By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
The Albanese government remains committed to the big, bold brilliant idea of banning kids from social media.
But frankly, sometimes it’s the politicians who should lay off the TikTok. Enter NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig, whose prodigious use of the app has become the stuff of Macquarie Street legend.
Social media star? Prodigious TikTok user Ron Hoenig.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Hoenig, who clearly views himself as some kind of social media star hoping to get the kids excited about local government, has courted plenty of outrage with his habit of soundtracking his TikTok videos with some rather explicit hip-hop tracks.
A visit by a Sydney high school’s legal studies class to parliament was overlaid with 1990s rap track Da Dip, which includes the lyrics “I put my hand upon your hip, when I dip, you dip, we dip”.
A video celebrating the winner of a “women in local government” award is soundtracked by a song that has the words “I like the way your body is, is that too obvious?”
Does it pass the pub test? It definitely fails the “cringe” test.
There’s even a name of it: RonTok, or Rontent, as Liberal MP Scott Farlow labelled the minister’s posts during a recent estimates hearing.
Hoenig maintains it’s all a bit of harmless fun, and he just uses songs that are trending on the app without looking too deeply into the lyrics. And rumours that the minister had reshuffled his social media team after the posts started drawing criticism were swiftly denied by his office this week.
Meanwhile, RonTok has become the subject of debate in the basement of democracy, with Bayside councillor Fiona Douskou moving a motion in Wednesday night’s meeting to condemn Hoenig’s posts.
The motion urged council to express its disappointment at the “explicit and inappropriate music” featured on Hoenig’s social media, and called for him to use “more appropriate” songs on TikTok.
But the motion was defeated after Labor Mayor Ed McDougall cast the deciding vote. McDougall moonlights as Sports Minister Steve Kamper’s chief of staff, meaning he enjoys two separate six-figure salaries, and therefore takes home a pay packet to rival a senior minister. It’s nice out there for some.
Happy snaps
It’s fair to say Australia’s scientific research community aren’t the biggest fans of US President Donald Trump, particularly after this masthead’s recent reports of the CSIRO being asked by his administration to answer a survey on whether they are studying “gender ideology” or climate change.
University of Sydney pro vice-chancellor Ben Eggleton outside Trump Tower.Credit: Facebook
But some still harbour a fascination for all things American, regardless of the colour of the new administration. Last week, the University of Sydney’s pro vice-chancellor (research) Ben Eggleton, a world-renowned physics professor, attended an American Chamber of Commerce summit in New York and Washington, DC. He was part of a delegation that also included former South Australian premier Steven Marshall.
Eggleton posted a bunch of his happy holiday snaps to Facebook, which included a smiling selfie in front of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan.
In a week when the building’s owner has enraged the research community by effectively holding its funding to ransom, the optics of that weren’t great. Maybe that’s why the pics were unavailable on Thursday. We wanted to check in with Eggleton about all this, but he didn’t reply.
Gandel gets out
At age 90 or thereabouts and with a net worth north of $5 billion, shopping centre impresario John Gandel is rarely seen out beyond annual pilgrimage to his beloved Australian Open.
Except this week, the largely reclusive billionaire, who turned Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre into a colossus, was spotted out twice in two consecutive days.
On Wednesday night, Gandel had a front-row seat at Bruce and Chyka Keebaugh’s 35th anniversary shindig for their catering empire The Big Group, which is practically the kitchen for Gandel family anniversaries and parties. CBD spotted him talking animatedly to Eddie McGuire before the cabaret got under way in the glorious heritage-listed Ormond Hall at The Commons Collective.
And the very next morning Gandel, who co-owns Chadstone with the publicly listed Vicinity Centres, exhibited quite the bounceback by braving the considerable crowds at the launch of Chadstone’s Market Pavilion, where the centre beefed up its fresh food offering with specialty shops which normally give shopping centres a wide berth, including Brunetti Oro.
The grand old man of retail and philanthropy, trailed by an enormous security guard, was shown around the centre by Jacqui Liberman, who is not only Gandel Group retail projects manager but also Gandel’s granddaughter.
Gandel politely declined CBD’s request for an interview, perhaps mindful that two years ago, when opening The Social Quarter at the centre, his comments that Anthony Albanese’s proposed changes to superannuation tax were “ridiculous” made major news.
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