James Packer looks to invest in Israel

The roots James Packer is establishing in Israel will strengthen, with the casino mogul investing in Israeli businesses.

Diary can reveal Packer is looking at business opportunities in ­Israel in the technology sector. We’re still waiting to hear what the investments are, but they’re understood to be on the science and tech side, where Israel is on the cutting edge and is regarded as the leader in IT and bioscience, in particular wireless technology.

Packer has some investments in the online space already including in Seek’s Chinese equivalent Zhaopin and also Square Peg, a portfolio of online investments set up with Paul Bassat.

Packer first became interested in Israel through Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan, who has become one of Packer’s best friends, if not his closest friend in the world. They’ve been in discussions about joint investments for at least a year.

Packer met with Milchan in Israel in May last year, and was returning to his Bondi unit from the airport when he was famously set upon by Nine boss David Gyngell.

Over the past year, Packer’s interest in the country has strengthened. He bought a house in Caesarea, halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv, near his good friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home.

Despite the close relationship, Packer did not provide any pol­itical donations during the recent Israeli elections. He has also not converted to Judaism, and it’s not clear whether his interest in the country is purely business or whether an ­element of spirituality is driving it.

What is clear is that Packer has developed a deep affection for Israel, both the people and the place.

There is also a suggestion that Packer has obtained an Israeli passport or at the very least citizenship or residency, to enable him to spend more time in the country doing business. Packer declined to respond to questions.

Pollie combo axed

It was a short-lived affair. Ross Cameron and Kristina Keneally’s Friday afternoon show on Sky News is no longer.

The co-hosting combo of the former NSW Labor premier and the former Liberal federal MP was at times fun, at times cringeworthy and often flirtatious.

But it may not have been working out behind the scenes, with suggestions Keneally was not comfortable with the way the show was representing her.

Cameron, who has recently re-signed for another year with Sky, confirmed the show was over.

“I enjoyed working with Kris­tina, I enjoyed the guests and I enjoyed the audience,” he told Diary. “As to what happens from here, I am just a humble worker in the vineyard of Sky News.”

Keneally and Cameron has been taken off air and will be replaced, at least in the meantime, by The ­Friday Show, a discussion panel of predominantly Sky personalities hosted by experienced print and television business journalist Janine Perrett, who also hosts The Perrett Report on Sky News Business.

Keneally will be given a new daytime show that will put her in the middle of Sky’s daily political coverage. Interestingly, Keneally now has a media agent, Peter Wall, from Wall Media, who looks after her speaking engagements and press, radio and television ­appearances.

I’m sure, as a former premier, Keneally would be a tough and formidable negotiator on her own.

NRL rights on table

In what may prove to be an even bigger stoush than Keneally v Cameron, there is the potential for the NRL broadcast rights to go ­earlier than anticipated. While all eyes are on the AFL rights, don’t rule out the NRL going early.

NRL chief executive Dave Smith expects the rights to increase by about 10 per cent — realistically, this is a conservative figure. Based on that evaluation, it would see the price increase from $200 million a year to between $220m and $250m, including a digital component.

The first round of discussions with free-to-air networks has been held over the past five or six weeks.

On Media Watch last Monday, Nine CEO David Gyngell said he was anticipating he would have to pay significantly more for the rights, but this was something he would be prepared to do.

Richo’s close shave

Graham Richardson, recovering from chemotherapy, tweeted a photo of himself on the weekend which showed the toll the aggressive treatment has taken on him. The huge change in Richo’s appearance, most notably his hair loss, shocked many of his friends.

“The chemo didn’t work and I finished it eight weeks ago but I’m still suffering the side-affects. I’ve lost more hair since I’ve stopped the drugs,” Richo told Diary. “The good thing is I only need to shave once a fortnight.”

Gyngell lectures ACA

Fresh from getting chummy with Media Watch host Paul Barry, Gyngell gave A Current Affair’s producers a serve for a story they broadcast early last week.

Gyngell was annoyed about the segment, provocatively titled ‘‘Tax cheats ripping off the Australian public’’, which gave airtime to Fairfax journalist Michael West’s claim that News Corp “siphoned off” billions in cash and shares from its Australian ­operation “virtually tax-free”. Those claims have been strongly rejected by News Corp.

Gyngell made his thoughts known to the producers of ACA, pointing out the difference between tax avoidance and tax minimisation. It is understood Gyngell thought the segment was pretty shoddy and failed to understand the complexities of corporate tax.

Headline under fire

The Courier-Mail’s front page on murdered schoolteacher Stephanie Scott, who was due to walk down the aisle on Saturday, has ­attracted some social media ­controversy.

The headline read, “Fairytale turns nightmare: Bride and Seek”. The criticism has centred around the insensitivity of the headline because Scott was murdered.

But the front page was produced when Scott was a missing person, believed to be a runaway bride — a day before the case was declared a homicide and an arrest was made.

This is an inconvenient fact Media Watch host Paul Barry ignored when he encouraged a disgruntled tweeter to lodge a complaint against the paper.

If only it were surprising that a taxpayer-funded ABC employee, paid $190,000 a year for a weekly segment that lasts no more than 15 minutes. is encouraging complaints against a News Corp paper.

But the greater outcry about the front page came from the angry feminists who enjoy a daily dose of outrage even more than Alan Jones.

The Mamamia website wrote: “Tasteless in the extreme. Sickening. Disgraceful. Those are just some of the words that have been used to describe one Brisbane newspaper’s coverage of the Stephanie Scott tragedy yesterday.

Again, Mamamia declined to tell its readers the paper was printed before news that Scott had been murdered. Those facts wouldn’t work as clickbait! Mamamia also ignored subsequent steps taken by The Courier-Mail to avoid adding to the family’s pain, including taking down digital copies of the paper when news emerged that Scott’s disappearance was a murder investigation.

The chances of the Scott family seeing the earlier front page were very slim, but were more likely after Mamamia and social media users reposted it over and over, almost as if they wanted the Scott family to see it and be offended by it.

When Mamamia publisher Mia Freedman was attacked for unintentionally comparing homosexuals to pedophiles, she ­pointed to her history of advocating gay and lesbian rights.

It seems she doesn’t apply the same level of understanding to others. The Courier-Mail under editor Christopher Dore has run prominent anti-domestic violence campaigns and has tackled issues affecting young women such as eating disorders. Among the Twitterati, there were some reasonable voices — including one from the Fairfax stable. Columnist Sam de Brito weighed into the fray, tweeting of the front page: “This was published prior to the discovery she’d been murdered.”

The latest petition calling for an apology from Dore now has 15,000 signatures.