it was time to move on. Next target, the Coalition’s Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor.
Marr offered: “Don’t be snitty about Angus Taylor, I mean he would know about blue collar (voters) from the kind of people who worked for his family for generations on the land.”
To misquote Jimmy Barnes’ Working Class Man, Marr himself doesn’t exactly have “blue denim in his veins”, but we digress.
Tingle at least had the smarts not to give oxygen to Marr’s cheap shot against Taylor, perhaps sensing she could do without another angry call from ABC news boss Justin Stevens.
“I’ll just leave that to go through to the keeper – thank you, David,” she said.
Diary has the words of ABC chair Kim Williams ringing in our ears.
How’s that working out, Kim?
Bad blood
Let’s hope when Nine’s striking scribes return to work, they won’t be looking sideways at colleagues who didn’t walk out.
While on Friday videos were spread far and wide of staff protesting in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, a couple of prominent AFR journos pushed on, including political editor Phil Coorey and economics editor John Kehoe.
Diary’s ears pricked up when we heard Coorey firing questions at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over his cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, so we asked him why he wasn’t on the picket line.
“I’m not a member of the union, I haven’t been in the union for years, there’s a few of us who are working through,” Coorey said.
“Non-union members are not protected.”
When Diary asked Coorey if the 10.5 per cent pay offer on the table from management was a good deal, he opted not to weigh in.
Guardian economics columnist Greg Jericho, known as ‘‘GrogsGamut’’ on X, also took a swipe at The Age and SMH’s chief political correspondent David Crowe for showering his colleagues Paul Sakkal and James Massola with praise mid-strike. How dare he.
Crowe posted: “Good story on front page of @theage today by @paulsakkal and @jamesmassola. Yes, the strike has begun, but can still tweet a story or two.”
He included a link to the story which really got Jericho fired up.
“Don’t post links, don’t click on links. And never ever cross a picket line,” Jericho tweeted.
Don’t post links, don’t click on links. And never ever cross a picket line. pic.twitter.com/fkyiqTltmX
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) July 27, 2024
SMH columnist Peter FitzSimons was still filing columns for the weekend papers but told Diary those pieces were filed well before strike action kicked off on Friday morning.
Failed Greens candidate turned Age and SMH culture editor Osman Faruqi said in an online post on Friday Nine management was “hacking us to the bone”.
Then on Sunday, Faruqi turned his guns on colleagues, posting a provocative meme featuring a Depression-era black and white image of a worker holding a sign that reads: “Strike, don’t be a scab!”
Faruqi added his own text to the image: “When your colleagues are on strike there’s two options. 1. Strike. 2. Not strike (either by working or promoting the company) and undermine the rest of us.
“We see the people taking option 2. We won’t forget.”
Over in Paris, it’s understood many of the 15-20 Nine journalists sent to cover the Games are deeply distressed by the industrial action.
The group had undertaken extensive preparation ahead of the Olympics, but much of their hard work has been for nought.
Sleepless nights
One of Nine’s highest paid stars, Today show host Karl Stefanovic, has been busy plugging accommodation website Airbnb while in the French capital.
Stefanovic told his 278,000 followers he’s been joined in Paris with his family, including wife Jasmine, who too is promoting Airbnb in return for pretty fancy digs.
Karl posted: “It’s a joy to have my family stay here with me thanks to @airbnb I honestly can’t wait to see our team do their thing. Go Australia. #airbnbpartner.”
And among those to comment on the post was Nine’s freebie queen, 3AW’s Jacqui Felgate. who gave Karl four emojis of hands clapping for nabbing himself a deal.
In an Instagram post shared by Stefanovic, he can be seen running up the stairs of his French accommodation with a baguette and jar of Vegemite in hand while munching on a croissant. The only cliche missing was a beret.
When Nine was asked if it was appropriate Karl was getting freebies in Paris while on the job, Diary was told he was actually staying elsewhere alongside his colleagues.
“Karl is staying at the same accommodation as Nine staff, paid for by Nine,” the spokeswoman said.
So it seems he’s spruiking accommodation he’s not even staying in. If his TV career ever goes belly-up, a job in real estate awaits.
Footy shows booted
Nine’s Olympics coverage over the weekend — its publishing arm’s threadbare efforts notwithstanding — will have pleased the network’s bosses, given Australia’s successful start to the Games should parlay into a surge in the public’s interest in the event. But, not all of Nine’s partners are thrilled.
The network’s decision to scrap its NRL programs, including The Sunday Footy Show and 100% Footy, has not gone down well with the big dogs at the sporting body, as the panel programs provide crucial promotion for the code and the finals are just seven weeks away.
Nine is the NRL’s and NRLW’s free-to-air partner, with the network paying about $130m per year for the privilege.
NRL chairman Peter V’landys, chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission, told Diary: “Naturally we are very disappointed on this, and the fact our women’s games will be transferred to 9Go or 9Life.
“We’re more disappointed about the women’s games being relocated during the Olympics period as our women have been picking up substantial audiences.
“We’ve had record attendances at matches and record TV ratings for the recent women’s State of Origin.
“However, we have been promised rugby league will be heavily promoted during the Olympics, especially women’s rugby league. We will review the cross-promotion and see if it has had a positive effect.”
As it happens, V’landys is reportedly heading to Paris this week, on Nine’s dime, to take in some Olympic action.
It’s a pretty safe bet V’landys will make his displeasure known to Nine supremo Mike Sneesby.
Saucy topic
Seven is certainly trying to add some spice to its content. Its social media accounts rolled out a video on the weekend with vertical video lead Sonny Loudon asking employees in the Sydney newsroom: “How should you store your tomato sauce? Do you keep tomato sauce in the fridge or the pantry?”
Newsreader Angela Cox, who has been filling in for Mark Ferguson was first cab off the rank, telling viewers: “100 per cent cupboard. It does get a little watery, you have to shake it well but definitely not the fridge. Too cold. It ruins the flavour of your food.”
Reporter Grace Fitzgibbon begged to differ. “Fridge, surely.”
But, your Diarists thought national social media lead Paul Maland nailed it.
“I store it in the pantry like a normal human being because that is where it is purchased,” he explained.
“It is purchased in a non-cold environment and that’s where it will stay thank you very much.”
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