Email trail reveals ABC’s taste for spam

An FOI request unearths a series of, increasingly agitated, emails sparked by an ‘ABC-staff climate crisis advisory group’.

An email trail at the ABC got out of hand, an FOI request shows. Picture: AAP

The ABC … they’re just like us! We all know the worst part of working in an office is the never-ending, reply-all email chains. And Aunty is not immune.

Hidden within a Freedom of Information request of ABC news director Gaven Morris, made by the Institute of Public Affairs, was a series of back-and-forth communications about forming an “ABC-staff climate crisis advisory group”, as mentioned in this paper by Chris Kenny.

ABC director of news Gavin Morris. Picture: Kym Smith

The first expression-of-interest email was sent to all staff on Sunday November 17, 2019 at 8:51am. After dozens of staff decided to share their thoughts with everyone, a redacted staff member pleaded at 9:29pm: “Colleagues, could you please use ‘reply’ rather than ‘reply all’. Thank you, and my apologies for this ‘reply all’.”

Unfortunately, it looks as though the message didn’t get through, and by 8:22am on Monday, another redacted employee asked: “Please stop hitting ‘reply all’ and littering ppl’s inboxes with the stuff that is irrelevant to work. Thanks.” And at 8:24am, journo Gavin Fang jumped in to say: “Hello all, to reiterate what our colleagues (blanked out) and (blanked out) have raised, can you reply directly to Barbara. The (email) list is needed for daily editorial. Thanks, Gavin.”

The IPA’s FOI picked up an exasperated Morris’s reply, two minutes later, to Fang (and not all staff): “For the love of god … thank you. I am off today but on the phone.” Fang wrote back: “I managed to resist for 24 hours but it got too much for me.” Amen!

-

Doctors in the house

Here at Strewth! we never miss a TV appearance by Liberal MP Andrew Laming. Monday’s jaunt didn’t disappoint.

Welcome back to the pages of Strewth!, Andrew Laming ... we’ve missed you. Picture: Annette Dew

When asked about the Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy dropping his daily COVID-19 briefings down to three times a week, Laming told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing: “Well you know how much a politician loves getting in front of a camera. At the moment, whenever my street gets together just over here, they know about Nick (Coatsworth), Michael (Kidd), Paul (Kelly) … and my little kids are saying to me: ‘Just say what that Dr Brendan says.’ And I have others who say to me: ‘Who’s the Health Minister again?’ But they all know their CMO. So it’s been a real change here, and I’ve got photos of the deputy CMOs on the walls of my kids’ rooms. They put a helmet and a crown on top of each one as they do their press conferences. So, it’s a little bit disturbing how they’re absolutely running the show from a politician’s point of view, but I think the rest of the country is loving it.”

-

Up to his Albo in it

Here’s a satirical news headline with a ring of truth, care of Charles Firth (brother of former Labor MP Verity Firth) from The Chaser’s website: “(Anthony) Albanese eligible for JobSeeker after making role of Opposition Leader completely redundant.”

Charles Firth swings and doesn't miss. Picture: Screengrab/The Chaser

-

Not kitten around

Labor trade spokeswoman Madeleine King learnt first-hand the perils of working from home on Wednesday, when her new cat Tim Brooke-Taylor (named after the late British comedian) made his furr-midable TV debut on Sky News.

Well, TBT’s tail did when he walked through and interrupted King’s interview with Peter Stefanovic. How claw-ver! King tells us she recently adopted Tim and another cat, David Bowie, from SAFE Rescue in the Pilbara — a group that saves animals from euthanasia.

-

Hop to your veggies

Operation Rock Wallaby update: in January, we revealed NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean’s creative approach to saving some endangered furry friends during the summer’s deadly bushfires.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean. Picture: AAP

Thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes were dropped from helicopters to feed brush-tailed rock wallabies trapped in charred NSW national parks. Sweet relief falling from the sky.

Since the Currowan fire, National Parks and Wildlife Services rangers have trekked into the Kangaroo Valley to provide food for the hungry wallabies. Strewth! is happy to report it has been an overwhelming success, with the entire colony of wallabies pulling through.

“The sweet potatoes literally saved these wallabies, so it just shows — it pays to eat your veggies,” Kean said.

-

The coldest case

Here’s a rollercoaster media release that landed in Strewth!’s inbox, care of Queensland Police. “An investigation into reports of a body found south of Bowen this morning has concluded. Police were called to reports of a body wrapped in a blanket on a trail off the Bruce Highway. Forensic officers commenced investigations, which have concluded the body is a lifelike replica doll of a human. The crime scene has been disbanded.”

[e-mail]