By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Normally, there are few things CBD finds more tiresome than a media industry talkfest, with the feel-good platitudes about the importance of the Fourth Estate and all that dispiriting apocalyptic hand-wringing about the death of journalism. At least there are snacks, and some lukewarm sparkling if you’re lucky.
Ita Buttrose and Judge Michael Lee will share the stage at this year’s Women in Media conference in August.Credit: John Shakespeare
Still, we might make an exception for the upcoming Women in Media conference in Sydney this August, which unveiled a rather intriguing line-up on Monday. Most of the speakers seem staid and predictable. There’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant talking about whatever it is she does, and former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, the organisation’s patron who delivered a keynote at last year’s event, on stage yet again. But sharing the stage with Ita for a panel discussion is Federal Court judge Michael Lee, famously neither a woman nor in media.
Outside the odd fusty legal conferences, it’s uncommon to see sitting judges speaking at such events, especially discussing the state of the media with a celebrity of sorts. But Lee isn’t any old judge, and has acquired a bit of celebrity himself after presiding over Bruce Lehrmann’s unsuccessful lawsuit against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson, finding on balance of probabilities that the former staffer had raped his then-colleague Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House ministerial office.
Anyone who sat through Lee’s epic judgment would know that his honour has what former attorney-general George Brandis once described as a “thespian flair”, and probably doesn’t mind the limelight all that much.
While that judgment marked Lee’s moment in the sun, he’s also presided over a few other high-profile cases, including a defamation battle between billionaire miner Clive Palmer and former Western Australian premier Mark McGowan – a draw of sorts since both sides defamed each other – that the judge slammed as a waste of court resources.
More importantly, he’s probably the only person to get close to the radioactive Lehrmann affair and come out with their own reputation not only unscathed, but inflated. There’s a lesson in that for media watchers of any gender.
ROYAL ROADSHOW
King Charles III’s tentative plans to visit Australia in October, his first trip Down Under since taking the throne, seemed a little dicey following his majesty’s recent cancer diagnosis.
But the royal visit looks a surer bet with the King’s private secretary Sir Clive Alderton in Sydney this week for a bit of advance reconnaissance, where he’ll meet NSW Governor Margaret Beazley’s official secretary Michael Miller to discuss the prospective trip.
Government house is also in talks with barrister Geoffry Underwood, president of the exclusive all-male Australian Club, about hosting Alderton at the Macquarie Street institution (which just rejected former prime minister Scott Morrison’s membership request) later this week.
While it doesn’t mean the King’s visit is a lock, planning is clearly under way for Charles to drop in around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa this October, while potentially stopping in Sydney for the bicentenary of the NSW Legislative Council.
ART HAUL
You’d think National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich would have his hands full with the throng of visitors descending on the Canberra institution to see those portraits of Gina Rinehart that the mining billionaire wanted cancelled.
But Nick has managed to squeeze an early morning stint in the cabin of a semi-trailer truck into his work diary this week, as the gallery prepares to welcome its biggest ever commission from an Australian artist.
The $14 million giant installation Ouroboros by Brisbane-based Lindy Lee is on the road from the Queensland capital for what’s expected to be a slow four-day journey – the thing is big, nine metres long, and heavy, at 13 tonnes – to Canberra.
If all goes to plan, the last leg from the NSW border to the lakeside institution will be in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Mitzevich riding shotgun for what’s usually a 20-minute drive that is expected to take about two hours.
Why? A gallery spokesperson told us the boss was pretty invested in this effort, which they’ve been working on for more than four years, described as one of the “most ambitious” things the gallery has ever tried, with Ouroboros to be unveiled in October as part of the NGA’s 40th anniversary celebrations. And this from the outfit that bought Blue Poles.
When they put it like that, then maybe we – and anyone else acquainted with Canberra drivers – shouldn’t be surprised Mitzevich wants to make sure the new work shows up in one piece.
CRYPTO CLASH
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is doubling down on its failed attempt to have the courts impose a hefty fine on Charlie Karaboga-led crypto outfit Block Earner for operating its Earner crypto investment product without a financial services licence back in 2022.
The commission is appealing a decision by Federal Court judge Ian Jackman, brother of Hollywood heavyweight Hugh, that, yes, Earner’s conduct was serious – although it didn’t earn them serious money – but no, they shouldn’t be fined $350,000 for the contraventions.
ASIC, unsurprisingly, is also appealing what must be a hefty costs order, imposed by Jackman, over an “inaccurate” media release the regulator published in February that indicated, incorrectly, that the firm continued to act outside the law – 13 months after Earner was shut down.
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