Alert viewers of Ten’s The Project on Sunday night may have spotted an obvious change: the presenter who has become the story herself was an absentee from the show.
And Diary can reveal it won’t be the last absence for Lisa Wilkinson, whose memoir has generated a host of headlines (not all positive, it’s fair to say) in the past few weeks. We’re reliably informed Wilkinson will now be off The Project for the next few weeks, and is not scheduled to return until around December 5.
But does Wilkinson’s absence have anything to do with the controversy over her book, appropriately titled It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This, which has seen Nine heavily dispute details she has written in her book about Karl Stefanovic, and her departure from Nine in 2017 to The Project?
Or for that matter, does it have anything to do with The Sunday Project’s ratings, which have been in sharp decline ever since an in-house interview with her co-host Hamish Macdonald about her alleged underpayment at Nine?
Diary is assured the answer to both those questions is no. Rather, Ten sources say Wilkinson is simply on a well-earned break, before she takes the reins as The Project’s main female weekday host over the Christmas/New Year period when Carrie Bickmore is off.
Still, the general feeling around Ten is that there’s no harm in a bit of a reset for its flagship panel show, after a bruising month of headlines about Wilkinson. One Ten insider maintained last week there was “optimism” in the building that Wilkinson’s holiday could be just the circuit-breaker the show’s flagging ratings need, in the wake of the media circus that has accompanied the controversial book’s release.
Unfortunately, on Wilkinson’s last show before her holidays on Friday, The Project continued its recent downward trajectory by recording some of its lowest numbers in memory: with 178,000 capital city viewers for the 6.30pm half-hour and 253,000 viewers after 7pm.
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Mal defends being a ‘miserable ghost’
In 2018, Malcolm Turnbull — freshly dethroned by his own party room as PM — couldn’t have been clearer about the fact he wanted to move on from politics.
He told a New York young leaders’ forum he wouldn’t be hanging around politics like “embittered Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott”: famously describing the pair as “miserable ghosts”.
But three years later, Turnbull appears to have a very different perspective of his role as an ex-PM. Diary has obtained previously unreleased audio of a lengthy exchange between Seven political editor Mark Riley and the ex-PM on the sidelines of the Glasgow climate change summit earlier this month, in which Riley turns Turnbull’s own words about not being a “miserable ghost” back on him.
Riley’s question prompts a lengthy and passionate defence from Turnbull, in which he claims “right-wing” commentators have been trying to “intimidate” him into silence.
Credit to Riley for daring to ask Turnbull the “miserable ghost” question that has been the elephant in the room for three years, following a string of increasingly brutal and unvarnished assessments by the ex-PM of his successor, Scott Morrison.
In full, the Seven political editor asks Turnbull: “When you left as Prime Minister, you told an audience in New York because of the experiences you had in being attacked by Tony Abbott and by Kevin Rudd, that you wouldn’t be, in your words, a miserable ghost. What’s changed?”
Riley’s question clearly fired Turnbull up, as he launches into a passionate attack on “people in the right-wing media that say former prime ministers should be mute”.
Turnbull spells out to Riley his “miserable ghost” comment back in 2018 only applied to him hanging around Parliament House in Canberra. “What I was asked was why I retired from parliament, and my answer was I didn’t want to hang around parliament as a miserable ghost,” he said. “That’s why I got out of parliament. But whether as a former prime minister or an Australian citizen, I’m entitled to my point of view and my voice. I’m entitled to express my point of view on any matter I choose. It is a free country.”
And research conducted for Diary shows Turnbull is going to greater lengths than any other former PM – including Rudd – to continue to exercise his personal right to free speech.
Media monitoring firm Streem’s numbers show Turnbull has been noisier in the media than at any other point since he left office. He has featured in more than 13,000 media items over the past year – putting even Rudd’s considerable media presence (7723 media items) in the shade.
The numbers show Turnbull’s media presence reached a crescendo during and after the Glasgow summit with more than 1100 items in the first 10 days of November alone, peaking with his explosive claim Morrison “always had a reputation for telling lies”.
There was also Turnbull’s scathing National Press Club speech in late September, where he claimed Morrison had “deliberately deceived” France on the AUKUS submarine deal, unleashed numerous public critiques of Morrison’s climate change policies and smacked down Morrison government ministers like ex-attorney-general Christian Porter.
If his words in Glasgow are any guide, the “ghost” of Turnbull may continue to actively haunt ScoMo as the 2022 federal election edges closer.
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Could Uhlmann become ABC news boss?
It was the hottest rumour doing the rounds of the ABC studios last week: that former 7.30 political editor Chris Uhlmann could be a bolter to return home and replace Aunty’s departing news chief Gaven Morris.
Diary understands that in recent weeks, some very senior ABC types have been advocating for a new head of news who has had prominent roles in journalism, and are familiar with, for example, the prospect of politicians disputing ABC coverage.
So in that light, it’s probably no surprise that the ABC rumour mill went into a frenzy at its Ultimo headquarters on Thursday night when Uhlmann, Nine’s political editor since 2017, turned up out of the blue for a special guest appearance on Q+A.
Uhlmann understands the ABC better than most, having spent the best part of 20 years in high-profile roles, including political editor — the spot now held by Andrew Probyn — and hosting ABC Radio’s AM.
And as he made it clear last week, he’s no shrinking violet. He used his long-awaited return to the ABC’s screens to lash out at last week’s National Press Club speech by former prime minister Paul Keating for claiming China did not represent a “contiguous threat to Australia”.
“I think Paul Keating is entirely wrong,” Uhlmann bluntly told Q+A. “He said China was not a threat … (But) if you don‘t believe there’s a clear and present danger, (that) there is a threat from China, you’re either delusional or wilfully blind.”
Interestingly, Uhlmann’s comments on Q+A were later the basis of a story prominently featured on the ABC’s online site, headlined: “Former prime minister Paul Keating labelled ‘wrong’ on Q+A for comments he made on Australia’s relationship with China”.
In relation to the head of news job at the ABC, it’s early days. Diary understands an ad is being prepared for release in coming days ahead of a formal search that could drag on beyond Morris’s tenure. That raises the prospect that an acting head of news could be appointed to tide the ABC over into the early months of next year.
But the $64,000 question: what does Uhlmann say? When we reached him, he would only reveal that “no one has asked me to do it”, adding rumours around Ultimo were like “blowflies in summer”.
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Trioli’s moonlighting on Ten
Speaking of rare cross-network guest appearances, what exactly was the already-busy Virginia Trioli doing on Ten’s The Project on Monday night?
Not only is she the five-day-a -week host of ABC Radio Melbourne’s morning program, but she is also co-host of Q+A. Somehow last week, she squeezed The Project into her very full roster.
But could Trioli just be following a well-worn path from the ABC to The Project? Apart from plenty of guest appearances by ABC stars, recently-departed Q+A host Hamish Macdonald fell prey to The Project’s charms and returned full-time to Ten earlier this year. Is Trioli planning a similar defection to help boost The Project’s flagging ratings – or was she helping out an old friend?
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‘Bogan Walkleys’: AFR hack’s shock ejection
It’s being described as the biggest incident at a media awards night since Glenn Milne memorably shirtfronted Crikey founder Stephen Mayne on stage at the 2006 Walkley Awards.
Self-described Australian Financial Review “roustabout” Michael Roddan bounded onto the stage at the Sydney-based NRMA Kennedy Awards at Randwick Racecourse, having just won the gong for outstanding finance reporting, and during his acceptance speech described the awards as the “bogan Walkleys”.
Kennedy Awards organisers weren’t amused. The awards night’s stage director swiftly cut off Roddan’s mic and turned off the lights, to audible gasps from the audience. A few minutes later – during one of many deserved winner’s speeches that night by news.com.au’s Samantha Maiden for her Brittany Higgins stories – Kennedy co-founder Adam Walters walked up to the AFR table to tell Roddan he was ejected.
According to witnesses, Walters told Roddan: “What you said about the Kennedys was unacceptable. You’d better go.” A shocked Roddan responded: “Are you serious? Do you want to discuss this?” Walters replied: “No.”
Organisers also allege the comment caused “upset” among relatives of late journalists for whom awards were named – including, it’s claimed, the family of the late crime reporter Les Kennedy himself.
The families of two other journalists for whom awards were named, Sunday show legend Tom Krause and award-winning ABC journalist Paul Lockyer, also issued a statement on Sunday, saying the comment was “disrespectful”.
“He may well have meant it as a joke, but it’s an emotional night for us and a massive effort by the organisers. We didn’t feel it was funny or appropriate,” the families said.
One Kennedys organiser says: “We love characters, but we don‘t deserve someone to describe us as the bogan Walkleys. If you think these awards are for unsophisticated morons, which is what the term means, don’t enter them.” The organiser claims the Kennedys tried to laugh off the quip until texts “started coming in” from relatives in the room: “He sought and got attention by offending them, so he should be happy.“
In response, Roddan tells Diary: “At the risk of getting myself any further attention, my intention was not to cause offence … While I am too young to have worked with Les, dozens of his former colleagues have told me the inimitable larrikin would have loved the joke.”
Roddan also insists he’s no Kennedys snob: “I genuinely appreciate the spotlight the Kennedy Awards shines on parts of our industry that, while loved by mass audiences and readers, are often overlooked by other awards nights.”
Peter Khoury, media chief of the NRMA, put the blow-up into perspective: “If it wasn’t the ‘bogan Walkleys’, we wouldn’t have sponsored it,” he said.
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Coalition takes action on ABC board
The federal government is clearly undeterred by Ita Buttrose’s accusation of “political interference” at the ABC on Sunday.
Diary has learnt one of the Coalition’s 2021 ABC board appointments, former News Corp and Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh, will on Monday be promoted to Ita’s No.2, as he becomes the ABC’s deputy chair.
The move could be perceived as strengthening the ABC’s real-world capabilities, with Tonagh’s high-level strategic, financial and media credentials positioning him as a possible future Aunty chair.
But as a seasoned media CEO, it has also been interpreted in some quarters Tonagh will keep a close eye on ABC management.
The promotion was initiated by Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, who apparently wanted to ensure the ABC is never again left with a leadership vacuum.
Neither the ABC nor the government felt the need for a deputy chair until Justin Milne fell on his sword in 2018 after the shock sacking of then-MD Michelle Guthrie, with Kirstin Ferguson installed as the ABC’s acting chair until the permanent appointment of Buttrose in February 2019.
We hear the Milne episode, and the lack of a deputy at the ABC, drummed into the government a permanent deputy chair was required, in case of a similar emergency episode in the future.
Ferguson was formalised as deputy chair under Buttrose until her ABC term expired in November 2020, with Peter Lewis a de facto deputy chair in recent months.
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Ray lures Annastacia after ‘150 rejections’
It took countless rejections — but after years of trying, Sydney and Brisbane morning talk radio king Ray Hadley finally landed his very first interview with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday.
But after waiting so long, why did Palaszczuk relent on appearing on a show hosted by one of her loudest critics? Because they’ve found common ground over Palaszczuk’s latest policy: anyone who isn’t double vaccinated for Covid-19 will be barred from virtually any Queensland venue.
Hadley loves the policy. After a glowing editorial on his show on Tuesday when he said it was “the best thing she’s done”, he reached out to her.
“We’ve made, I’d say, 150 requests to the Premier’s office,” he tells Diary. “I suspect she came on only because this time instead of being in furious disagreement, we were in furious agreement!”
But Hadley was sceptical she would appear right up to the last minute, telling listeners: “I didn’t want to pre-empt this, because I’ve been waiting a long, long time for this phone call, (but) we’ve made arrangements with the Queensland Premier to talk to me.”
Rounding out the on-air chat was Palaszczuk’s offer to shout Hadley “a cup of tea” when he comes to Queensland over summer. Hadley wasn’t crazy about that particular edict. “I’ll buy you a coffee instead,” he replied.
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