Mi9 joins Senate corporate tax inquiry focus

Abbott and Turnbull make a deal, uni makes meal of marking, Bingle blasts Sharpe, and Media Watch told where to stick advice.

Tech giants Google, Facebook and Amazon have been criticised for avoiding paying tax in Australia. But there’s speculation Nine Entertainment’s digital arm, Mi9, may have employed similar tax minimisation strategies.

Mi9 was a joint venture between Microsoft and Nine with a ‘divorce’ taking place in 2013, although a commercial relationship remains. Ninemsn’s Aust­ralian-based sales team sold advertising for Microsoft entities such as Bing, Hotmail, Mess­enger, Microsoft Media Network and Skype.

Several senior sources claim advertising invoices for these Microsoft platforms were sent to the US to minimise the effective corporate tax rate in Australia.

“It was paid in US dollars and banked over there. It was like it was advertising with the US,” one source claimed. “It’s much the same way as Google does it.”

Microsoft will front a Senate inquiry into corporate tax on Wednesday. There’s no suggestion of impropriety on Nine’s part.

“Ninemsn pays its tax on its profits in Australia and has never sought to minimise tax through the arrangements referred to,” a Nine spokeswoman said.

PM’s reform trade-off

Tony Abbott and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have reached a compromise over media reform.

The Prime Minister has not authorised a cabinet submission but will allow Turnbull to present his media reform proposals informally to Cabinet.

Reluctant to continue bearing the brunt of criticism from media owners, some of whom were growing frustrated with an almost stagnating pace of reform after 18 months of consultation, Turnbull wrote a letter to the PM a month ago with his recommendations. They included abolishing the ‘‘two out of three’’ rule and the reach rule.

Abbott has so far been unwilling to progress with the reforms but is also reluctant to block Turnbull, a potential leadership ­opponent.

His compromise position allows Turnbull to present an informal proposal to test the waters and see whether there is appetite among his senior colleagues to proceed with reform. If there is not, Turnbull has indicated to colleagues he will ­accept cabinet’s decision.

The discussions are likely to happen in the near future, after Turnbull returns from a trip to New York.

Lara’s sharp critique

She’s the Daily Telegraph columnist who went searching for “bad” and “scruffy” photographs of ­Samantha Armytage. She also criticised Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Sally Obermeder over their decision to go public with their cancer battles. The words stung these strong, wonderful women.

Now Lara Bingle has joined the list of those speaking out about Annette Sharp’s columns. Sharp attacked Bingle’s decision to name her child Rocket Zot in a Saturday article that referenced her late ­father, who died of cancer, and referred to how Bingle’s looks would fade over time.

“This is your chance to leave a lasting tribute to your father, because one day, too soon, you and that pretty skin of yours will be gone,” Sharp wrote.

Over the weekend, Bingle hit back with such force that fellow News Corp outlets, including news.com.au, reported on her criticism of Sharp.

“My sons (sic) middle name IS a respectful nod to my late father, whose nickname was affectionately, Zot,” Bingle wrote on ­Twitter. “I wish Australian journalism, and in particular The Daily Telegraph, would rethink employing people who have some respect, and integrity, who either fact check or not comment — rather than just print the juvenile, spurious ramblings of some pseudo journalist called Annette Sharp.”

Bingle and her hangers-on may be some of the most publicity-­hungry people this country has seen, but it was a rough blow to have the memory of her late father evoked in a piece that attacked her.

Others leant their support, including Jodhi Meares, who said: “Ethics in the media — where the bloody hell are you?”

Ten sale back on cards

The sale of Ten Network to Foxtel/Discovery was on shaky ground, but now appears increasingly likely. With a revised structure, at 22c a share, or lower, the takeover is looking good. Ten spokesman Neil Shoebridge declined to comment on market speculation.

Lecturer sees only red

A Notre Dame university lecturer has given a student poor marks for referencing News Corp outlets in an assignment on asylum-seekers.

The lecturer expressed her anger over News Corp in red pen on a student’s essay, writing: “A tabloid news website owned by RUPERT MURDOCH is NOT research. This task is designed so you can sift through all the information that’s out there (mostly factual) and get real empirical evidence.”

Another comment by the ­lecturer said: “This is awful just awful if you used proper factual ­evidence that isn’t spun by Rupert Murdoch you wouldn’t have this confused. Stick to scholarly ­journalists.” Yet another comment referred to “a toilet news web site owned by Rupert Murdoch.”

This was all because the student had not adhered to the ­lecturer’s left-leaning position on asylum-seekers. The red-pen mark-ups on the essay were sent in to Justin Smith’s 2UE program by the student’s family.

Diary contacted Notre Dame about the egregious slurs and the university, in a statement, said it “does not propose any particular political ideology, require this of our students or encourage it in our academics”.

It said the matter had been brought to the attention of the relevant staff member, “who was asked to review the guidance and supervision of casual (sess­ional) academic staff in that area”.

The university told Diary it had encouraged students receiving comments that they perceive to be “unhelpful” to approach their course co-ordinator or head of school.

This is just the latest example of universities blatantly encouraging students to adhere to their left-leaning ideological view of the world.

News chief bites back

When Mumbrella had a crack at some lighthearted content on News.com.au, its editor Daniel Sankey decided he’d had enough.

“There are those who would claim the mainstream media is dumbing down, especially where science is concerned. But Dr Mumbo is pleased to see the ­nation’s most popular website News.com.au engaging its audience with hard-hitting science yarns, such as this story about a lamb born with the face of an angry old man,” Mumbrella’s Dr Mumbo wrote, mocking Australia’s No 1 website for some of its popular content.

Sankey, one of the loveliest blokes in journalism, fired up against the media and marketing website. “I think it’s interesting that someone who spends most of their day rewriting press releases is ­having a crack at the number one news site in the country,” he told Diary and pointed out that on the day Mumbrella derided lighthearted content, News.com.au led with an investigation into forgery at universities.

The story uncovered a sophisticated Chinese forgery business charging thousands of dollars for fake degrees and diplomas from nearly 100 of Australia’s leading institutions.

Perhaps Mumbrella could try breaking a yarn or two before it attacks others.

Hot shake, thanks to ABC

An appearance on ABC’s Media Watch was the best publicity the owners of weight-loss product The Man Shake could have hoped for.

Following last Monday night’s episode, which revealed radio host Ben Fordham’s brother Nick has a 10 per cent stake in the company, there were 3000 new visitors to The Man Shake website and traffic was up 450 per cent compared to the previous Monday.

The show prompted even more publicity for the weight-loss shake.

On Tuesday, Fordham spent 15 minutes on 2GB discussing the smash-up on Media Watch, giving the product valuable air time. The following day, Media Watch host Paul Barry called in to the ­station’s open-line, uninvited, to continue the argument about whether or not his segment on Fordham was misleading.

On radio, Fordham fired up against Barry in delightfully colourful terms, saying “Media Watch can shove their advice where the sun doesn’t shine”.

“You see Media Watch thinks we’re all part of some giant conspiracy, when in fact all we’re doing is working in commercial radio. We don’t get handed a billion dollars by the taxpayer, Paul.”

“Very misleading indeed, especially for a program that goes around lecturing others on journalistic standards.”

It’s probably been the best week for The Man Shake in its history.

And, thanks to the ABC, all the mentions were unpaid. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.