Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s dramatic decision on the weekend to pull out of her $15m sponsorship of netball – following public stands taken by the national netball team about her – has already led to some of the major sponsors of sport in Australia to re-evaluate their involvement, Diary has learnt.
Comments sections of newspapers around the country quickly lit up with overwhelming support among readers for the mining billionaire’s walkout, after the story was first broken online by Sky News host and Courier Mail columnist Peter Gleeson around midday on Saturday.
And it’s fair to say that key sponsors of sport were taking note of the deluge of comments strongly in favour of Rinehart, and scathing of the decision of the likes of the netballers and Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins in recent weeks to, in the readers’ own words, ‘bite the hand that feeds them’.
Rinehart herself took aim at netball’s ‘virtue signalling’ in a statement released on Saturday. Even betting agencies, long considered the go-to lifeline for sport sponsorship, were shaking their heads at the sudden outbreak of player power, and taking the opportunity to think long and hard about their involvement.
As one betting company executive told Diary on Sunday: “Where the players have to pull their heads in is the reality that there are only so many serious sponsorships available. Wagering companies have huge money. But if you have got players who say, ‘We don’t want wagering and gaming, we don’t want alcohol, and we don’t want energy companies’ … well, there’s not much left after that.”
One of the country’s top sponsorship experts, Paul Kind, the former commercial chief of the NRL – who works with several multimillion-dollar sporting partnerships – believes the outspoken views of the sports stars would make corporates think twice before committing in future, because of the assumption of positive publicity for their investment.
“The positive intent of Gina Rinehart’s decision to invest in a sport that was financially struggling was being undermined by the public discussion,” Kind has told Diary.
“It only takes a single player of influence to make a stand – and then, in conservative sports like cricket or netball, it becomes almost untenable. In investing in sports, companies are looking for community goodwill as a result of their investment in the sport. If they don’t get that, it’s not surprising they walk away.”
The betting company executive said that outside of gambling, alcohol and energy, sponsorship pickings were slim for sports.
“If they’re lucky, a bank or a telecommunications company could get involved. That’s basically it,” he says. “The car industry is pretty much dead. Toyota and Kia are pretty much the only ones that sponsor things these days. It’s a very shallow pool. Players have to accept that.”
A second wagering executive admitted the rise of player power had triggered nervousness about investing in sports like netball: “It’s clearly becoming hard to justify spending any money on sponsoring elite sports, because of the risk of player influence on social and political issues.”
Kind, the CEO of top sponsorship and entertainment agency Total Sport + Entertainment, says the game-changer in sport over the last decade has been the extraordinary rise in power of the athlete.
“Athletes are becoming bolshie and empowered enough to put their stamp on things they feel strongly about,” Kind says. “It used to be ‘team first, athlete second’. But the athletes themselves now feel they are more influential with the fan.”
Kind understands better than most the rise of player power in sport from the other side, as he is also the co-owner of Australia’s current NBL basketball champion team, the Sydney Kings.
Kind notes that in the US, in particular, NBA basketball players like LeBron James are leading the revolution that has seen the rapid rise of ‘player power’.
But he notes that even the NRL’s ‘Pride Jersey’ crisis at the Manly Sea Eagles this year showed the impact that player power could have on the business side of sports clubs and codes.
“The rise of the individual player is a can of worms for sport,” Kind tells Diary.
“If you scratch the surface, lots of sponsors might have activities of some description that players and others object to.
“They might make products in factories in China, or have questionable environmental policies. Sponsorship is not like taking out an outdoor billboard, because humans are involved.”
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Faine’s ‘annoyance’ at Age’s Neil Mitchell column
Ahead of next month’s Victorian election, Diary hears that former ABC Radio Melbourne host Jon Faine is annoyed that his regular Sunday Age column has been transformed into an editorial face-off with 3AW Melbourne host Neil Mitchell.
The first of the double-headers between Faine and Mitchell – on a page headlined TALK BACK – appeared in the Sunday Age eight days ago.
We’re told Faine has made no secret of his objections to the concept among bosses, colleagues and friends.
The ex-ABC broadcaster is said to hold the view that the head-to-head column concept isn’t exactly cutting edge, as it doubles the quotient of older white males on the page from one to two: at a time that he believes the media’s focus should be on enhancing ‘diversity’.
Faine has also told confidants that the introduction of Mitchell – one of Victoria’s most vocal critics of Daniel Andrews – sets him up as an Andrews supporter whose views need to be balanced by his old 3AW adversary for the duration of the campaign. Diary imagines it doesn’t help that there’s been no love lost between the fierce one-time radio rivals over the years.
When we reached Faine last week, he refused to be drawn: “I have nothing to say publicly about those issues.”
But Mitchell said on Sunday: “I know he’s annoyed,” before cheekily adding: “Surely Jon’s not concerned about being shown up?”
Let the games continue.
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Tensions rise between ABC and Media Watch
Media Watch host Paul Barry has never been afraid to criticise his own employer, the ABC.
But Barry’s unique position of holding the ABC to account from within has at times generated significant internal tensions. Aunty’s former news chief Gaven Morris did little to hide his annoyance towards the watchdog in his own organisation, after being on the receiving end of several tough Media Watch segments over the years.
Morris may have since moved on from Aunty, but after a relatively benign period, the internal tensions at the ABC towards Media Watch are back.
Last Monday night, Barry devoted almost an entire episode to a “difficult conversation” about the ABC’s relationship with ACON, a lobby group that supports people of “diverse sexualities and genders”.
Diary now hears that in the wake of the segment, there were big dramas within the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters in Sydney. We’re told ABC Pride, Aunty’s staff-led group for those who identify as LGBTQIA+, held an extraordinary meeting the morning after the segment ran to air their grievances.
Barry had noted on Monday night that the ABC pays to be a participant in ACON’s Australian Workplace Equality Index, which measures the performance of companies in both diversity in the workplace and in “positive programming”.
Media Watch made the point that the ABC was a multiple winner in this year’s ACON Australian Workplace Equity Index awards – “but having them scored by a lobby group raises questions about ABC impartiality”.
The ABC also participates in other benchmarking indexes to monitor its progress and improve workplace practices, such as those run by the Diversity Council of Australia, Reconciliation Australia and the Australian Network on Disability.
— Patricia Karvelas (@PatsKarvelas) October 18, 2022
but only scrutiny of one group. https://t.co/5FTjijqdOE
To this point, Barry pointed to an FOI request by Media Watch, which claimed to show that ACON’s ABC relationship manager had offered “editorial tips” to the public broadcaster, including a suggestion to add a “help” number, to boost the ABC’s Australian Workplace Equality Index score.
“Imagine, for example, the ABC paying thousands of dollars to Greenpeace and winning prizes for running stories attacking the fossil fuel industry,” Barry noted. “How would that be defensible or impartial?”
Barry concluded the segment by saying: “We think the ABC should review the arrangement.”
The ABC strongly responded to Media Watch that “participation in benchmarking indexes” has “no bearing” on either “content commissioning processes” or “editorial content”.
Among other internal resistance came a post from high-profile RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas, who tweeted: “The ABC also participates in other benchmarking indexes to monitor its progress and improve workplace practices, such as those run by the Diversity Council of Australia, Reconciliation Australia and the Australian Network on Disability. But only scrutiny of one group.”
However, when Diary reached Barry on Friday, he defended his decision to run the story: “We do 180 stories a year on Media Watch, and 300 if you count Media Bites. To say this isn’t worthy of 10 minutes is nonsense.”
Barry also noted he wasn’t saying “that the critics are right and the ABC should be supporting them. Our point is that there’s a debate going on and the ABC shouldn’t ignore it.”
It isn’t the first time that Barry has questioned the ABC’s coverage of the diversity space. In August, Media Watch raised issues about the ABC’s move to largely ignore a decision by UK health authorities to close down the high-profile Tavistock transgender clinic, after it was found to be unsafe for children. Media Watch featured a range of views that indicated a lack of “consensus and open discussion” about the nature of gender dysphoria in children.
Barry claimed that the ABC was “in danger” of being “one-sided” in its coverage of the issue “by ignoring legitimate debate about the treatment”.
But the ABC defended its lack of coverage, saying “Australian practices differ significantly to those that were in Tavistock”.
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Lunch with Kerry Stokes and Albo goes for $525k
It’s amazing what a mining boom in Western Australia will do to philanthropy in the state.
The highlight of Kerry Stokes’s annual Telethon Ball at Perth’s Crown casino on Saturday night – packed with every WA mining billionaire imaginable – was a bidding war for one particularly prized item put on by the Seven owner himself.
The prize was lunch for 10 at Stokes’s Darling Point mansion on Sydney Harbour, with Stokes and PM Anthony Albanese.
Part of the prize was return flights on Perth billionaire businessman Tim Roberts’s private jet to attend the lunch.
But Diary hears Roberts became much more involved in the bidding for the big-ticket item than he originally planned. We’re told that’s because an unnamed business rival was making a point of bidding vigorously.
Word out of the Crown ballroom suggests Roberts decided there was no way he was allowing his rival on his personal private jet, and so he decided he had no choice but to outbid him.
Needless to say, the bidding on the lunch date with Stokes and Albo got pretty intense, before Roberts put down the winning bid of $525,000. Now, that’s one way to get a flight on your own plane.
In total, the Ball – separate from the Telethon itself – raised a whopping $9m, and was attended by a who’s who of media, business and politics, including Stokes, Albanese and his partner, Jodie Haydon; WA Premier Mark McGowan; AFL and Qantas chair Richard Goyder, and; Seven CEO James Warburton.
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ScoMo’s media supremo moves on
It was widely revealed last week that Scott Morrison had formally embarked on a lucrative new line of work on the international speaker’s circuit.
Now Diary has received word that the man who ran Morrison’s media strategy for nearly five years is also moving on to fresh pastures.
Andrew Carswell, the ex-PM’s head of communications, has finally made the decision to work for himself after taking a five-month break with his family. Carswell is starting a new firm to be called Headline Advisory, a nod to his days as the chief of staff at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
When we called Carswell last week, he confirmed the news with a wry play on the name of his new venture: “We’ll help our clients with how to get headlines – and how to avoid them.”
Carswell will team with another Morrison alumnus, Kate Williams, to start the firm, which will operate out of Canberra and Brisbane.
The target areas of Carswell’s new firm, perhaps unsurprisingly, will be ‘media campaigns’ as well as strategic communications and political advisory. Carswell says: “There are plenty of lobbyists and plenty of PR firms in Canberra – but not many who do both.”
Morrison’s ex-media supremo says the early signs are promising: with the firm already establishing a client base in “energy efficiency, manufacturing and biofuels”.
And will Morrison be involved in the new firm in any way? Apparently not – although surely some unsolicited advice won’t be too far away.
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The return of Red Carpet Annastacia
Diary has previously noted that Annastacia Palaszczuk’s love of openings and other big media events in the social pages have started to hurt her standings in the opinion polls.
But that wasn’t about to deter Queensland’s ubiquitous first couple, Palaszczuk and her laparoscopic surgeon boyfriend Reza Adib, rocking up to yet another glitzy opening on Friday night, this time on the Gold Coast at the beachfront Langham Hotel in Surfers Paradise. The hotel has actually already been open for a year, having already hosted the likes of visiting US supergroup Kiss and comedian Chris Rock.
As with all big Gold Coast events, the event was attended by the usual array of colourful Surfers Paradise property developers, used car salesmen and local political identities, such as Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and former Queensland Premier Rob Borbidge.
Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt attended the opening as a proxy for PM Anthony Albanese.
We’re told that Palaszczuk, the undisputed star of the show, didn’t circulate as much as she normally does at these events, with Diary’s spies noticing that she seldom left her seat, and instead waited for loyal subjects to come and pay homage to her.
Luckily for Palaszczuk, there wasn’t far to travel at the end of the night. Her now-regular weekend digs are in Adib’s luxury multimillion-dollar apartment overlooking Burleigh Beach on the lower Gold Coast: far away from the Premier’s constituents in the very blue-collar Brisbane seat of Inala.
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Grimshaw’s secret interview with ‘global name’
With a month to go until Tracy Grimshaw pulls up stumps for the last time on A Current Affair, a few major surprises are in store.
Diary hears Grimshaw is in coming days to embark on a trip to the US for a top-secret interview with a global household name.
The details are being held very tight at Nine, with the interview likely to screen in Grimshaw’s last few days on air in late November.
Diary is also told there will be other surprises in Grimshaw’s last weeks. We’re betting one will be a last-night package featuring her highlights and headline-making events during her near two-decades at ACA’s helm.
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