Rosemary Neill cancelled twice in a matter of weeks
Lightning doesn’t strike twice … but the culture police do. The Australian’s senior arts writer Rosemary Neill has been cancelled twice in a matter of weeks, partly because she dared to contribute to her colleague Greg Bearup’s long-running investigation of claims of white interference in Indigenous art at the APY Art Centre Collective.
In July, The Weekend Australian’s culture section, Review, was invited to send a journalist on a press trip to Desert Mob, an important showcase for remote Indigenous art centres held annually in Alice Springs. Before the trip, Neill asked why the APYACC was not taking part in Desert Mob, while art centres closely associated with the controversial collective, were.
Desart boss Philip Watkins, which presents Desert Mob, responded: “Art centre members of Desart are eligible to enter Desert Mob. APYACC is not a member of Desart.’’ Watkins previously said he was “very concerned” about the allegations raised by The Australian’s “white hands on black art” investigation.
Then on August 15, publicist Kate Atkinson from the high-profile PR firm Articulate, emailed Neill, saying the offer for her to join Desert Mob press trip had been withdrawn, due to “resourcing issues’’. Atkinson said she was “not happy to be the messenger on this one’’. Neill asked whether other journalists joining the press trip had their invitations cancelled. Desert Mob has refused to answer this question.
On August 28, Neill, a Walkley Award winner who has reported on arts and Indigenous issues for three decades, was invited by Sydney’s Yavuz Gallery and Archibald Prize-winning Indigenous artist, Vincent Namatjira, to a media lunch to preview Namatjira’s new exhibition, Desert Songs.
Two weeks later, that invitation was also withdrawn, due to pressure from the Iwantja Arts centre in the remote APY Lands, which is affiliated with APYACC. Once again it fell to publicist Atkinson to deliver the awkward news. Atkinson wrote: “I have just received an email from Iwantja Arts centre, and I am sharing as following (sic) …
“Vincent and Iwantja will not work with Rosemary Neill or anybody from The Australian under any circumstances, sorry but she will have to be removed from the guest list. Rosemary Neill’s colleague Greg Bearup has written a number of articles that are (we believe wilfully) inaccurate and implicate Iwantja Arts in unethical practices and Rosemary Neill has co-written articles on this topic with Greg Bearup.’’
Atkinson added: “I want to express my hugest apologies here and hope you know that we are sorry for being the messenger in this unfortunate situation, and I realise twice, no less.’’
Neither Bearup nor Neill has mentioned Iwantja in their reports.
Namatjira, the great grandson of Albert Namatjira, father of the Aboriginal art movement, lives in the APY Lands community Indulkana, where the Iwantja Arts centre is located, and his works appear on Iwantja’s website. Other Iwantja artists mounted group exhibitions at APYACC galleries in Melbourne this month and in Sydney in 2022.
Alongside campaigning arts company Big hART, Neill drove a successful media campaign for the return of Albert Namatjira’s copyright to his descendants in 2017, after it had been held for decades by the non-Indigenous company Legend Press. The hand back of the historic copyright in 2017, and a subsequent compensation deal the Namatjira family won from the NT government, were described as “incredible” and “momentous’’.
Neill was nominated for another Walkley Award for her investigation into how the Namatjira family had been denied control of their famous ancestor’s legacy, while Bearup’s APYACC investigation has led to inquiries by the National Gallery of Australia and the South Australian government and to the APYACC being expelled from the regulatory Indigenous Art Code.
The NGA investigation cleared 28 APYACC paintings chosen for a major exhibition of improper interference. The APYACC has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and its manager Skye O’Meara has refused to stand aside for the duration of the SA inquiry, despite calls from government ministers for her to do so.
The Hon Chalmers
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a journalist in possession of a platform must be in want of a copy editor (none more so than this diarist). This seems to hold true for the Walkley Foundation.
Last week, the supreme squad of scribes gathered to celebrate the finalists of this year’s business journalist award. The headliner was part-time essayist, esteemed opinion writer, popular public speaker and Treasurer “Dr Chris Chalmers”. At first Diary thought The Monthly’s darling was now using a pseudonym. Turns out it was a typo and it was, in fact, The Hon Dr Jim Chalmers who addressed the lunchtime crowd and participated in a “lively” discussion with Walkley Foundation chairwoman Adele Ferguson on Wednesday.
The mistake online, which preceded Dr Chalmers’ speech, was quietly and speedily rectified … on Wednesday night.
The nominees for the 2023 business reporting prize including author Bri Lee for her investigation into Australian fashion designer Kym Ellery’s now retired label, Ellery, and Financial Review reporters Neil Chenoweth, Edmund Tadros, Peter Ker and Brad Thompson for their scoops involving the PwC tax leaks scandal and Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s separation.
Kamahl’s positions
When it comes to the upcoming voice referendum Kamahl has more positions than Scott Morrison had ministries. The singer has been spending a lot of time online recently, which has seen him fall prey to “bullshit”.
The 88-year-old has flipped from the No to the Yes campaign on the voice to parliament within the space of a few days, after being howled down on social media for changing the lyrics to John Farnham’s song You’re the Voice – the official song for the Yes camp – to read: “What’s the Voice, I just don’t understand it. It’s just noise and it’s not clear. Vote no-o-oh-oh, o-o-o. We’re not going to vote Apartheid. We don’t want one race privilege. Vote no-o-oh-oh.”
One of the critics in chief of Kamahl’s original No decision was comedian Dan Ilic, who then set up a sit-down interview with constitutional lawyer Eddie Synot and another comedian Dane Simpsonto explain the voice to the singer.
Kamahl officially broadcast his backflip late on Thursday night with another post on X, which was quickly deleted.
“I will vote YES,” he wrote. “Coincidentally I was in ‘Journey out of Darkness’ in 1967 as the Aboriginal prisoner, just before THE Referendum.”
Asked why he deleted the post, Kamahl directed Diary to Ilic. When Diary asked Ilic, he said: “Feel free to talk to Kamahl.”
Glad that clears things up.
Almost.
On Sunday night the singer fronted Ten’s The Project where he said after many “sleepless nights” he’s now returned to his original position of no.
“It’s an immense problem,” Kamahl said, citing the issues of reported disunity between Indigenous groups and millions of dollars already dedicated to Closing the Gap initiatives.
He was then “fact checked” by hosts Hamish MacDonald, Sarah Harris and guest panellist Rachel Corbett.
Soon after the segment went to air he claimed he was receiving a fresh torrent of abuse online and is now demanding an apology from Network 10.
It’s not just ageing celebrities who are still confused about the voice, so too are regular Australians. SBS took to the streets in some of the country’s “culturally and linguistically diverse communities” over the weekend to get a vibe check.
Most of those interviewed on the street thought the reporter was talking about The Voice – “the TV show”.
Conspiracy cancelled
There have been a number of conspiracy theories doing the rounds and one yarn that gripped some corners of #sports on X, Reddit and TikTok in the past couple of weeks was that the AFL had attempted to rig finals to ensure an all Victorian grand final that would have seen popular clubs Collingwood and Carlton face off in front of more than 100,000 at the MCG on Saturday.
Which is not happening, since the Great Western Sydney Giants choked on some Pies on Friday and the Blues were mauled by the Brisbane Lions on Saturday.
But even before the preliminary finals, Diary wasn’t buying into it until Robbie Williams piped up. The former Take That star is a diehard Carlton fan who has been posting about his love for coach Michael Voss and star ruckman Tom De Koning all through the final series.
Williams, who performed at last year’s grand final, has been on the Bluebaggers bandwagon since.
Seven sports presenter Abbey Holmes broke the news on the Footy Talk Pod podcast last week that she had it “on good authority” that, should the Blues win their preliminary final, Williams’ label had been approached by the AFL to get him to the big dance.
“The request has gone into Mushroom to get Robbie Williams out here to be in Australia, to be in Melbourne, to be at the mighty MCG for a Carlton grand final,” Holmes told her co-hosts sports reporter Ryan Daniels and former Pies and Blues player Dale Thomas.
“News to us,” a Mushroom representative told Diary.
Instead of packing a bag, Williams was flipping the bird on Saturday night. He posted his reaction to the game online with a simple one-finger salute to the final score.
Broadcasters and streaming services would love to keep up the tense end to the season as it was a ratings bonanza for Seven and Foxtel. Saturday afternoon’s match at the Gabba between the Lions and Blues pulled in more than a million viewers on Seven and close to 400,000 on Foxtel’s Fox Footy.
Back to news for Neill?
Radio legend Neil Mitchell may be departing his 3AW studio, but the man has more offers than a newly single starlet.
According to him.
Diary reached Mitchell after his interview with Laura Tingle on ABC’s 7.30 last week in which he bemoaned the state of the Victorian press gallery, for being young and either “seduced” or “intimidated” by Premier Daniel Andrews, and for the way he courts and casts aside the fourth estate.
Andrews did break his radio drought last week for Raf Epstein’s first show in the Mornings chair, after the former ABC Melbourne Drive host replaced Virginia Trioli. The Premier – who had refused to appear with either Mitchell or Trioli – popped up on Monday for a 24-minute chat, which was like listening to the cutting room floor of The Joe Rogan Experience with more passive aggression than all-out aggro. The interview also lacked the special sauce of talkback radio – callers.
Mitchell will finish up on air at the end of the year but will continue his podcast.
Mitchell isn’t worried about access to the Premier in his new era, as he is also keen to dip his toe back into the inky world of opinion writing, as he did recently for The Age during the last Victorian election campaign.
“I love writing,” Mitchell said. “That is why I got into journalism in the first place.”
Mitchell was a regular columnist for the Herald Sun for some years after starting on 3AW. A side hustle that landed him a Quill award.
Could he be returning to the News nest? Possibly.
He tells us that he’s been approached by the The Age and nine.com.au to join their ranks, while the weekend editions of the Herald Sun have also reached out to see what his plans are for 2024.
He’ll entertain the “chats” and won’t rush any decisions but is keen to write more frequently again as he “loves the feedback”.
“I am very lucky. I have experience in radio, print and TV and in my ideal world will do a little of each. I enjoy them all. (They require) different skill sets, all challenging and rewarding in different ways,” Mitchell said.
Diary reached The Age editor Patrick Elligett, who was keeping his cards close to his chest.
“Neil has written for us in the past and I‘d be happy to have him write for us again in the future,” Elligett said.
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For 33 years @3AWNeilMitchell has been a constant in the life of many Melburnians. His long stint as 3AW's Mornings presenter started back in 1990, but his run is coming to an end, with Neil announcing recently that his time behind the microphone will be over in December. #abc730pic.twitter.com/u6mhjziO3W
— ABC News (@abcnews) September 19, 2023
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