Media Diary: Amy Remeikis fails to declare investment property during ‘rental crisis’ rant
The Guardian’s Amy Remeikis delivered a wild rant earlier this month, during which she sought to speak on behalf of all tenants across Australia. But she omitted one pesky fact.
It was out of context but not out of character when The Guardian’s political reporter, Amy Remeikis, delivered a wild rant on The Project earlier this month, as Diary reported last week, during which she sought to speak on behalf of all tenants across Australia, adopting their collective fury about a “real rental crisis in this country”.
Speaking on Ten’s chat show, Remeikis praised the Greens as being the only party doing a decent job of addressing the housing problem, and decried the scourge of “capitalism”.
So far, so Guardian.
But Remeikis conveniently omitted one pesky fact.
She is a property investor herself.
Queensland’s Land Titles office confirm that Remeikis is the co-owner of a two-bedroom unit at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, a property she has jointly owned with a former partner since 2007.
Remeikis, like millions of other Australians, collects a weekly sum (in her case, her flat rents for $400) to help pay off her investment loan.
Her outrage during her interview with The Project co-hosts Sarah Harris and Hamish Macdonald included voicing her annoyance at the freedom of investors to simply jack up rents at any time so somebody else can effectively pay off their asset.
“It’s not necessarily tenants versus landlords, because I know that everybody is feeling housing stress at the moment, but I am very angry at the policy settings that have allowed myself to be used essentially to pay off somebody else’s asset,” Remeikis told The Project.
“You worry as a tenant about something that is not (up to) scratch, because maybe your lease won’t be renewed or maybe your rent is going to jump up over $300 a week.
These are real considerations.”
While there’s nothing wrong with Remeikis being a landlord, it sure is a glaring oversight to bag capitalism and the treatment of renters when you’re in fact enjoying the spoils of the property market yourself.
When contacted by Diary last week, Remeikis would only confirm that she rents her existing abode in Canberra. She failed to answer questions about why she decided not to disclose that she is a property investor.
“There are seven million of us (renters) and most of us are pretty angry at the way that we’ve been treated, there’s a real rental crisis in this country,” a visibly annoyed Remeikis told The Project.
Remeikis was also scathing of politicians’ approach to the issue, declaring: “They haven’t actually thought about the people who are paying for rental properties.”
We look forward to Remeikis speaking on behalf of all property investors next time she’s invited to The Project.
Palestine ‘workshop’
One of The Age’s most senior journalists has been counselled after he held “a letter-writing workshop for Palestine” earlier this month, with the online tutorial designed to help “craft impactful letters to the editor”.
Maher Mughrabi, described on The Age’s website as “an editor and senior writer”, conducted a webinar on September 1 as part of a workshop titled “Letters for Liberation”, promoted by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.
Ahead of the workshop, APAN posted on social media: “Make your voice heard on Palestine!
“Join renowned Palestinian journalist Maher Mughrabi for an online workshop on crafting impactful letters to the editor about the Middle East, with a focus on Palestine.
“Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a master of the craft.”
According to the APAN promo, Mughrabi – who has previously had lengthy stints as The Age’s features editor and foreign editor – would offer advice on the “unique challenges of writing about the Middle East, how to improve your chances of getting your letter published, essential tips on tone, content and structure, and common pitfalls to avoid”.
Diary wonders whether Mughrabi offered any handy hints to his legion of letter-writing acolytes on how to avoid blurring the line between journalism and activism, but we’re guessing that was deemed to be a discussion for another day.
Tellingly, Mughrabi – who has been a journalist for almost 30 years – didn’t tell his superiors at The Age about his involvement in the workshop, and we understand they were less than thrilled when they found out about his secret side hustle.
Make your voice heard on Palestine!
— APAN (@APAN4Palestine) August 27, 2024
Join renowned Palestinian journalist Maher Mughrabi for an online workshop on crafting impactful letters to the editor.
Learn how to effectively communicate your perspective and contribute to a more informed public discourse on Palestine.… pic.twitter.com/f9ZzxDjOFU
And well might they be furious!
Last November, editors at Nine-owned mastheads The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald took a stand against staff who signed an open letter to Australian media organisations calling for ethical reporting on the war in Gaza.
That letter, obviously, raised serious questions about the impartiality of its signatories, and Nine’s editors banned journalists who signed the letter from having any role covering the war.
Mughrabi was one of the 300 or so signatories.
In March, Nine’s editors announced that the publishing division’s editorial code of conduct would be expanded to guard against “any perceived or actual conflict of interest” in relation to “the signing of open letters or petitions”.
Whether Mughrabi’s masterclass in pro-Palestine letter writing breaches that code is ultimately a matter for the top dogs at Nine, but Diary reckons if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, the chances are that it’s a waterfowl of some description.
We asked Mughrabi if he thought his participation in the workshop breached The Age’s guidelines on reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict, and whether he was paid for his role in the event.
Mughrabi did not respond to our multiple messages.
Diary also approached The Age editor Patrick Elligett for comment, but he declined.
But we had more luck with Luke McIlveen, the executive editor of Nine’s metro mastheads, who confirmed Mughrabi had been counselled over his involvement in the APAN-backed workshop. “The journalist did not seek permission from The Age to take part in this workshop and the matter has been dealt with internally,” McIlveen told us.
Musical chairs at Seven
Channel 7 Melbourne’s 6pm news is set for a serious shake-up that could see weekend presenter Rebecca Maddern bumped to reading the weeknightly sports bulletins.
Diary recently revealed that 63-year-old former Essendon champion turned sports presenter Tim Watson is blabbing to anyone who will listen that he’s ready to call it a day and hand over his gig to someone else, after 13 years in the hot seat.
The recent hiring of former ABC presenter Karina Carvalho by Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie has certainly ruffled some feathers internally, and Diary has been told that Maddern is one of those with her nose slightly out of joint.
She recently took an overseas holiday with her family, which gave Carvalho the perfect opportunity to sit in the host’s chair to get some newsreading hours up and make herself familiar to Melbourne viewers.
But Maddern wasn’t giving anything away in an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun when she was quizzed about Carvalho’s appointment on the weekend.
“Any good operators we can bring into the fold, the better for Seven News and the better for the viewers,” she said.
Insiders told Diary that Maddern is in preliminary discussions with Seven about taking over from Watson once he departs, which would make perfect sense given her longstanding sporting expertise.
The 47-year-old used to be the co-host of the now-defunct Footy Show on Nine and she’s the number one ticket holder at Geelong, which is in the final four in the race to win the 2024 AFL premiership.
If Maddern takes up the sports reading gig she will switch from working weekends to reading sport Monday to Friday, while Carvalho could take over Maddern’s weekend newsreading gig alongside TV veteran Mike Amor.
Amor and weeknight newsreader Peter Mitchell both have some time to run on their contracts and won’t be going anywhere soon, but there’s no doubt Seven Melbourne’s news boss, Chris Salter, is looking to mix things up against rival Nine News, led by news director Hugh Nailon.
Spies told Diary that the ratings battle for the 6pm Melbourne bulletins is tightening. Nine’s newsreaders include joint weekday hosts Alicia Loxley and Tom Steinfort and veteran weekend newsreader Peter Hitchener, and Nine has dominated the race so far this year.
OzTAM data shows that up until the end of July, Nine’s weekly average nightly audience so far this year is 269,000 viewers, compared to Seven’s 227,000 viewers.
When it’s cut down to weekdays versus weekends, Nine again comes out on top.
Across Monday to Friday, Nine Melbourne has an average of 275,000 viewers versus Seven at 232,000 viewers, while on weekends Nine has 252,000 viewers on average compared to Seven with 214,000.
And another journo to watch out for is Seven’s US bureau chief, David Woiwod, who is based in LA.
Diary has been told he is a “favourite” among the bosses at the network and deemed a potential newsreader down the track.
4BC you later
Nine Radio’s Brisbane station, 4BC, is in a world of pain, now that it is without regular hosts for two of its key daytime slots just six weeks out from Queensland’s October 26 election.
The station’s ratings have been in free-fall in recent years and last week the axe finally fell on breakfast trio Laurel Edwards, Mark Hine and Gary Clare, who recently registered their worst-ever survey result since they took over the slot two years ago from Neil Breen.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Nine Radio boss Tom Malone and head of content Greg Byrnes, who have to get their skates on to also find a new drive host after Peter Gleeson announced last week he was packing his suitcases and heading to the track to take up his new gig as CEO of the state’s new Q Greyhound Complex.
Gleeson finished up on Friday, while the breakfast trio will say their final goodbyes on their last show on September 27.
Spies told Diary that Byrnes was at 4BC’s Brisbane studios last week to rally the troops as morale reportedly sags.
Internal 4BC data leaked to Diary shows ratings are so grim that one of the station’s two remaining hosts, afternoons presenter Sofie Formica, recorded a lowly 3.9 per cent share in the latest ratings survey and was the worst performer among the station’s four key weekly programs.
Formica was behind Gleeson, who had an audience share of 4.2 per cent, mornings host Bill McDonald had 5.4 per cent and the breakfast trio recorded a share of 4.3 per cent.
But word is that Peter “read a room” Fegan is in one jolly mood at the moment and is the slight favourite to be named as the new breakfast host, while Nine News weather reporter Luke Bradnam is also considered a strong chance.
Former Howard government federal minister Gary Hardgrave is also tipped to nab his own show and remains a regular on 4BC as a fill-in host.
Diary has also learned that Formica has been sussing out her options by looking for opportunities elsewhere – including at the ABC – but nothing has come to fruition just yet.
Formica was recently chastened when the media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ruled that she failed to declare a commercial deal she had enjoyed for 710 days with the Brisbane Economic and Development Agency. Her bosses didn’t know about it.
The Oz lifts off
The Australian reported last month that there was widespread discontent among the hundreds of ABC staff who have been shifted from the public broadcaster’s funky inner-Sydney digs in Ultimo to the wilds of Parramatta in the city’s west.
Yes, it’s only a 25-minute train ride from Ultimo to Parramatta, but blasting ABC staffers out to the western ’burbs was always going to be a challenge – after all, it’s not their natural habitat.
Anyway, our Parramatta scoop was followed up exactly one month later by the The Age and SMH’s media writer Calum Jaspan, who noted that staff based in the new western suburbs complex had complained about safety aspects and parking difficulties at the site.
But Jaspan finished his story with what could go down as one of the great media paragraphs of 2024.
“Staff have also complained about a deal between the Parramatta Square building and outdoor advertising firm oOh!media, displaying news updates from The Australian in the elevators,” Jaspan wrote.
“Several complaints were made to management about having to read negative headlines about the ABC from the News Corp masthead on their trip up to the 39th floor, where the ABC is based.”
Gold!
Can you imagine it? A bunch of supposedly hard-nosed ABC journalists rock up to work for a day of chasing the news, and before they’ve even reached the editorial floor, they’ve succumbed to the horror of having to read The Australian in a lift!
Quick, somebody hit that emergency bell thingy on the elevator panel! We’re stuck in a box with The Australian!
We asked the ABC’s spin chief. Nick Leys, if it was indeed true that some staff had gone to the actual trouble of making formal complaints to management about their suffering at the hands of a news site in the Parramatta lifts, but he didn’t write back.
Then again, maybe the complainants are just trying to earn brownie points with ABC chair Kim Williams, who said recently that some of News Corp’s coverage of the taxpayer-funded broadcaster was “unhinged”.
Of course, there’s nothing “unhinged” about complaining about being exposed to a small screen in a lift for about 12 seconds. It’s perfectly normal behaviour.
Nick Tabakoff is on leave.
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