Ita’s ABC in desperate need of conversation

ABC chair Ita Buttrose. Picture: Supplied

There’s good news and bad news at Ita’s ABC.

The bad news is there’s no position for a chief economics correspondent anymore. But the good news is there’s a newly-created job — for a conversation designer!

ABC headquarters at Ultimo. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Adam Yip

Shortly after 4.30am on Thursday morning, Diary is told an ABC recruitment department “job alert” flashed up on the screens of sleepy Aunty staffers. It was asking for applications for the position of, yes, a “conversation designer”, based in Brisbane.

But as Manuel from Fawlty Towers would ask: “Que?” What in God’s name is a “conversation designer”? And at a time when 250 jobs are being shed at Aunty, why is there a position for one?

We’ll keep asking. At this point, we have to confess, it isn’t overly clear. According to the ABC job alert’s description, the successful candidate will “play a pivotal role bringing voice assistants to life in ABC Digital Products”.

Whatever the hell that means.

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New left-wing ABC poll

A left-leaning political or activist organisation has been in the field grilling potential voters about the Morrison government’s funding of the ABC, Diary can reveal.

It’s yet another sign that ABC funding will be positioned as a big progressive issue in the 2022 federal election, after plenty of activity by GetUp and Labor on the subject already this year.

But who has commissioned the poll? Diary has only been able to confirm with pollster James Stewart of Ucomms that he has been conducting the ABC research on behalf of a “progressive organisation”.

So which “progressive” organisation, we asked? Was it GetUp, Labor or the Greens? “I can’t say,” Stewart replied. But he confirmed the poll had included robocalls and SMS as part of a “multi-modal” polling effort.

Stewart told Diary the ABC was an “emotive” issue that “resonates with people who listen to polls”. But the poll was definitely not commissioned by GetUp, which has been the busiest organisation lately when it comes to ABC polls. A GetUp spokeswoman was adamant that GetUp had not commissioned any polling on the ABC since the Eden Monaro by-election.

So that most likely leaves Labor, the Greens or even one of the unions.

Here’s what we know. The robocall and SMS polls contained seven questions. They started with voting intentions, but quickly moved into controversial territory by asking those polled about whether they were “supportive” of government “budget cuts” to the ABC.

That one will yet again stir up the never-ending back and forth between pro-ABC groups and the government about whether the ABC budget has actually been cut.

There were also questions about the relationship between “budget cuts” and ABC “staffing”, and on whether they would, as a result, deliver “more, less or the same independent news”.

The calls closed with questions about whether those polled used ABC news and the ABC website more or less during both the COVID crisis and the recent bushfires. Prepare for the left-leaning group to go big with the results soon.

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Nine in a flap over Peter Dutton

Nine’s Canberra political bureau got shirty with one of its stablemates, the Today show, on Friday over an unlikely subject: Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Diary has confirmed that the Canberra bureau’s crankiness concerned Today’s handling of an interview on the show with Dutton. The Home Affairs Minister was on his regular Friday Punch and Judy segment on Today with deputy Labor leader Richard Marles, moderated by Today co-host Allison Langdon.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Today Show host Alison Langdon.

The biggest story in Dutton’s portfolio on Friday was the allegation on the ABC’s 7.30 the previous night that a Border Force officer mistook negative flu tests for COVID results on the Ruby Princess, helping to set 2700 passengers loose on the community.

We’re told members of Nine’s Canberra team briefed Today’s producers that morning to ensure the alleged Ruby Princess oversight was scrutinised during the Dutton/Marles segment. Prompting texts were even sent as the segment went to air. But Langdon didn’t ask Dutton about the Ruby Princess at all during the segment, to the Canberra bureau’s annoyance. Even Marles left the subject well alone, even though we’re told he was fully briefed on the subject.

An @AusBorderForce official mistook common flu tests for COVID-19 tests for cruise ship passengers aboard the #RubyPrincess, allowing 3,000 people to disembark despite hundreds of them having #COVID19Aus. #abc730 @andrewprobyn #auspol pic.twitter.com/ESyi9nDZoL

— abc730 (@abc730) July 31, 2020

It’s not the first time the Nine Canberra bureau has been cranky with other parts of the organisation on political matters. Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann famously got hot under the collar over the network’s decision to host a Liberal fundraiser at its Willoughby HQ last year.

And there’s a further twist. Diary also hears a fired-up shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally later rang Today to have a go at the show’s failure to ask Dutton about the story. We trust she made another call to scold her deputy leader Marles for his oversight as well!

We made calls to Today’s executive producer Steve Burling, but they went unreturned.

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Seb takes on Twitter

Following Diary’s item about Nine’s Seb Costello and his series of tweets about Dan Andrews last Monday, the man himself has got in touch with us to calm the Twitter mob.

You may recall that Costello, the son of former federal Liberal Treasurer and Nine chairman Peter Costello, was trolled after his Andrews tweets. Some Twitter users even asked if Costello was “still” a Liberal Party member.

Seb Costello. Picture: Tony Gough

Costello the younger was quiet on social media until Sunday, when he unleashed a fresh shot at Andrews over Stage 4 lockdowns. But the Twitter trolls’ inference that he’s politically partisan clearly still irks him. “I just wanted to let you know that I have never been a member of any political party,” he tells Diary.

Peter Costello in his office in Melbourne. Picture: Josie Hayden

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‘I’m not Huawei’s PR’

In a climate where tensions have rapidly escalated with Beijing, Chinese telecom giant Huawei is wheeling out the media big guns to change the narrative.

The all-star pro-Huawei media cheerleading push is being led by ex-senator Nick Xenophon, now Huawei’s handsomely paid external lawyer, who has passionately defended the Chinese telecom giant everywhere from Sky News to the ABC News Channel and Q&A.

When Diary on Friday called Xenophon on the fact he was popping up everywhere to defend Huawei, he joked: “You clearly watch too much TV at the most inopportune times.”

But Xenophon is very keen to stress he isn’t Huawei’s local spinner. On Sky News, he firmly picked up his fellow ex-senator Cory Bernardi on that point.

Senator Cory Bernardi. Picture Kym Smith

“Cory, (I’m) not a spokesman for Huawei _but a lawyer for Huawei. Big difference!,” Xenophon scolded.

The common link between Xenophon’s interviews on Sky, Q&A and the ABC News Channel in recent weeks has been to vigorously defend Huawei’s record in Australia. But his paid advocacy has seen criticism from ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull, who wants him to join the Foreign Influence Register.

When Diary spoke to Xenophon, he again reiterated that he wasn’t a Huawei PR. “I’d be just as happy not to do the media interviews. But I just think Huawei has been treated really unfairly,” he told us. “To accuse them of things that have no basis in fact is fundamentally unfair. There’s never been any suggestion they’ve done anything wrong in terms of security.”

This may also seem unfair to Xenophon, but those words sound awfully like those of, well, a Huawei spokesman.

Nick Xenophon outside SA Parliament.

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Another Huawei fan

Nick Xenophon isn’t the only public Huawei promoter. A pro-Huawei op-ed piece, written by none other than Huawei’s local corporate affairs chief Jeremy Mitchell, popped up recently on the site of leading online tech publication InnovationAus. Mitchell used the piece to issue a blunt message down under: “With or without Australia, China will be a world leader … and there are many more Huaweis to come … Are we going to say no to them all?”

Diary called InnovationAus editor James Riley, who said of the piece: “Huawei pitched it in, and I said, ‘I’ll take that’. It was a benign piece. Yes, it’s arguing the Huawei position but that’s the nature of an op-ed.”

Riley was adamant the article’s publication wasn’t financially driven. Huawei was “not a sponsor and never had been a sponsor” of the site.

But he did point out that he had run a Huawei “breakfast seminar about two years ago. That’s the only time we’ve had a business relationship.”

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Mike’s bubble

Most people were happy to see Friday’s move by ACCC boss Rod Sims to finally force US tech giants Google and Facebook to start paying struggling Australian media companies for the right to run their content.

But someone definitely not thrilled by the ACCC’s decision was one of Australia’s richest people, tech multi-billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In Cannon-Brookes’s Silicon Valley bubble, Australia’s decision was committing “legalised theft” against Google and Facebook.

Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: John Feder

“Nothing about it that I can see is fair,” he tweeted on the weekend. “Good journalism is essential. But stealing from Google because they have a lot of ads? That’s a terrible precedent law for fairness of commerce.”

Later he said: “Money will be routed from G/FB (Google/Facebook) by regulation for no logical reason. Legalised theft. This is a very scary precedent.”

We wish Mike luck in getting favourable coverage from the Australian media on those comments. He’ll need it.

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2GB cuts 3AW’s grass

Melbourne politicians in full lockdown mode are rapidly changing their breakfast radio habits. No longer are their radio dials rusted on to 3AW’s breakfast dominator Ross Stevenson.

Instead, they’ve been tuning into 2GB, 1000km away in faraway Sydney, to listen to Victorian political identities spilling their guts to Ben Fordham’s breakfast audience about the latest happenings from Spring St.

On Friday, it was yet again Victoria’s wannabe opposition leader Tim Smith upping the ante not on 3AW, but 2GB.

Left to right: Ben Fordham with Bob Mac Smith, Pete Mac Smith, John G. Honan and Lachie Graham.

Smith declared to Fordham’s listeners that with COVID numbers through the roof in Melbourne, it was now time for PM Scott Morrison to take over Victoria’s “emergency” management of the coronavirus.

“I’m calling on Daniel Andrews to refer his power over this emergency to Canberra because no one’s got any confidence in this bloke anymore to manage this crisis,” he told Fordham.

It took around an hour for Smith’s idea to be slapped down by no less than ScoMo himself, once again on Fordham’s show. The PM said there was “no contemplation” of referring Victoria’s powers to the commonwealth.

Diary is told Tim is being urged on by high-profile supporters who see 2GB’s audience as a crucial conservative battleground.

So Melbourne listeners, be sure to tune into 2GB again this week for the latest developments in Victorian politics.

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Escape Hatch

Change is coming to the office of communications Minister Paul Fletcher.

Diary can reveal that Fletcher’s senior media adviser Brad “Off The Record, It’s No Comment” Hatch is moving on after just over a year. And what a year in the hot seat it’s been for the former Fairfax Media communications chief, with epic fights with the ABC, Facebook and Google in the time of COVID. So Hatch could be excused for feeling a bit weary, even after a year.

Hatch is currently serving out his notice. No word yet on what his next job might be, nor on who might replace him in Fletcher’s office.

Hugh Marks, Brad Hatch and Gail Hambly at the mid-winter ball at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

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Emma’s letter to Aunty

The saga of ABC chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici’s proposed redundancy at the ABC rolls on.

A tortured “redeployment” process, in which the ABC looks for potential jobs that fit the

ABC reporter Emma Alberici.

“skill sets” of Alberici and others before their possible redundancies are ­finalised, is continuing.

But meanwhile, Diary is told parties representing Alberici have already fired a shot across the bow. We’re reliably informed that a letter has been sent on Alberici’s ­behalf to ABC management, ­detailing claims about unfair treatment by some of her colleagues.

But could an alternative job at the ABC still be a possibility at Aunty?

There seems to be a precedent. Diary is now informed Alberici was offered the option of a hosting gig on the ABC News Channel in 2018, soon after the kerfuffle over her corporate tax stories that so publicly attracted the ire of ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull.

We hear Alberici ultimately knocked the offer back, opting to stay as chief economics correspondent.