Jacinta Price tipped for the Logies, not The Lodge
The charismatic NT Senator has laughed off claims she’s set for the top job, instead the stars are aligning and fame could lure her away from federal politics.
Does Jacinta Nampijinpa Price want to be prime minister?
“If that eventuated because of the trajectory I’ve been on, then so be it,” the Country Liberal senator told The Sydney Morning Herald when the Nine-owned paper ran a feature on “the Right’s new darling” after her standing ovation at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London last week.
To become our first Indigenous female PM would involve more moves than a backpacker. Firstly, she’ll need to change parties – joining the Libs – then run for the lower house.
Minor details according to Jessica Adams, the astrologer who accurately predicted Covid and has now tipped Price for the top job. The results of Adams’ work so far will not only shock the CNP and Liberal Party, but also the ALP.
Could Jacinta Nampijinpa Price become leader of the Liberal party? Prime Minister of Australia? I'm sending a DM to Jacinta to request her birth time. Even using 12 noon it's a powerful, powerful chart @JNampijinpapic.twitter.com/Ie96KFAKJp
— Jessica Adams BA (@jessicacadams) October 15, 2023
“Jacinta’s birth chart is uncannily similar to that of former prime minister Gough Whitlam,” Adams told Diary who obtained Price’s birth details from the Senator for Adams.
“Unlike Gough, though, Jacinta wants a quiet life. Politics for her is extremely rough in the period of 2023 to 2026 and she may choose a book deal and television show instead of any ambitions for the top job.
“Jacinta will be offered a mostly female panel show discussion slot in 2024-2026 and be tempted by the change. The other panellists will already be friends of hers, or become so.”
PM’s girlfriend has a new sole mate
Fashion diplomacy is alive and well even without an unofficial Minister for Fashion Julie Bishop in office anymore.
That’s the consensus following the recent US State Visit which saw Australian fashion front, centre and all over the world media thanks to the lobbying and organisational skills of the local industry.
If you want something stylish and symbolic, get Vogue Australia onto it.
Which is what notable members of the Aussie entourage did when choosing outfits for official events at the White House last week.
Diary understands Vogue Australia’s editor-in-chief Christine Centenera did what she does best and pitched in with some styling tips for the US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy.
Centenera made the introductions between the embassy and the Sydney-based designers of Romance Was Born Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett and the result was Kennedy wearing a black lace gown embroidered with a rainbow parrot and kitsch interpretations of Australian flora.
The $2200 dress was a collaboration with Australian artist Paul Yore and has all but sold out.
“Caroline Kennedy wearing Romance Was Born at the White House for whatever reason,” Sales boasted on social media.
Meanwhile Jodie Haydon had Centenera’s predecessor and News Prestige’s editorial director Edwina McCann in her corner and chose to use her moment on the international stage to highlight emerging Australian creatives including South Australian label Paolo Sebastian.
Haydon’s silver tulle ensemble also had a touch of Aussie fauna to it, designer Paul Vasileff wove in the crystal outlines of the kookaburra. She accessorised with Cerrone - a jeweller based in Leichhardt, which is located in Anthony Albanese’s Grayndler electorate.
Her state dinner dress complimented First Lady Jill Biden’s botanical Reem Acra outfit.
The pair reportedly got along so well they’re now sole mates.
After the couples enjoyed a private dinner on the first night of the visit, Dr Biden loaned Haydon a pair of sneakers to walk the five minutes home to the Blair House residence where she and the Prime Minister were staying.
Ita recalls happy times ... not at the ABC
Ita Buttrose, who has been in one of media’s toughest jobs for the past four years, at the helm of the ABC, took some time last week to remember and celebrate one of her fun gigs, as a founding panellist on morning TV show Studio 10 a decade ago.
The original line-up is long gone, with Buttrose herding cats as chair of the public broadcaster; Joe Hildebrand putting cats among the pigeons on Sky News’s new Sunday panel show, The Sunday Showdown; Sarah Harris helping course correct The Project as co-host; and Jess Rowe making waves with her Big Talk Show podcast.
“What we had was a lot of laughter on the show and we made people laugh,” Buttrose told Studio 10 earlier in the week, during an anniversary interview, where she also revealed lunch plans for last Friday.
“We had chemistry – and we were tested for chemistry – before we were all signed on as hosts. The chemistry worked and is still there because Sarah, Jess, Joe and I are all having lunch with the original executive producer Rob McKnight to celebrate and remember lots of fun times. We did have lots of fun, fun times.
A far cry, some might say, from her current gig.
“People didn’t realise that we could get up to a lot of fun and mischief and that I had a sense of humour. So it was another opportunity … to show people what you could actually do. It was a show full of opportunities and it was great fun,” she said.
“My great feat was to get Joe to say ‘I never thought you’d say something like that’.
“And so I tried very hard to make Joe say that and whenever he said it, I thought: ‘Yes, got him’. It was really a victory.”
Over lunch the team concluded a show like Studio 10 would be better understood today by executives and audiences.
“We were kind of the canary down the coalmine,” Hildebrand told Diary.
“Back then no one realised things like Twitter weren’t real life – now we know it’s just a place for angry, one-dimensional dickheads to have a whinge.
“In the real world you should have a bunch of different people who are all mates, yet disagree about some fundamental things while having a range of interests, who are entertaining – if anything we probably need it now more than ever.”
Premier for good times Palaszczuk cancels lunch
The Premier for red carpets and good times, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has cancelled a longstanding lunch date with the press.
Queensland’s leader was set to appear before the Media Club – the Brisbane version of the National Press Club – for the first time in this term of government for a bite to eat, some small talk, a keynote address and then take questions from the press gallery on November 21.
So advanced were the plans, that Palaszczuk’s office had provided an “approved photograph” to be used for the official invitations and promotional material.
On Friday organisers were told she’s now not coming despite the date being confirmed in September.
It’s another blow for attempts by the sunshine state’s fourth estate to get access to the leader, who is campaigning to be re-elected next year for a historic fourth term.
Sources told Diary they understand she’s busy and holds press conferences (albeit irregularly), but this would have been an opportunity for questions from the entire gallery.
“We haven’t had her this term,” one senior Queensland reporter said. “Four years is a long time – remember Covid? So we thought she’d have a lot to talk about in the lead up to the election.”
Another senior scribe told Diary: “There was no explanation or offering of alternative dates, she just bailed. We were really looking forward to having her. Usually speakers align their appearances with new announcements, but I guess the cupboard is bare.”
Another reporter added. “Is she just trying to avoid sticky questions from a full press court in front of the public about her leadership and her falling polls? I guess we’ll never know, especially as her pressers these days are becoming less and less frequent.”
Previous headline acts at the Media Club include Noel Pearson, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, Treasurer Cameron Dick, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and most recently Housing Minister (and the youngest woman elected to George St) Meaghan Scanlon.
Last month Palaszczuk presented her annual State of the State address at the Brisbane chapter of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia and on Monday she will jet off overseas for a trade mission to China.
Last week, as reported by Diary, when soft launching her 2024 re-election campaign, she cancelled an interview with a Courier-Mail journalist she hadn’t approved.
Organisers are now set to replace her on the Media Club bill with Opposition Leader, and the man most polls are now saying will be the next Premier, David Crisafulli.
Diary called Crisafulli’s team on Sunday so the event may appear on his calendar in the coming weeks, despite him appearing just 18-months ago.
“We’re now moving things around to make this happen,” a spokesman for Crisafulli said.
Palaszczuk’s office was contacted for comment.
Hitchener celebration is news to many
The recent surprise celebration for news-reading legend Peter Hitchener to mark his 50 years at Channel 9 left many in Nine’s Melbourne newsroom, shall we say, a little miffed and others with their noses slightly out of joint, writes Diary’s esteemed colleague Sophie Elsworth.
The private “non-Nine” function was held in Melbourne’s east and was invite-only, with just a handful of Nine staff slipped an invitation from veteran reporter Allan Raskall a few weeks before.
But the glaring omissions from the Hitchener shindig guest list didn’t go unnoticed. They included Nine Melbourne news director Hugh Nailon and the newsreader’s heir apparent, Alicia Loxley.
Those who made the cut from Nine’s newsroom were few and far between, including weather presenter Livinia Nixon, Jo Hall and Tony Jones.
Multiple Nine staffers told Diary they “knew nothing about it” until the party was blasted across social media on Saturday October 28, including a multitude of posts from the veteran newsreader himself.
Despite this, some staff showed their support online including Nine court reporter Eliza Rugg, who wrote, “You’re the BEST Hitchy we are so lucky to have you!!!” and his party posts were liked by Nine journalist Stephanie Anderson, Nine’s Europe correspondent Brett McLeod and Today show reporter Christine Ahern.
The timing of the party also raised eyebrows: it was held before the end of official TV ratings on December 2 and ahead of when Hitchener usually takes his summer break.
The 77-year-old, who has presented the station’s main weeknight bulletin for 25 years, continued a social media blitz for days following the celebrations, sharing dozens of posts from the gathering with his 80,000 Instagram followers. He even conducted his own Instagram poll, with the statement, “50 years reading the news and loving it”.
His multiple choice answers failed to include an option that he should give up his news reading throne, instead offering followers these responses: “keep going”, “another 50 years”, “continue sharing the news”, or “100 per cent”, while he also published colourful heart emojis and his comment, “feeling huge love from the ‘surprise’ celebration”.
So will Hitchener continue to read Nine’s news bulletin from Monday to Thursdays in 2024?
Or will the succession plan kick in and Loxley, who reads the news Fridays to Sunday, finally take over?
The short answer: Who knows?
When Diary last week caught up with the veteran broadcaster, known as the “nicest man in television”, it appeared he had been left in the dark by Nine management and remains unsure if he will continue delivering the 6pm news.
But one thing is certain, he’s not going anywhere if he has a say in the matter.
“I have no idea what’s going to happen next year but my plan is that I’m not retiring, I’m going to be doing something, so watch this space,” Hitchener said.
He added that he is optimistic about his future: “I would hope so (to continue reading) … we’ll see what happens.”
Curiously, when Nine was contacted about Hitchener’s future, a spokesman offered no reassurances that the veteran would be staying on and refused to comment about his future.
As for whether Nine will throw its own 50-year shindig for Hitchener, that doesn’t seem clear to the veteran broadcaster either.
“I’m sure as Nine colleagues we will have an opportunity to celebrate it (50 years) at some point in the future,” Hitchener said.
“I’m sure that’s a possibility, but I’ve never really encouraged those things myself.”
The Nine spokesman was more forthcoming, assuring Diary a celebration is now in the works.
“Nine will mark the milestone with those who work with him,” he said.
ACMA rules ok?
Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has some timely advice for the radio regulator – the Australian Communications and Media Authority – regarding perceived conflicts of interest.
3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell recently spoke about the disclosure (double) standards between his talkback band of the wireless compared to the FM frequencies.
His gripe follows a profile of KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands published in The Australian Financial Review, where it was reported Sandilands’ private company, King Kyle Group, “consulted to the NSW Labor Party over its advertising spend” in the lead up to the NSW election earlier this year.
The story said the spend was not disclosed. But that was never required.
As Sandilands’ show is considered a “music and entertainment” program, the rules which Mitchell and his Sydney counterparts like Ben Fordham and Ray Hadley have to adhere to are different, given they are AM “news and current affairs” shows.
“Kyle’s done nothing wrong,” Mitchell said at the time.
“He hasn’t broken any rules. The laws are wrong, not Kyle Sandilands.
“Incidentally, the ABC don’t have to do it either. This only applies to commercial radio news and current affairs, not music, not the ABC. It’s absurd.”
Rowland is urging the ACMA, to keep up with the rapidly evolving media landscape.
“ACMA is engaging with industry about ideas for strengthening and harmonising content safeguards and it is essential that broadcasting services reflect community standards, and that industry codes of practice are kept up to date as the media sector evolves,” she told Diary.
“To maintain the integrity of public interest journalism, any concerns about conflicts of interest should be raised with the relevant broadcaster directly, at first instance.
“But (in saying that) audiences expect a separation between the editorial and business activities of content providers, and to be made aware of any relevant commercial arrangements, or any other commercial interests, when consuming news and journalistic content.”
An ‘Elle’ of a job
Diary can reveal that fashion writer Grace O’Neill is the new editor of Elle Australia. The 30-year-old stylish wunderkind will head up the new iteration of the fashion magazine’s print edition, which will hit stands in March.
Elle Australia’s print and digital editions were shut in 2020 by former owners Bauer Media. O’Neill worked for the German-based publishing company in a digital editor capacity and quit before the pandemic to seek greener pastures in London.
She has consulted on international campaigns for Estee Lauder, Prada and Cartier and co-founded her own creative content agency, Dollface.
She co-hosts culture podcast After Work Drinks with best friend and fellow fashion editor Isabelle Truman, which attracts more than 20,000 listeners every week.
O’Neill is returning to Australia in the coming weeks to relaunch the title.
“I started at Elle Australia as an intern 10 years ago,” O’Neill told Diary. “To be returning as editor is a full-circle moment.”
Like many other former staffers of that time, she remembers the former ACP offices being like something from The Devil Wears Prada. When the international owners were in the building all music had to be muted and no food could be consumed in public.
Elle will be printed twice a year, expanding to four issues in 2025.
O’Neill’s mission is to expand Elle into an “omnichannel powerhouse for young, savvy women in Australia” according to her new boss, Are’s fashion and beauty GM Nicky Briger.
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