Media Diary: Barrie Cassidy slams former colleagues in Twitter rant on ABC election coverage

The ABC’s dominant ratings meant little to Cassidy as he dissected the performances of the likes of Sales and Andrew Probyn involved in the election coverage. Picture: ABC TV

As has become election night tradition, the Leigh Sales-anchored ABC coverage totally dominated Saturday night’s ratings, leaving both Seven and Nine in its wake.

But not everyone was impressed, including some former ABC identities thought to have been lifelong ABC true believers.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday night, Barrie Cassidy (who has become something of a darling of the Twitterati since his retirement from Insiders) launched into a scathing assessment of the ABC’s performance on the night, criticising colleagues with whom he formerly had cordial relations when he was with the public broadcaster.

The ABC’s dominant ratings meant little to Cassidy – who has lately become much more frequent on Ten’s The Project – as he dissected the performances of the likes of Sales and Andrew Probyn involved in the coverage.

Earlier in the night, there had been some rumblings from Cassidy as he retweeted another Twitter user’s direct critique of Sales’s line of questioning, which noted that she had at one point dubbed the support of teal independents and Greens during the election as a “protest vote”.

But it was much later on, after discussions about Labor performance that Cassidy really went off the long run about the ABC’s coverage in a five-tweet extravaganza, describing it as everything from “bizarre” to “nauseating”.

It started with him live-tweeting his unhappiness about the treatment of Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek, a panellist on the night, as he watched on TV: “Disappointed the ABC could not even congratulate Tanya Plibersek for Labor’s win but instead they should be embarrassed about the greens winning a couple of seats,” he tweeted. “Reset guys. You don’t have to be cowed any more.”

Disappointed the ABC could not even congratulate Tanya Plibersek for Labor’s win but instead they should be embarrassed about the greens winning a couple of seats. Reset guys. You don’t have to be cowed anymore.

— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) May 21, 2022

But within seconds, it became clear that things weren’t getting any better on the ABC from Cassidy’s perspective. He first noted that: “This ABC coverage is really quite bizarre. There’s barely any mention that we have a new government.”

This ABC coverage is really quite bizarre. There’s barely any mention that we have a new government.

— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) May 21, 2022

Then he noted: “The discussions around how the liberals will cope is nauseating. Guys. We have a new government. Discuss.”

The discussions around how the liberals will cope is nauseating. Guys. We have a new government. Discuss.

— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) May 21, 2022

Some ABC types involved with the coverage were notably unimpressed on Sunday, but didn’t want to give any oxygen to Cassidy’s claims.

Touch of Hollywood at Lisa’s election party

A near-decade of Coalition rule came to an end on Saturday night – and after such a long wait, media power couple Lisa Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons were in the mood for a celebration.

Hollywood and other international celebrities mingled with Australian media identities and senior politicians at the pair’s Sydney harbourside mansion for Fitzy and Lisa’s traditional federal election night party, to welcome the ascension of Anthony Albanese to the prime ministership.

Lisa Wilkinson with Simon Baker, Julia Baird and Jennifer Byrne and friends on election night.
Source: Instagram

Diary’s spies tell us that global cooking icon Nigella Lawson, as well as Australian-born star of US television hit The Mentalist, Simon Baker, were the headline acts of an increasingly buoyant BYO plate affair at Fitzy and Lisa’s place to cheer Albo to victory.

On the local media side, the power pair were joined by past and present ABC hosts, such as The Drum presenter Julia Baird and ex-First Tuesday Book Club host Jennifer Byrne, WSFM’s breakfast hosts Jonesy & Amanda (Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller), Sydney Morning Herald investigative journalist Kate McClymont, FitzSimons’s great mate and former 2UE on-air partner, Mike Carlton, and assorted producers of Wilkinson’s TV show, The Project.

From a political standpoint, former Queensland premier Peter Beattie was present from the Labor side. Meanwhile, one shock political attendee from the Liberal side of politics was NSW Treasurer Matt Kean – a notable climate change advocate and surprise critic of Scott Morrison during the election campaign.

From the arts world, acting power couple Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward added some more star power.

Meanwhile, legendary Schindler’s Ark author Thomas Keneally even regaled the assembled throng with an impromptu poetry reading.

The most notable absentee from the gathering was, of course, Albanese himself. The new PM had, of course, famously attended Fitzy and Lisa’s delayed Australia Day barbecue three months ago, along with NSW Labor leader Chris Minns. But on Saturday night he was only there in spirit, alas, as he instead attended his own official party victory celebrations across the harbour at the rather less-salubrious Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL club.

Diary is told things started particularly nervously on the night at the harbourside gathering, with some anxiety among pro-Albo attendees when some inconclusive first results came in around 7pm. There was apparently some leftover PTSD among attendees from the 2019 election night, when the widely expected Bill Shorten election victory degenerated into a Morrison miracle.

But there was to be no party-pooping repeat of 2019. As the ABC’s screens started to call an inevitable Albanese victory, the hosts quieted the crowd as an Indigenous guest recited the Uluru Statement by heart, in what was clearly an emotional moment for many present. It was also a nod to Albanese’s stated policy of adopting the Uluru Statement in full if he won power.

After that, the mood became progressively more and more buoyant. Cheering could be heard as first it became clear that the Morrison government could not govern even in minority, and progressively more so as the Liberals’ WA bloodbath made it clear that a Labor victory was inevitable.

Finally, the group excitedly gathered around TV sets late in the night when Albo finally declared victory. The high-powered gathering then celebrated into the wee hours.

On Sunday morning, Wilkinson was up bright and early with a succinct Instagram post, not ­directly referencing the party but including a photo of herself, Baker, Baird and Byrne, name-checking one of her heroes, Brittany ­Higgins: “Well that was a fun night. This one’s for you @brittanyhiggins.”

That prompted the response from prominent TV host Rove McManus: “Winners are definitely grinners!”

Clive fights sinking feeling with Titanic performance

Guests at Clive Palmer’s intimate election night party were greeted at his Sovereign Island mansion on the Gold Coast by the mining billionaire tinkling the ivories of a piano, Diary is reliably informed.

What tune was he playing? None other than the theme to Titanic: Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.

A many of many talents is Clive, pictured here at his house prior to casting his vote. Picture: Scott Powick.

The irony of this was immediately obvious to Diary’s spies at the 40-person party, because of Palmer’s shelved plans to build Titanic II, his proposed replica of the famous ship that hit an iceberg.

Palmer may have been hoping to avoid that sinking feeling on Saturday night, but it would be fair to say his $100m ad spend for the federal election didn’t quite hit the mark, with even UAP leader Craig Kelly losing his seat of Hughes in Sydney with a lower-than-expected vote.

But Palmer remained upbeat throughout the night, showing guests his massive garage packed with vintage Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Ferraris.

Palmer did let one media figure into the party – Sky News’s Queensland editor, Peter Gleeson, who did a series of crosses into the network’s election coverage throughout the night. Guests were treated to a sumptuous three-course banquet prepared by two Michelin-starred chefs who work for the billionaire on his superyacht.

For entrees, there was the choice of ‘beef tataki’ with ‘soy sauce sorbet wasabi foam’, or a ‘sashimi of kingfish’ with ‘coconut kim jim sauce’.

Mains were a choice of Wagyu beef eye fillet with wild mushrooms, a chicken roulade with cauliflower puree, or teriyaki salmon with a cucumber and ginger salad, while for dessert, it was hard to go past the salted caramel cheesecake with white chocolate and “torched banana”.

Palmer had his favourite media outlet, Sky News, on seven of the mansion’s eight television screens. But Diary hears that one solitary TV was tuned in to one of his key media adversaries, the ABC’s Laura Tingle – apparently so he could “keep an eye on her”.

PvO no longer a ‘kiss of death’

Ten political editor Peter van Onselen made one of the most ­famous calls of the 2019 election, when he boldly claimed on the eve of polling day to his Ten colleague Hugh Riminton: “There’s no way that Scott Morrison can win it, and I’m happy to have that replayed time and time again to my shame if he does win it.”

That clip was, of course, replayed time and time again after Morrison’s “miracle” election victory in 2019. PVO was even unkindly branded in some quarters as Labor’s Kiss of Death (otherwise known as the KOD).

Peter van Onselen. Picture: Nigel Wright.

After that experience, PVO has seesawed on who he thought would win the 2022 election. Early on in ScoMo’s term, he tipped that Morrison was a lock, before late last year switching his tip to Albo as things went downhill for the Liberals.

So on Friday, we asked PVO to give us his definitive final prediction for the election – which we promised we would seal and not reveal till after Saturday’s polling day.

Labor would have been quaking in its boots if they had known his full tip to Diary: “One thing I do know is that Scott Morrison will not win this election, either in minority or majority. I’m not prepared to tip a Labor majority. But one way or another, Labor are going to win this election. And I’m prepared to wear it as a badge of shame if I’m wrong. A Morrison win would make 2019 look like it was a dead certainty.”

In spite of his definite call, PVO admitted to us last week that he had some trepidation that it could be deja vu all over again in 2022.

But with Albo winning a definitive victory on Saturday, it seems that PVO has shed the KOD tag once and for all.

Hawke’s Lager for Blanche’s true believers

With an Anthony Albanese victory looming, there was one political bash in Sydney for dyed-in-the-wool Labor Party insiders.

It was co-hosted by Labor royalty, Bob Hawke’s widow, Blanche d’Alpuget in posh Woollahra – right in the heart of the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

An ever energetic Blanche d'Alpuget co-hosted a ‘true believers’ party.

The party was held at the home of one of d’Alpuget’s oldest friends, SMH and The Age film reviewer Sandra Hall. (Hall’s late husband, Jim Hall, incidentally, was a former editor of The Australian.)

D’Alpuget, these days an energetic 78, tells Diary the party was strictly a “true believers only” ­affair. And like a true Labor backroom player, d’Alpuget was sighted working the phones through­out the evening, with veteran Labor numbers men Craig Emerson and Geoff Walsh on speed dial delivering her the latest seat-by-seat updates to pass on to her guests.

She wasn’t the only member of the Hawke clan in attendance, with the ex-PM’s daughter, Sue Pieters-Hawke, also present.

And there were plenty of good omens related to Hawke, Australia’s longest-serving Labor PM, to give Albo every possible chance.

For one, there were copious quantities of Hawke’s personal brew, Hawke’s Lager, on site, with each bottle labelled with Hawke’s legendary image. Another omen was that Hawke’s Lager is brewed at the Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre in Marrickville, in the heartland of Albo’s own seat of Grayndler in Sydney’s inner west.

There was one unfortunate late apology among the Labor royalty, after Gil Appleton, widow of legendary former Whitlam minister ‘Diamond’ Jim McClelland, sustained a late injury and had to pull out.

Hadley: I’ll miss Keneally

Will Anthony Albanese’s election victory set the stage for three years of on-air stoushes with Australia’s highest paid radio announcer, Ray Hadley, following the pair’s memorable 27-minute interview last month?

Hadley has told Diary that he will lend Albo some “respect” following his election victory on Saturday night, albeit with some close scrutiny of the incoming PM and his team. But he admits that he thinks it will be a bit less fun with the shock departure of one prospective Labor frontbencher: Kristina Keneally.

Ray Hadley. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Kristina Keneally. Picture: Sam Mooy

In one of the campaign’s most combative on-air exchanges last month, Albanese and Hadley had a furious 27-minute on-air barney in which Hadley confronted Albo on everything from China’s latest security deal with the Solomon Islands to the Kimberley Kitching affair and climate change.

As the colourful interview unfolded, the 2GB shock jock blew ship horns and repeatedly interjected to dispute as “fanciful” claims by the PM-to-be that he would keep away asylum-seeker boats.

After the interview, a number of Labor supporters took to social media to accuse Hadley of “bullying” Albanese. It was a claim Hadley strongly denied, revealing that it was Albanese that asked for the interview. The 2GB broadcaster claimed it was “just a tough interview that should be part of the job” for any politician like Albanese seeking to be PM.

And Hadley has made it clear nothing will change now that Albo is in the top job. He says he will be keeping an eye on the entire Albanese government – saying his big worry is that the Greens’ big jump could “drag Labor to the left”.

“The office of PM carries a certain respect,” Hadley tells Diary. “I spoke to Kevin Rudd when he was PM, and I spoke to Julia Gillard when she was PM. He surely couldn’t do a worse job than Rudd — but the jury will be out.”

However, there are on-air barneys with one particular Labor frontbencher that Hadley will miss – the ALP’s erstwhile spokeswoman for immigration and home affairs, Kristina Keneally.

Before the election, Hadley admitted to us he had been readying himself for some robust editorials on his doubts about her abilities to “stop the boats” of asylum-seekers. It wasn’t to be. Keneally looks like losing her bid for the western Sydney seat of Fowler to independent candidate Dai Le. “Under Kristina Keneally, I would have been getting RSI from blowing the ship’s horn three or four times every day,” Hadley confesses. “Kristina now has an enviable record. She took NSW Labor to its worst election defeat, she missed out on Bennelong against John Alexander, and now she looks like losing a seat with a 14 per cent swing. That’s some trifecta.”