By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
The official ABC announcement of the departure of legendary Triple J musical director Richard Kingsmill was quite a lengthy hero-gram, the very least Aunty bosses could do for a bloke who has done more than anybody over the decades to bring some much-needed cool to the broadcaster.
But the party line from Ultimo glossed over what might be seen as very shabby treatment of “The King”.
Only a small line in the reams of officially cleared quotes hinted at what went down behind the scenes, with Kingsmill talking about “how much I’ve still got left in the tank in continuing to contribute to the Australian music industry.”
Since then, several ABC insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity because they want to keep their jobs, have told us that Kingsmill did not depart voluntarily and “The King” was made redundant as part of a restructure of the broadcaster’s youth network.
Looks like the ABC’s new-ish head of audio Ben Latimer wasn’t kidding when he told the Herald just this month that changes were coming to the Js as the group of stations and websites would be “taking a better look at music preferences for younger audiences”.
But Latimer, a former Radio Nova executive, found himself having to explain the unpopular decision to offload Kingsmill at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday.
Latimer told the troops that Kingsmill’s role would be replaced with one more familiar to the commercial radio industry. Sounds ominous.
Kingsmill himself did not respond to requests for comment and when we asked the ABC official spokesters to tell us the full story of their veteran announcer’s departure, we got the following quotelet, which we reckon says plenty.
“We’ve put out a release and don’t have further comment,” a spokesperson said.
PHOTIOS FINISH
Moderate Liberal powerbroker turned lobbying supremo Michael Photios knows it helps to have Justin Hemmes as a client.
It meant his PremierState lobbying shop could hold its Tuesday night end-of-year drinks at the Ivy Pool Club, the cherry on top of Hemmes’ sprawling Merivale pleasure palace.
But while Photios can still draw a crowd, you can tell the Liberals are in opposition across the mainland by just how many of them were has-beens. Former attorney-general and UK High Commissioner George Brandis was spotted deep in conversation with perma-tanned former deputy premier John Barilaro, who as always looked like he’d dropped in straight from Ibiza. A few ghosts from the last Liberal cabinet, Stuart Ayres and David Elliott, representing whatever D-grade lobby group will have him, did the rounds.
Business veteran and recently departed Venues NSW boss Tony Shepherd was there, as was Liberal elder statesman Bruce Baird. Hemmes, the manbunned Merivale magnate also came swanning through as the sun went down.
We’ll spare the embarrassment of the state Liberal MP who almost ended up in the pool.
Opposition or not, the mood among the throngs of Liberal staffers was a buoyant one, after the Albanese government’s rough recent months. It wasn’t lost on anyone that once upon a time, Anthony Albanese himself showed up at Photios’ parties.
This time, he was ably represented by a handful of his staff. Free drinks don’t discriminate on party lines.
ON THE BUSES
As cossie livs bites hard in the run-up to the festive season, more and more Australians are leaning into their side hustles and even the nation’s $100 million senator – the Clive Palmer-bankrolled Ralph Babet – is having to step it up.
Clive Palmer’s $100 million senator is advertising on buses to make ends meetCredit: John Shakespeare
Babet said he took a pay cut on entering the Senate, scraping by on $211,000, and was upfront about doing a little work on the side with the real estate agency he runs with his brother in the Melbourne suburbs.
Now locals are finding the Babet brothers have started an eye-catching advertising campaign, with the faces of Ralph and his brother Matt plastered all over public buses
Now, lots of politicians have a side hustle – many of them moonlight as landlords – but they generally don’t like to talk about it, much less put it on the side of the bus.
We asked the senator on Wednesday if he wanted to talk things over, and he responded with a 13-point manifesto to the “many” problems faced by our nation.
UNION BLUES
CBD has been enthralled lately as the leadership of the Community and Public Sector Union battles an internal insurgency from a group of members who believe its bigwigs are a little too cosy with the Albanese government.
The Members United group – a fascinating assortment of Greens, Labor types, party-non-specific lefties and at least one deadset commie – forced the first contested elections for the union’s top jobs that anyone can remember.
Incumbent National Secretary Melissa Donnelly was out of the blocks early on Tuesday, claiming victory on her campaign Facebook page.
“CPSU members voted for unity, for experience, expertise and stability. And they will not be let down,” she said.
When the Australian Electoral Commission coughed up the full results on Wednesday arvo, Donnelly’s team had decisively won all the major leadership positions, staying well and truly in control of the union.
But although the wins were decisive, the rebels polled respectable totals against their more established rivals, giving CBD grounds to suspect that we have not heard the last of this.
Members United leadership said it was disappointed with the result but the fact that it had attracted the support of thousands of union members indicated there was an appetite for reform among the membership.
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An earlier version of this story said some of Premier Chris Minns’ staff attended the Premier State Christmas Party. None of the Premier’s staff attended the party.