SPOTTED: ABC newsreader Tamara Oudyn at Marvel Stadium on Wednesday night performing onstage with Coldplay.
Oudyn is a key part of the inner-western suburbs choir Pitchface and got up on stage to sing with Chris Martin and the boys. Bound to be a story on ABC soon.
ABC newsreader Tamara Oudyn.Credit: ABC
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gai Waterhouse gallop towards Derby Day glory
Horse racing continues to produce fascinating partnerships – the latest being Phantom of the Opera composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Hall of Fame racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse.
The famed moneybags composer’s talented $1 million filly Too Darn Lizzie is a definite for Derby Day at Flemington on Saturday, says Waterhouse. “She’ll run and she’ll win. She’s going super. That’s my tip everybody, you got that? ”
We got that. Will Lloyd Webber be here?
Gai Waterhouse after Too Darn Lizzie won the Manhari Thousand Guineas Prelude at Caulfield Racecourse in October.Credit: Getty Images
“I wish he would. I was speaking to his gorgeous wife, Madeleine, the other day. They’re in New York doing the show. What is it called? Sunset Boulevard.”
Waterhouse said she was in regular contact with most of her owners. “I’m not scared to pick up the phone.”
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.Credit: James Gourley
The owners were “over the moon” with Too Darn Lizzie’s recent win in the Thousand Guineas Prelude at Caulfield, she said. “Well, they paid a million dollars for her. She’s now double that value, if not more.”
Could we see Gai the Musical, CBD wondered?
“We could easily. It would be very topical, wouldn’t it?” Waterhouse said.
“Oh, God, it would be hard to cast, I can tell you.”
Global Coverage
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe can now lay claim to being the most famous Australian politician in the world.
Her provocative tirade at King Charles in the Great Hall of Parliament House made global headlines and became an obsession of Fleet Street’s middle market Daily Mail, which dispatched one of its star reporters from London to Melbourne (business class) to write an investigative feature.
Daily Mail article by Guy Adams on Saturday October 25 about Senator Lidia Thorpe.
The piece, by the paper’s swashbuckling feature writer Guy Adams, ran over two pages on the weekend and was strong stuff, with the paper telling readers the country was “tearing itself apart over race”.
The Mail visited Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick, where Thorpe famously yelled profanities at a group of men at 3am last year, had a go at the ubiquity of welcome to country announcements and interviewed Sam Newman. As you do.
The piece does not appear to be available on the Daily Mail Australia website, which on Thursday launched its Mail+ subscription service for $1.99 a month.
Even The Age got a mention, after our editorial said Thorpe, while disrespectful in the manner of her protest, had a right to speak up. But we were described as “Melbourne’s Left-wing Age newspaper, the local equivalent of The Guardian”. How very dare you!
Upgrade unrequested
Ever since former Rear Window columnist Joe Aston’s book alleged that Anthony Albanese had liaised with ex-Qantas boss Alan Joyce to secure flight upgrades, a claim the prime minister’s office eventually denied, the news cycle has been dominated by the “perks for pollies” snafu.
Labor’s Andrew Giles has disclosed an “unrequested Qantas upgrade” to business class.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
There’s been a flurry of disclosures by politicians. Three days after the extracts from Aston’s book were published in Good Weekend, Labor frontbencher Andrew Giles disclosed an “unrequested Qantas upgrade” to business class. It is not his first declaration of this kind.
And on Thursday, Liberal MP Jenny Ware disclosed three upgrades, including a Qantas flight back from Bali, again adding that they were not requested. Expect more of those.
The Liberals, who famously never accept goodies from the big end of town, have smelt blood, and another opportunity to paint the public housing boy made good as woefully out of touch.
So it is interesting to note that born-again NSW Liberal Senator Dave Sharma doesn’t disclose membership of the Chairman’s Lounge on his register of interest declaration. Given all pollies are routinely invited, except for the few bolshie Greens and teals, we were surprised. Maybe there’s something we don’t know about, we wondered?
During his last stint in parliament – Sharma was Member for Wentworth before voters ditched him for Allegra Spender in 2022 – he declared lounge access. When CBD invited the good senator to clarify, he left us on read.
Sharma isn’t the only Liberal whose membership status is ambiguous, however. Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash also doesn’t list Chairman’s Lounge membership. Did she land on the airline’s naughty list, or just fail to declare?
Her people sought to clarify it for us, pointing out to us a line in the disclosure explanatory notes for senators saying there was no need to declare airline lounge membership. There you go!
Fallen Star
Star Entertainment Group looks more like Monty Python’s Black Knight than a casino operator.
The first flesh wound was delivered in 2021, when an investigation by this masthead alleged that Star had enabled widespread money laundering, fraud and criminal activity through its casinos for years, despite the board being warned. After a damning inquiry, the company’s Sydney casino licence was suspended.
The Star is beginning to resemble Monty Python’s Black Knight.Credit: Bloomberg
And this year, Star lost chief executive Robbie Cooke and chair David Foster, reported a $1.69 billion loss, cut hundreds of jobs, copped a $15 million fine from the NSW casino regulator and had its Sydney licence suspension extended.
Hardly a surprise then that when Star’s annual report was released this week, none of the company’s top executives received a short-term bonus. But that didn’t stop Cooke, who quit after 18 months, walking away with a $5.1 million pay packet. And the report doesn’t reveal incoming chief executive Steve McCann’s incredibly good wicket – $22.5 million over his first three years in charge.