When the going gets tough, get out of town.
That’s seemingly the current motto of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk whenever she faces any sort of scrutiny from the Brisbane press gallery.
Palaszczuk made herself scarce from the main political reporters on her beat last week, soon after her controversial decision to belatedly get the Pfizer jab last Monday, despite being over 50 and technically earmarked for the rival AstraZeneca jab, like everyone else her age.
The Queensland Premier put up with only one prickly Monday grilling from the Brisbane political gang after her Pfizer announcement before taking flight to Townsville, where she had spent $8m just to win the hosting rights from Melbourne for the first State of Origin game.
That was after the pesky Brisbane press gang managed to exasperate the Premier with a series of questions about why it took her so long to get a jab when other premiers hadn’t.
Her excuses for the delay, variously including a flu shot, a dog bite and a tetanus shot, didn’t fly with the gathered press gang. Nor did her reasons for choosing Pfizer over AstraZeneca, which was allegedly “in the event I need to travel to Tokyo for the Olympics”.
At one point, Palaszczuk exclaimed: “For goodness sake!”, as reporters continued their vaccine grilling of her, despite spinners repeatedly heard to shout “last question”. And that’s after only one jab!
But by Wednesday, Palaszczuk was 1400km away from the Brisbane press mob in footy-mad Townsville, where there was only one story in town among a majority sports media contingent: the first State of Origin. With friendly questions like: “Who’s going to win?”, the Premier knew she was among kindred spirits, replying with her standard “Queenslander” war cry.
By Friday, Palaszczuk was offering up a press conference about a possible 2032 Brisbane Olympics as a distraction — until one political reporter went off script and asked about her jab yet again. That prompted an annoyed Premier to respond: “I’ve already spoken about this. I didn’t want to jump the queue … And you would have criticised me if I had jumped the queue, OK?”
Little wonder that Palaszczuk wants to head off on yet another trip to Tokyo next month. Days of Olympic VIP events followed by a glorious two weeks in quarantine on the return trip …. and not an irritating Brisbane political reporter in sight.
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‘Laura the Magnificent’: Tingle’s new fan page
Not only is she 7.30’s fearless chief political correspondent, but now Laura Tingle has become the star attraction of one of Facebook’s fastest-growing private groups in Australia.
Diary has learnt that an invitation-only Facebook group, titled ‘‘Laura Tingle is Magnificent’’, has already attracted 6000 members, having added more than 2000 in the last week alone (a 50 per cent rise), as political junkies beat down the door to become Tingle cheerleaders.
Founding member and administrator, author Kirsten Krauth, has laid down the ground rules right from the start: “Laura Tingle needs to be celebrated. As a writer. Journalist. Humorist. Kick ass woman. Wry observer.”
The site is unapologetically for a single purpose: the love of Laura. “I set up this group to celebrate the work of Laura and women journalists with a few friends,” Krauth states. “I want it to be upbeat … Any posts that want to challenge or dissect this idea will be removed.”
Clearly, Krauth’s version of “a few friends” is thousands, although not all are playing by the rules. A few days back, one of them made the mistake of posting general political commentary instead of outright fan mail. “John” was quickly brought up to date on the ground rules. “Hi John, I appreciate your writing and ideas, but as I posted yesterday, this group is set up to celebrate the work of Laura Tingle and the other women journalists covering politics. There are plenty of other groups for political commentary.”
Another fan posted to ‘‘John’’: “I do enjoy your writing. But this is a fan club for Laura the Magnificent … If you want to join in the praise, please do so. All Hail the Tingle.”
‘‘John’’ quickly posted his apologies for his audacity in straying from the core subject: “I will not post again. I’m also a fan.”
The breadth of Laura love on offer is huge. One fan states: “I wish she was the Prime Minister.” Another starts a flurry of commentary by posting a photo of Tingle in one of her bold 7.30 on-air necklaces, which is variously described as “bloody magnificent”, “amazing” and “a power statement”. Yet another describes her as “courageous unlike many journalists who are running scared”.
Turns out Laura the Magnificent herself had nothing to do with setting up the site, and isn’t a member. When Diary reached her on Sunday, a bemused Tingle commented: “It’s very sweet and hilarious. But I am glad they like my necklaces.”
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ScoMo’s terse reply to ABC QAnon questions
Tensions between the Prime Minister’s office and the ABC over Four Corners’s delayed QAnon story show no signs of subsiding.
Last week, Diary got wind of a high-level phone call the previous week between Scott Morrison’s chief media adviser, Andrew Carswell, and the ABC’s head of news and current affairs, Gaven Morris. Carswell is understood to have asked Morris: “Is the story going to air?”
It’s now evident the answer to that question was an unequivocal yes, with a one-week delay. Louise Milligan’s program is to screen on Monday night.
The show’s airing follows a blunt response from the PM’s office on June 6 to a pared-back set of questions about allegations that Scott Morrison has links to a supporter of QAnon — a discredited fringe group that alleges that satanic paedophile rings run the world.
Now some of Morrison’s short response can be revealed. A spokesman for the PM has accused Four Corners of “giving credence to irrational Twitter conspiracy theorists and raising the profile of what the Prime Minister clearly deems to be a discredited and dangerous fringe group”.
The PMO’s response also raises the stakes by alleging that Four Corners’ line of questioning represents a “slur against the Prime Minister and his family”.
Meanwhile, a press release put out by Four Corners on Friday has shed some light on where Monday’s episode is going: “One QAnon adherent has attracted attention because of his long friendship with the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison … The Prime Minister’s old friend is an enthusiastic exponent of QAnon’s bizarre conspiracy theory.
“Now his family are speaking out on Four Corners about his descent into this extreme world view and their fears for him.”
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‘MP for 2GB’ Tim Smith snubs anti-Dan headkicking
Why toil away online, promoting QAnon-backed conspiracy theories about Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ mysterious fall for free, when you can actually get paid for it by the office of the Victorian Opposition Leader?
Taking the self-proclaimed title of the Opposition’s “Chief Headkicker” to a whole new level last week was the prospective Treasurer Louise Staley.
Heard of her? Nope, Diary hadn’t either!
On Monday, Staley put out her now infamous list of questions about Dan’s fall, and somewhat ambitiously demanded the Premier should answer them “if there is no cover up”.
As one Victorian Liberal insider later joked: “You have to be careful when you try to be a headkicker, because sometimes you can kick yourself in the head.”
Sound advice. One can always tell when you’ve potentially gone one conspiracy theory too far in the pursuit of a political point as well, when even the Victorian wannabe Opposition Leader and ‘‘MP for 2GB talkback’’ Tim Smith (who has repeatedly been Andrews’s most vocal critic) was noticeably silent last week about Staley’s Dan questions.
Ouch! That’s got to hurt … like a kick in the head.
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Nine’s $4.3m Jones payments finally end
As Nine Radio continues to digest the most recent tough radio survey, there is at least one piece of good news for the network.
Nine’s financial millstone, Alan Jones’ two-year contract worth $4m a year, or a total of $8m, is at last coming to an end at the end of this month.
Jones, of course, hasn’t been a presence at all at 2GB in more than a year, since May 2020. Unfortunately, his former employer didn’t get a lot of value out of that final two-year contract, signed pre-Covid in 2019 with the management of the previous Macquarie radio group.
Less than a year later, new Nine radio boss Tom Malone, worried about a social media-driven advertiser boycott, made the surprising call that the station would actually make more money by sitting him on the sidelines for the last 13 months of his contract.
That meant that Jones was fully paid for that period on his 2GB contract. Diary is told the total amount of money Jones was paid for the last 13 months of his contract was $4.3m. For that sort of coin, it was clearly a no-brainer for Jones to accept the end of his obligation to get out of bed every morning at 2.30am. He was also given permission to negotiate an expanded contract with Sky News that allowed him to make more money by hosting an 8pm TV show four nights a week. Nice work if you can get it.
At least for Jones groupies, his presence is continuing to be felt at his former home at 2GB in one way. Ads voiced in the former breakfast host’s unmistakeable tones continue to be heard on the station to this day.
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Hawke biography to leave some ex-PMs ‘bruised’
Troy Bramston’s upcoming definitive biography of Bob Hawke is already shaping up to attract plenty of headlines.
Off the back of a truck, Diary has learnt of a few fascinating details from the biography, with which Hawke co-operated. Turns out Hawke gave The Australian senior political writer frank assessments of all of the seven Prime Ministers that came after him: Labor’s Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, and the Liberals’ John Howard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.
Suffice it to say, we’re told the big egos of at least some ex-PMs will emerge bruised from Hawke’s unvarnished assessments.
The tome will include a series of mostly-unpublished interviews by Bramston with Hawke, including the last he ever gave.
The straight-shooting ex-PM also gave exclusive access to all of his papers.
We’re told Bramston has now submitted a manuscript of 550 A4 pages to publisher Penguin Random House, which he has privately told friends “nearly killed me”.
The biography is on track for a March 2022 publication date, which will land in the political sweet spot of a federal election campaign if the Morrison Government goes full term.
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Schoolies creates havoc for the Logies
Which TV Week genius decided the best time to hold the Logies on the Gold Coast was during Schoolies?
The return of TV’s night of nights after a two-and-a-half year hiatus is coming to The Star casino in Broadbeach on November 28 – right in the middle of the three-week festival of teenage debauchery around Surfers Paradise. And Diary hears this means trouble for networks trying to source hotel rooms for the likes of David Koch, Nat Barr, Lisa Wilkinson and Waleed Aly.
Not helping things is that the Gold Coast Sofitel, the hotel of choice for Ten and Seven, is now a Covid-19 quarantine bunker.
Elsewhere, Schoolies is the issue.
The QT is already at full capacity with bookings from well-heeled 18-year olds, and the $220-a-night Hilton now only has limited rooms left due to the teenage invasion.
At least the pricey Peppers, at $550 a night, has availability, but no room service after a hard night of partying is a deal-breaker for network stars.
The closest solutions are a pair of iconic hotels up to 20-30 minutes by chauffeured cars from the Broadbeach Logies venue.
Appropriately for a media event, one is the Christopher Skase-built Sheraton Grand Mirage hotel, and the other is the six-star Palazzo Versace, both of which are at Main Beach, largely schoolies-free, and most importantly, open to renegotiating their pricey rates to attract the stars.
As other networks scramble to find rooms six months out, Nine is sitting pretty, because as the Logies host broadcaster, it gets first dibs on The Star.
No shortage of room service, pokies or afterparties there.
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Defamation deluge
In case you haven’t noticed, business has been booming for defamation lawyers — the current 10-week Ben Roberts-Smith trial being a case in point. And the proof is in the recruitment market.
Diary has learnt that Thomson Geer’s defamation practice — which is fronted by Justin Quill and John-Paul Cashen — has hired its third media law partner.
The practice, which now has the biggest defamation team in the country, has recruited News Corp in-house counsel, Marlia Saunders, as a Sydney-based third media law partner.
Thomson Geer’s national partners meeting on Friday unanimously passed the move. Saunders, however, will continue servicing News Corp legal work going forward, given that Thomson Geer is already a major provider of defamation services to the group.
News Corp’s national editorial counsel, Michael Cameron, tells Diary of Saunders’ departure: “We’re sad to see Marlia go but I’m happy that she will continue to fight the good fight for the media. We need more free speech advocates like Marlia in this country.”
Saunders, however, is expected to stay at News Corp until at least September to ensure a smooth transition.
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Why has Hamish been absent from Q+A?
Stan Grant has stewarded Q+A through the last two weeks, as the show has gone on the road to Wollongong and Canberra to talk about some different issues, like life outside of the big cities.
It seems to have worked, with the flagship panel show’s ratings on Thursday night back above 300,000 viewers.
Regular host Hamish Macdonald will be absent from the show again this week, with Insiders host David Speers sitting in the moderators chair back in Melbourne, in a likely exploration of the city’s lockdown.
But ABC insiders assure Diary there is nothing to read into Macdonald’s absence from the show.
The main reason, we’re told, is his stint standing in for Fran Kelly on RN Breakfast over the last couple of weeks, as well as some mystery projects.
Macdonald will be back hosting Q+A, with his breakfast radio stint behind him, from Thursday week.
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