In a year where both of The Project’s main female hosts, Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore, have been absent for extended periods of time, Wilkinson finally returned to hosting duties on the show last week.
Her low-key return came more than two months after her tumultuous Logies victory speech led to her disappearance from the show in June, with sources close to the Wilkinson camp confirming to Diary at the time she had taken herself off air due to the ‘toll’ from widespread criticism of the speech.
During her hosting hiatus, Ten secretly whisked Wilkinson off to Los Angeles (in, by all accounts, a military-style operation) to conduct interviews with the likes of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred and pop legend Don McLean. Oddly, she then briefly returned to The Project for a week of hosting duties in July, before again disappearing on scheduled holidays at the start of August.
Sources close to the Wilkinson camp tell Diary this time she is returning to the show for the remainder of 2022. They say her return actually came a day earlier than scheduled, after Waleed Aly reported in sick on Wednesday, leaving Wilkinson to stand in as co-host with Bickmore.
For a show that values the stability of its hosting panel, it has certainly been an unsettled year for The Project, with Bickmore also taking off for a three-month family sabbatical in the UK earlier this year before Wilkinson’s high-profile absence. At one point in July, the show featured neither of its main female hosts.
Diary hears that lack of continuity may have played a part in the show’s decision this month to sign up the well-liked Georgie Tunny permanently with the show.
The word emerging from Ten’s corridors is Tunny will now effectively serve as The Project’s “fifth host”, and its third female host, to help ensure there is continuity for the show if there are any more absences from either Wilkinson or Bickmore.
The word is Tunny will also be able act as a spare host for either Aly or Sunday Project host Hamish Macdonald if they are absent, with Ten happy with a “two female hosts” format if it’s needed.
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Why Andrews put Sutton in the ‘freezer’
There has been plenty of speculation about tensions between Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his chief health officer Brett Sutton – referenced in our recent item about Sutton’s apparent disappearance from the media. Now a new book by The Age’s chief reporter Chip Le Grand called Lockdown gives some context to Sutton’s media vanishing act, claiming there was a seminal event that resulted in Sutton being put in Andrews’s proverbial “freezer”.
Le Grand claims Andrews was furious that on June 30, 2020, Sutton had widely distributed a report that traced nearly every Covid case in Victoria to the infamous hotel quarantine outbreak.
The report plunged the Victorian government into its most serious crisis since coming to power, and the book notes the Premier was “furious”.
Andrews’ anger about Sutton’s wide circulation of the report became evident at a press conference later that day, attended by both the Premier and his chief health officer.
Le Grand introduces readers to Andrews’ “freezer”, a form of public purgatory Sutton was forced to endure: “Throughout the press conference, the pair crossed paths several times on their way to and from the microphone, and Andrews did not look at Sutton once. ‘Dan was so furious with him he did not even glance at him,’ an insider says. This was Professor Sutton’s introduction to “the freezer”, the cold, lonely place where Andrews puts people who disappoint him, cross him or otherwise let him down.”
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Secret polling: Palaszczuk trips over red carpet
Back in June, Diary was the first to tag Annastacia Palaszczuk as the “red carpet Premier” – because of her apparent penchant for a never-ending procession of movie premieres, French champagne-sponsored balls, awards nights and other celebrity events in Queensland.
Now there is mounting evidence our tag has left a mark on potential voters in the sunshine state. Your diarist is reliably informed even Labor Party hardheads in Queensland have started to fret, after apparently using internal party research to gauge whether the “red carpet Premier” tag had stuck with average Queenslanders.
The word from the polling is Palaszczuk, who once had such a high profile for being in touch with the values of the average Queenslander, has recently built a reputation for loving the high life instead, as the Brisbane press gallery has started to repeatedly grill her in recent weeks about her many red carpet appearances.
Her latest soiree came during last week’s world-famous Hamilton Island Race Week, where the rich and famous publicly mingle on their superyachts, as Brisbane’s Sunday Mail claimed on its front page she cancelled a cabinet meeting in order to attend.
Even the Premier’s now-regular weekend digs, owned by her surgeon boyfriend Reza Adib, are in a multimillion-dollar apartment overlooking Burleigh Beach on the Gold Coast. It’s all a long way from Palaszczuk’s humble constituents in the blue-collar Brisbane seat of Inala.
We’re told the latest internal party research fits with the evidence from a poll by Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper last month. That YouGov poll found 50 per cent of Queenslanders now think Palaszczuk enjoys the “high life” that seems to have become such an integral part of her job. By comparison, only 19 per cent felt she didn’t enjoy the high life, while 31 per cent said they didn’t know.
Palaszczuk has famously used big taxpayer-funded subsidies to lure movie studios, film stars and events such as the Logies to the sunshine state – and clearly wants the red carpet evidence and photos to prove that even Hollywood wants to be in Queensland.
But Diary is told the party’s private research suggests that growing association with such events is starting to pose a big risk to the core foundations of Palaszczuk’s three stunning election victories since 2015: her perceived work ethic, unpretentiousness and relatability to the average Queenslander.
The growing feeling within the Labor camp is every time she is seen dressed to the nines and rubbing shoulders with stars like Tom Hanks and Baz Luhrmann on the red carpet, Palaszczuk moves that little bit further away from her down-to-earth image that has cut through so successfully with Queenslanders.
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Alan Joyce wars with the ABC
Tensions between Qantas and the ABC have erupted into public hostility as Four Corners prepares to air a lengthy investigation into the national carrier.
On Thursday at Qantas’s full-year results briefing, the soured relations were obvious as Qantas boss Alan Joyce attempted to explain the underlying $1.8bn loss to the media.
With that difficult news, a combative Joyce was in no mood for a barrage of questions at the Sydney briefing from veteran Four Corners reporter Stephen Long.
Joyce batted away Long’s first question – “Is it fair to have people working side-by-side doing the same job, employed by different companies, on entirely different rates of pay all wearing the Qantas uniform?” – by saying the practice was “done around the industry”.
The Qantas boss’s fury started to show when Long came back with a second question. “Now, Stephen, I know you‘re from Four Corners, I know you’re from Four Corners,” he said. “I have offered to cover all these issues with you guys in a full interview.
“I am not sure it’s appropriate here when we’re talking about the results to go into an interview that’s covering a lot of stuff that you’re going to run on Four Corners … You’ve got an invite from me to do a full sit-down interview, to do a live (interview) to talk about all of the issues.”
Diary is told a key sticking point is that Joyce will only do an interview with Long if it runs “as live” in its entirety, with no edits – a condition not acceptable to the ABC.
A Qantas staffer took the microphone out of Long’s grip during the briefing on Thursday. But the move failed to deter the Four Corners reporter, who doggedly continued to ask questions of Joyce.
Long’s continued questions about an alleged dip in the national carrier’s customer satisfaction and “net promoter scores” since borders have reopened were met with the Joyce equivalent of a brick wall. He sternly told the ABC reporter: “Stephen, I‘ve asked you to respect that we’re here to talk about the results.”
Joyce continued to claim he was willing to do an as live “15-to-20 minute” interview with no edits.
We’re told that the deteriorating relations, which come despite the fact that Qantas is the ABC’s preferred carrier, have also apparently played out behind the scenes.
An ABC spokesman had no comment.
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Networks grumble about Sydney OzTAM ratings
There have been some audible grumbles behind the scenes by commercial TV stations claiming the official OzTAM TV ratings figures may not be as accurate as they appear.
Senior executives have pulled Diary aside to claim that for more than two months, the TV ratings numbers – collected on OzTAM’s behalf by data giant Nielsen — have been understating the ratings of the networks in the Sydney metropolitan area (the biggest TV market in Australia), by miscategorising a group of Sydney metro viewers as regional viewers.
They claim the resulting shortfall of viewers in the Sydney area could have major ramifications for overall metropolitan ratings numbers across the country, which in turn could affect what advertisers will pay to screen ads on the networks.
What makes the grumbles interesting is OzTAM is itself owned by the country’s three main commercial networks.
Metro ratings numbers are considered crucial in the pitch by networks for advertisers in major markets such as Sydney and Melbourne. For 6pm news bulletins, for example, there is fierce rivalry between Seven and Nine on who is top dog in the cities in ratings terms – meaning even minor statistical errors could potentially have significant implications for year-end ratings results.
Network sources claim their problem with the accuracy of the OzTAM numbers dates back to June, and involves what has been dubbed the “overlap” between Sydney’s southern suburbs and Wollongong, which is considered a regional area for ratings purposes. What has added to the confusion is that in many of these southern suburbs, it is possible to view both Sydney and Wollongong TV stations.
When we reached OzTAM on Friday, they confirmed an investigation was underway about a potential “small” anomaly in the ratings data. “A small percentage increase has been identified in viewing out of the metro Sydney market to network affiliates in the ‘overlap’ area in Wollongong since early June,” a spokeswoman told us. “Nielsen is investigating whether this is accurate or needs attention.”
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Fordham on Albanese: ‘He ghosted me’
After a five-month stand-off, Anthony Albanese finally waded back into the dangerous waters of the 2GB breakfast airwaves with Ben Fordham last week. But just as a routine interview seemed to be about to hit a benign conclusion, Fordham wasn’t about to let Albanese go without giving the PM some stick for dodging his 2GB show since March.
Fordham accused the PM of deliberately giving him “the silent treatment”, after the 2GB host had unsuccessfully tried to get him on his show in the months before the election campaign to discuss the Labor Party’s treatment of the late Kimberley Kitching.
“I do note the small elephant in the room,” Fordham told Albanese. “It has been five months since you last appeared on the program. And you used to love getting on at every opportunity, but when I took a hard line on the alleged bullying of Kimberley Kitching, you seemed to give us the silent treatment. So are you up for these regular exchanges, or is it going to be a case of when the going gets tough, Albo gets going?”
A taken aback Albo denied Fordham’s charge. “Ben, I don’t think anyone can say that I am not someone who is engaged in the media: not just friendly media but whoever has wanted to talk to me, including 2GB,” he started. “I talked to your colleague Ray Hadley during the election campaign and that was pretty willing, I’ve got to say. I had Covid at the time, and even that didn’t stop me. I’m always happy to chat.”
But when Diary reached Fordham, he doubled down on his line that the PM had been avoiding him before last week’s appearance. “He ghosted me,” Fordham told us. “He went from wanting to be on the show virtually whenever he could, to gaslighting me. I felt like I was catfished!”
Fordham said he had unsuccessfully asked Albanese on the show several times before the election campaign to talk about the Kitching affair: “After those knock-backs, I didn’t invite him on during the election campaign.”
However, after Fordham sent Albanese a tongue-in-cheek commentary on a questionable try he had scored during the annual parliamentary State of Origin touch footy match earlier this month, Fordham had another go at lining up an interview – resulting in last week’s encounter.
“From now on, I expect him to turn up on my show regularly,” Fordham told us. “Albo is smart enough to know the value in it.”
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ScoMo ‘bulldozes’ Albo out of the headlines
Former PM Scott Morrison famously admitted during the election campaign he could be “a bit of a bulldozer”. And so it has proved in the past fortnight, where ScoMo has quite literally bulldozed his successor Anthony Albanese off centre stage once more when it comes to their respective national media profiles.
Research commissioned for Diary by Streem shows just how much the extraordinary tale of Morrison’s many secret ministries has totally rebuilt his media profile.
Over the last fortnight, Morrison is right back to where he was when still prime minister in terms of his actual media presence.
The Streem numbers show that since August 13, Morrison – a mere backbencher these days – has been totally dominant on the national media stage, with a whopping 12,735 mentions across print, TV, radio and online. That’s more than 3200 ahead of Albanese (9525 mentions), who in second place is light years ahead of third placegetter, Governor-General David Hurley (4771 mentions), Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (fourth with 2955 mentions), and, for that matter, all of Albanese’s own ministers.
Before the multiple ministries story came along, Albanese had been totally dominant on the national stage since the election, with 66,113 media mentions – nearly three times the publicity that Morrison received.
It has been a similarly remarkable turnaround on the global stage over the last fortnight, with the Morrison multiple ministries story proving to be a magnet even for overseas viewers, listeners and readers. The Morrison story has attracted 1728 mentions in the international media over the last fortnight, again knocking Albanese (1570 mentions) off top spot.
But all of that coverage leaves just one burning question for Morrison: is all publicity good publicity?
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