These days, there seems to be more chance of seeing Hamish Macdonald on Ten’s The Project than the show he in fact hosts, the ABC’s Q+A.
Macdonald has fronted the ABC’s flagship panel show just once since May 27, a period during which Insiders host David Speers and Stan Grant have hosted the show twice apiece. Just to add a little more spice, we’re told it will be Speers, and not Macdonald, who will once more be hosting Q+A this Thursday night.
By comparison, Macdonald has made two appearances as a panellist since then on his happy hunting ground of The Project, on May 28 and June 27.
What may also be of some concern for Macdonald is that the Q+A ratings have been doing decently in his absence. Last week’s Q+A, which was hosted by Speers and featured Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, burst through the 300,000 mark in the five capital cities, with 325,000 viewers on Thursday night.
Happily, we’re told Macdonald will be back very soon. A big part of the reason for the Sydney-based host’s ongoing absence is the complex border situation around the country involving lockdowns.
Last Thursday’s Q+A was due to be recorded by Macdonald with Palaszczuk in Brisbane, but because of lockdowns in NSW and Queensland, it ended up being hosted by Speers out of Melbourne with the Queensland Premier beamed in by video-link. Macdonald, meanwhile, has been showing news bosses that if he can’t be on Q+A, he’ll roll his sleeves up for other ABC programs. He turned up with Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar on ABC News Breakfast last week, where he volunteered to do the hard yards as a high-profile second Sydney reporter for the show, asking locals in Lakemba about lockdown life.
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ScoMo spills on Jesus and religion
Uncovering more than superficial insights into Scott Morrison’s private Christian faith has been difficult during his prime ministership. However, that’s all about to change.
Diary understands that ScoMo is about to finally put his personal religious beliefs on the record, as part of a new book in which he is said to have talked candidly, frankly and at length about his faith.
The new book, authored by The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan and to be released early next month, will be titled: Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World.
But the feature of the new book that will no doubt help it to sell plenty of copies is a lengthy chapter devoted solely to Australia’s first openly Pentecostal PM and his faith.
Word out of the book’s publishers Allen & Unwin is that Morrison is “very frank” about his religion and about how it has contributed to his life story. The PM’s section of the book, we’re told, is based on one substantial interview and a number of follow-up exchanges with the author.
Diary hears ScoMo was initially cagey about giving too much away about his beliefs. That’s probably understandable, as over the years Morrison has been frequently mocked, particularly on the left of politics, for his Pentecostal beliefs and his associated links with evangelical religious figures, such as Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston.
We’re told that once ScoMo relaxed into the subject with Sheridan, nothing was ultimately off-limits about the man who declared on the night of his surprise election victory in 2019: “I have always believed in miracles.”
In April, a video leaked to YouTube made front pages around the country by giving a rare insight into ScoMo’s beliefs, after a speech he gave at the Australian Christian Churches’ national conference on the Gold Coast.
In that speech, Morrison revealed he had been “praying” and “laying hands” on victims of Cyclone Seroja, which hit Western Australia’s Pilbara region this year. He also expressed fear about the use of social media, saying it could be used by “the evil one” to “take our young people”.
“It’s going to take their hope, it’s going to steal their hope,” he said. “Sure, social media has its virtues and its values and enables us to connect with people in ways we’ve never had before. Terrific, terrific. But those weapons can also be used by the evil one and we need to call that out.”
While the lengthy revelation of ScoMo’s religious journey will no doubt be the key selling point of Christians, it won’t be the only one.
The new book, we’re told, will also examine the religious beliefs of two ex-governors-general – Peter Cosgrove and Bill Hayden – as well as former deputy PM John Anderson.
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Palaszczuk unites Bolt, Waleed and Tingle
The world has officially gone mad. Last week saw a rare Kumbaya moment between The Project’s Waleed Aly, Sky’s Andrew Bolt, 7.30’s Laura Tingle and Nine’s Chris Uhlmann.
Yes, you read that right. And what could possibly have united these strange bedfellows? Last week’s inflammatory attack by Annastacia Palaszczuk on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for under-40s. Aly, Bolt, Tingle and Uhlmann, along with a host of Brisbane-based reporters all bluntly fact-checked the Queensland Premier last week over her sweeping claims about the UK’s experience with AstraZeneca.
Palaszczuk had taken to Twitter on Wednesday to make the bold but highly inaccurate claim that: “Even the UK Government won’t allow their under 40s to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
But it didn’t take long for resistance to the Premier’s claim to emerge. At the end of an interview with Palaszczuk on Wednesday night (where the Premier again claimed that in the UK “now they’re not offering AstraZeneca to their under-40s”), 7.30’s Tingle then contradicted her. “To be clear, the advice on Astra Zeneca in the UK is that anyone aged under 40 should be offered an alternative vaccine, but if no alternatives are available, it’s better to have it than to delay getting vaccinated,” she told 7.30 viewers.
Others went harder. Uhlmann pulled no punches on Nine’s 6PM news bulletin on Wednesday night: “What the Queensland Premier and her chief health officer did today was simply astonishing,” he told viewers. “They attacked the quality of a vaccine that we desperately need to dig our way out of this prison … and became the latest loud voices adding to fear and confusion in the community. It was breathtaking and the only winners out of today are the anti-vaxxers.”
By Thursday, Aly had added his voice to a fact-checking movement against the Queensland Premier’s UK claim, this time in Nine’s papers, saying Palaszczuk’s claim that Britain wasn’t offering AstraZeneca to people under 40 was simply “untrue”.
“In a situation like ours, where Pfizer isn’t readily available, and where relying on it causes a delay, a young Brit gets AstraZeneca,” he wrote, adding: “We’re in danger of careering into full-blooded political recklessness.”
Then on Thursday night, Bolt added his colourful voice, accusing her of ‘lying’.
“Britain has not banned AstraZeneca. In fact, people there are so grateful for AstraZeneca, for the drug that saved them, that they gave its inventor a standing ovation at Wimbledon.”
Bolt also noted that Palaszczuk had “refused repeatedly to correct an obvious and dangerous falsehood about the AstraZeneca vaccine, scaring people off using it”.
The guidelines we’re following from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and the Australian Medical Association are clear.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 30, 2021
Even the UK Government won’t allow their under 40s to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Please follow the health advice.
Did that unity between such a wide range of commentators prompt any change of heart by the Queensland Premier? Not on your nellie. As of Sunday, Palaszczuk’s “UK won’t allow the AstraZeneca for under-40s” post was still up on her Twitter handle.
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Ita livid on claim she was ‘injured’
There are lingering tensions in the relationship between the ABC and the Jewish community – and they directly include ABC chair Ita Buttrose.
The friction started, as Diary revealed last month, with a May Q+A episode about the recent hostilities in Gaza, which led to objections from sections of the Jewish community about terms used on the show.
A delegation of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, led by the body’s newly appointed consultant Vic Alhadeff and ECAJ president Jillian Segal, subsequently visited ABC managing director David Anderson at the ABC’s Ultimo bunker on June 21 to complain of what it called “a pervasive culture of bias, if not antipathy, towards Israel” on Q+A.
After the meeting, the Jewish body put out a release that alleged Anderson had personally apologised for “many errors” on both Q+A and in the ABC’s overall news and current affairs coverage of the conflict.
But soon after, the ABC hit back, claiming that its position had been “misrepresented” in the release.
Now, Diary has confirmed that the ECAJ release has also attracted the personal ire of Ita. We’re told the ABC chair took strong exception to a line included by ECAJ about an alleged “injury” she had suffered.
The statement read: “ABC chair Ita Buttrose was also scheduled to attend, but had suffered an injury and sent an apology.”
We’re told Buttrose was “livid” about the line in the ECAJ release, and insulted that it was deemed appropriate to mention any “injury”. But despite her directly making her displeasure known, the line remained online in the ECAJ release as of Sunday. When we reached ECAJ’s Alhadeff on the weekend, he explained the reference to the injury had been included “because we appreciated the fact that she had agreed to meet with us”.
Alhadeff also confirmed that Buttrose had since been in touch about the sentence. “We have spoken directly to Ms Buttrose about our reasons, which were entirely well meant,” he said.
Buttrose on Sunday declined to comment.
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Kyrgios takes cash for cameo messages
After yet another early exit from a grand slam tennis tournament – this time a third-round injury default from Wimbledon on the weekend – Nick Kyrgios seems to have no choice but to find novel new ways of topping up his income.
The self-confessed “part-time player” has popped up on, of all places, cash for video messages site Cameo. He offers personalised 30-second videos incorporating everything from “happy birthday” shout-outs to tennis advice, within five days and to anyone who wants them – for a price.
When we first looked at his personal handle on the site last week, his price was $175. But since his exploits at Wimbledon, including a first-round mixed doubles win with tennis legend Venus Williams, his asking price went up $25 a message to $200 over the weekend. That’s high relative to some celebrities on the site, such as Seinfeld’s Larry Thomas (aka The Soup Nazi), a comparative steal at $80 a message.
Kyrgios’s Cameo appearances are set to be a decent earner in their own right, even for someone with plenty of off-court income from sponsors such as Kia, Nike and Yonex.
Former Green Bay Packers NFL quarterback Brett Favre recently indicated that at some times of the year, he can earn up to $30,000 a day just from Cameo messages. With Kyrgios likely to be sidelined with injury for a while, it’ll be an easy way for him to earn big money, without leaving his armchair.
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Grimshaw’s 40th party a Covid victim
It was to have been one of Nine’s big parties of the year: a slap-up Sydney Opera House celebration of three of its biggest stars in A Current Affair’s Tracy Grimshaw, 60 Minutes’ Liz Hayes and Sydney news anchor Peter Overton. But Diary hears that Sydney’s big lockdown put paid to that.
The occasion was to have been the 40th anniversary at Nine for Grimshaw and Hayes, and the 30th anniversary for Overton, celebrated as one big all-in Opera House party for 120 guests. The occasion was to have been a unique mix of the personal and professional.
Grimshaw, Hayes and Overton were each allowed to nominate 30 of their nearest and dearest, including close family. Meanwhile, Nine invited a group of its most influential executives, including three of its chief executives over the years: in chronological order, David Gyngell, Hugh Marks and Mike Sneesby.
Grimshaw hit the 40-year mark last Tuesday, alas with Sydney in full lockdown mode. But Diary is told the slap-up celebration may still go ahead at the Opera House, most likely in August – Covid permitting.
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ABC Porter lawyer joins News Corp
The ABC’s in-house lawyer who led Aunty’s defence of the blockbuster Christian Porter defamation lawsuit is swapping one media giant for another.
Diary is informed that ABC head of litigation Grant McAvaney, who was heavily involved in the negotiations to settle the Porter case in May, is to join News Corp, where he’ll head up editorial litigation.
McAvaney starts in October. It’s understood that his poaching is part of a move by News to bring more of its litigation work in-house, rather than with private law firms.
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ABC iview change delayed by ‘cookie’ issues
In the end, put the ABC’s decision last week to delay the date of mandatory logins for iview down to “cookies”.
Diary hears the ABC felt it needed to do more work to make sure that its iview cookies (a techie term for text files that carry small pieces of data such as usernames and logins) represented “best practice” for users.
It is now working with the Australian Information Commissioner to ensure that, in the ABC’s own words, “we are industry leaders in terms of the use of personal data”. That change of approach prompted a lightning re-edit of a Charlie Pickering-fronted ad campaign, which has eliminated the mention that the logins for the ABC streaming service would be mandatory from July.
The new date, it’s claimed, will be “well before” the end of the year.
Cookies are what ultimately will allow people with iview accounts to personalise the ABC service in the same way Netflix does, so they can pick up shows where they left them off.
There is a belief in some quarters internally that the ABC may not have yet offered a good enough “sell job” about the benefits people would receive from having a login.
A spokesman said the response had been “overwhelmingly” positive, pointing out that more than a million new ABC accounts had been created in the three months to the end of June.
“Over that same period, we have received 180 complaints,” the spokesman said.
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