In our must-read Mail+ column, Steve Jackson and Peter van Onselen reveal what’s REALLY going on in the worlds of media and politics each week.
Sky News rocked by rival’s bombshell masterstroke
Sky News is facing an existential threat to its right-wing news service with the imminent arrival of one of the world’s most potent conservative media networks.
And worse yet, the international interloper is eagerly enlisting former Sky News staffers for an aggressive assault on their one-time paymaster’s audience.
Inside Mail can reveal Newsmax boss Christopher Ruddy will officially announce the launch of the U.S. cable channel’s new antipodean venture at an exclusive soiree he’s hosting on Friday in honour of Donald Trump‘s looming inauguration in Washington, D.C.
The high-end knees-up is expected to be attended by some of ‘s most influential conservative luminaries, including former prime minister Tony Abbott and billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart.
The launch will see the rapidly growing U.S. cable network partner with local online media start-up n Digital Holdings, which will rebrand as Newsmax as they look to topple Sky News’ long-held monopoly on the country’s right-wing market, using a mix of n and American conservative news and commentary.
The upstart operation has already convinced recently released Sky News host Erin Molan – whose eponymous Friday night show Erin got canned last month – to come onboard in a shock move that will see her go head-to-head with her former colleagues in a bitter scrap for viewers.
The revelation comes after several Sky News presenters were forced to debunk a crackpot conspiracy theory Molan was axed by the News Corp-owned channel last month for her outspoken views supporting Israel throughout the ongoing war with Hamas.
The tin-foil hat hypothesis is one of the more ridiculous notions Inside Mail has heard in recent times (and trust us, it’s high bar) given Sky’s staunch pro-Israel stance and host of award-winning Jewish stars such as Sharri Markson and Caroline Marcus.
Molan’s exit from Sky News also had the appearance of being a little murky as she did not farewell her audience live on-air, which may have allowed the false rumour to fester.
For what it’s worth, it’s understood Molan was jettisoned by Sky News for purely pragmatic reasons: her show simply wasn’t attracting enough viewers to justify her salary as all media outlets across the country continue to feel the crunch.
The latest development comes as the one-time Footy Show host continues to post opinionated videos – many of which are already recorded in ADH TV’s Sydney studios – on her social media channels.
In one clip, she admonished Pope Francis for inhibiting the peace process in the Middle East. In another, filmed in a New York hotel room on Tuesday, Molan became visibly emotional while speaking about the war.
One-time Sky News stalwart and newly installed 2SM shock jock Chris Smith, already an ADH TV contributor, has also agreed to join Newsmax while former n Christian Lobby director Lyle Shelton and The n columnist and Sky News regular Nick Cater are rumoured to be next on the network’s hit list as well.
Of course, News Corp’s execs are already more than aware what they’re up against.
Newsmax has successfully positioned itself as a major rival to Rupert Murdoch‘s Fox News in the U.S. since its launch little more than two decades ago is now the fourth highest-rated cable news channel in the country behind CNN. Not that there’s any medals for fourth place, mind you.
Meanwhile, back in the land of Oz, ADH TV has long been dubbed ‘s answer to the influential conservative news powerhouse.
The Newsmax invasion could not have come at a worse time for Sky News , which is still to renegotiate a long-term carriage deal with Foxtel after News Corp sold the pay-TV company to international sports streamer DAZN in a deal worth $3.4billion last month.
There have been questions raised about whether Foxtel’s new, sports-centric owners will have any interest in continuing to broadcast the conservative political channel after the current agreement expires in about 18 months’ time.
On top of that, Sky News could also be forced to change its name when its licence deal with its one-time UK parent company expires around the same period.
Sky News was originally launched as an extension of Sky UK as a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting, Seven Media Group and Nine Entertainment Co. back in 1996.
News Corp took over in 2016 and there has been no direct link between the networks since Murdoch sold his stake in Sky UK – which is far more moderate and less opinion-driven, even after 6pm – to global cable giant Comcast in 2018.
Indeed, Sky UK insiders told us that staffers there had been increasingly at pains to distance themselves from their one-time n cousins and their ‘Sky After Dark’ offerings, suggesting there were only two chances of the broadcaster agreeing to extend the naming-rights deal: Buckley’s and none.
Instead, it looks like Sky News will be forced to give up its established brand and re-launch under a new moniker – most likely along the lines of Fox News – just as its battle with Newsmax is in full swing.
Guardian’s poverty pay confirms what we all knew
We reported last week on the devastating loss to Guardian readers of Amy Remeikis, who has taken her pyjama-clad political analysis elsewhere after years of complaining about the pittance she earned at the left-wing blog.
The comparatively low salaries offered at the Guardian have been well-known in parliamentary gallery circles for years (mostly because of the complaining from within, it has to be said).
But we finally have proof of it courtesy of a new ad for a ‘chief political reporter’ that has popped up on Seek.
It maxes the offered salary out at a touch over $100k when searching for the ad, and that even includes super, we are told.
It is a senior role that would’ve put the lucky recipient in charge of veteran reporters such as Remeikis, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst and snapper Mike Bowers, had they not all resigned en masse in recent months amid allegations of mudslinging and HR drama.
Much of the supposed turmoil centres around gallery veteran and Guardian political editor Karen Middleton, formerly of the Saturday Paper, who apparently didn’t see eye-to-eye with Karp, who is now heading to the n Financial Review.
Okay, so a six-figure salary (just) certainly isn’t nothing in Canberra, but it’s about half of what senior political correspondents earn at mastheads like the Sydney Morning Herald, AFR and The n.
And the gruelling schedule required – working long hours, on weekends with a rotating roster, plus expectations of travel not at the pointy end of the plane – would make it an extremely difficult job to do in one’s PJs on the floor at home.
So the role isn’t suited to everybody…
Overton off crook but Nine’s still the one looking sickly
There’s never a good time to get sick… but Peter Overton‘s holiday lurgy has caused all sorts of dramas over at Nine given it has fallen smack bang in the middle of the network’s multimillion-dollar tennis showpiece.
Nine spent much of last week heavily promoting the ever-popular Sydney news anchor and his return to its flagship 6pm news bulletin on Sunday, just as the n Open really got cranking…
Only for viewers to instead be greeted by the network’s $600,000 woman, Georgie Gardner.
The last-minute reshuffle had everyone speculating about the reasons for Overton’s impromptu disappearance – particularly given he was spotted alive and well in the Sydney Cricket Ground’s exclusive Sheridan Suite during the New Year’s Test against India little more than a week ago, and was seen happily chatting with fans while out and about in Double Bay for breakfast at the weekend.
Forget Carmen Sandiego – where in the world was Peter Overton?
The affable anchorman’s wife, Jessica Rowe, finally solved the mystery on Tuesday afternoon, revealing the one-time 60 Minutes star and unwitting graduate of the Tom Cruise School of Etiquette had been forced to undergo urgent surgery this week.
‘Peter doesn’t do Insta and he wanted me to share some news. He’s off work for a little longer at the moment,’ the former Today show co-host explained on her socials.
‘After an ear, nose and throat surgeon discovered a polyp on one of his vocal cords, which explains his very raspy voice over the holidays.
‘He was operated on. Part of his recovery is no talking for now (which is a huge challenge for him!) Hopefully he’ll be back to Nine News soonish.
‘Big thanks to the great doctors, nurses, speech pathologist and Pete’s wonderful work colleagues.’
Poor Pete. He’s genuinely the nicest man in television and once literally offered Inside Mail the shirt off his back after ours got ripped at Nine a few years back (well, okay, one from his wardrobe but still…). So we’re wishing him all the best with his recovery.
Of course, so are the network’s embattled news bosses – because the 6pm bulletin has been floundering in his absence.
Since stepping in for Overton, the exorbitantly remunerated Gardner has been up against Seven News Sydney’s A-team, Mark Ferguson and Angela Cox, who have been working throughout the summer.
Despite Nine’s tennis juggernaut, the newly minted double-act smashed Gardner by 10,000 viewers on Sunday night before extending their lead and thrashing her by a walloping 45,000 on Monday as Seven claimed a clean-sweep of the five-city metro news market… and the gap widened even further to 49,000 on Tuesday. Yowsers!
Game, set and match, Seven.
Lachlan Murdoch’s Nova goes woke on Day
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes… and the perennial confected outrage over the date of Day.
No one loves this old chestnut quite like the imagination-deprived editors in at News Corp’s Holt St headquarters.
Unsurprisingly, the topic has been front and centre in the Lachlan Murdoch-controlled media giant’s fearlessly patriotic and predictably formulaic Daily Telegraph yet again this week.
We all know the drill: woke anti- Day warriors are disrespecting the nation blah blah blah blah blah, see last year’s coverage for full vitriol.
Edifying stuff.
Of course, not everyone in Murdoch’s empire is so rabid about the matter.
Inside Mail can reveal employees at his privately owned Nova Entertainment radio network were advised in a staff email this week that they need not celebrate Day on January 26 if they felt too uncomfortable doing so.
Instead, staffers at the network, which features headline stars like Chrissie Swan, Ricki-Lee Coulter and that delightful Sally Fletcher from Summer Bay, were informed they were free to work through Day and instead mark the national holiday with a day off on another date of their choosing.
Hmm… that does sound eerily similar to all that woke, namby-pamby hippy nonsense the Tele gets itself so upset about. But surely not?
Seven’s Susannah Carr celebrates her half century
When it comes to careers in the media, few can claim to have created an industry-defining legacy like Seven News Perth anchor Susannah Carr.
The living legend just marked her 50th year in broadcasting, having joined ABC Radio in Perth in December 1974 as a bright-eyed 22-year-old announcer.
She was thrown into the eye of the storm two weeks later after finding herself relating the horror of Cyclone Tracy as it ravaged Darwin on Christmas Day.
Carr made the leap to commercial TV after joining Seven in 1985, becoming the network’s first female presenter in Perth. She even won a Logie the following year.
After half a century in the game, the news icon, who is indisputably the nation’s elder stateswoman of television, is still reading the news on Seven’s top-rating prime-time bulletin in the West five nights a week.
Not only that, next month, she will clock up four decades on the desk with co-host Rick Ardon – with the duo already recognised as the longest-running news anchor partnership in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.
We asked Carr the secret to her enduring success and she said it was remarkably simple.
‘I love my job,’ the typically modest news anchor explained.
‘I have an insatiable curiosity for what happens in the world. You can never know enough… and I love communicating. News is a perfect fit.’
When will Albo call it?
Political psephologists love speculating about election timing almost as much as they love running you through the numbers in opinion polls.
The ‘when will Anthony Albanese call it’ debate has become the election-eve distraction it always is. The smart money is setting on April 12, allowing Albo to call it on the first Sunday after the WA state election, to be held on March 8.
That would give us just shy of five weeks for the federal campaign. It would also allow parliament to briefly return in February for any unfinished business before the campaign proper.
And Treasurer Jim Chalmers wouldn’t have to hand down his planned 25 March budget either, because that can’t happen in the middle of a campaign.
So the expected wall-to-wall deficits and spending blowouts can be covered up and delayed until after votes are cast. It’s a clever plan, if true, but is it too clever by half?
Treasury releases a pre-election look at the books anyway, a return of parliament just might allow the opposition to score a few political points of their own, and we haven’t had a federal election in April since way back in 1910.
That said, April 13, 1910, was a good day for Labor, with Andrew Fisher defeating Liberal Party great Alfred Deakin. It was Labor’s first federal election win.
‘No question’ Ann Sanders will remain on-air
Seven News Sydney stalwart Ann Sanders launched her impressive career with the network as a weather presenter in Adelaide back in 1980 before heading to Perth where she collected Logie Awards for Best Female Personality in Western for the next two years.
Sanders disrupted her run at Seven after moving to Sydney and Ten in 1983 before returning to ‘The Big Red Bus’ as a news presenter in 1988… and network insiders assured us there was ‘no question’ the dedicated reader would still be going strong behind the desk when her 40th anniversary rolls around in just a couple of years.
While Seven copped a bit of grief following Sharyn Ghidella‘s poorly executed exit from its Brisbane bureau last year, there is certainly no denying the network appreciates and champions senior women in its newsrooms.
It probably explains why Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes was personally appalled by any suggestion the popular Queensland presenter’s departure was in any way related to her age or gender.
Newsflash: it wasn’t.
Billi FitzSimons reveals romance with new main man
As regular readers will know, Inside Mail enjoys nothing more than a good love story.
So of course, we were pleased to learn journalism progeny Billi FitzSimons has been swept off her feet by a new beau in recent months.
The 26-year-old editor-in-chief of the Daily Aus hard-launched her relationship with finance whiz kid and former bartender Jared Ellison on social media this week.
Although we hear the young couple have been quietly dating for months now, it’s the first time the Cash/Fraud Operations Lead at online investment platform Stake has made Billi’s Instagram. An important benchmark in any fledgling romance these days.
The young editor last week posted a snap of the fresh-faced couple canoodling on the balcony of her family’s famous Mosman mansion while taking in the Harbour City’s fireworks show on New Years Eve, as well as a shot of her surfer boyfriend with his abs on display, with the ever-so-slightly-restrained caption: ‘Bobs and bits.’
One thing’s for sure though, between Billie’s celebrated journo parents, reformed bandana addict Peter FitzSimons and erstwhile The Project host Lisa Wilkinson, her new fella would have endured quite the grilling during his first formal introduction to the family.
Given proud dad Peter only just released his latest tome, The Legend of Albert Jacka, two months ago, we would have started our cramming for the high-stakes meet-and-greet by reading up on ‘s first-ever Victoria Cross recipient.
After all, love is a battlefield.
Labor powerbroker’s spectacular spray at Rudd
Former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson is still kicking around, appearing on 2SM radio this week, and he hasn’t lost his acid tongue, we can confirm.
Appearing with presenter Chris Smith, Richo was asked about demands Kevin Rudd be stood down as ‘s ambassador to the U.S., given the many critical things he has had to say about Donald Trump.
Richo pointed out how close Albo and Rudd have long been, suggesting the firing on Trump’s watch is unlikely, before waxing lyrical about how unusual it was in Labor circles to even like Rudd.
‘Liking Kevin Rudd makes you pretty rare, he’s not a person with loads of friends,’ Richo claimed. Then came the zinger: ‘I suspect that they’ll be plenty at his funeral but only to make sure he’s gone.’
The dry wit reminded us of a paradox that a former senior political insider in the press gallery used to say back when Rudd and Tony Abbott were still in the parliamentary thick of it, to explain why one was so popular publicly but not privately (Rudd), whereas the other was deeply unpopular in the eyes of the public yet likeable away from the public glare (Abbott).
‘If you don’t like Tony Abbott, don’t meet him, he’ll change your mind. If you like Kevin Rudd, don’t meet him, he’ll change your mind.’
Sunday Night crew member found dead in Sydney
In the world of television news and current affairs, it can often feel like it is all about the reporters appearing on the small screen.
But for every on-air type on the box, there is a dedicated team of producers, camos, soundos and editors working tireless behind-the-scenes to make the magic of television happen.
Tragically, last week, the industry lost one of its unsung heroes after former Sunday Night sound recordist Sam Beattie was found dead at his Sydney home.
The fishing enthusiast and avid gardener, who has struggled with depression in recent years, had been a long-serving crew member on Seven’s now-defunct current affairs staple before moving onto freelance documentaries and reality television.
Although audiences might not recognise Beattie’s name, tributes have flowed in from those who worked alongside ‘Sammy’ and got to experience his hard work and dedication first-hand.
Former Sunday Night star Steve Pennells told Inside Mail he learned a lot from the gregarious soundo on both a professional and personal level throughout their time together.
‘I’m deeply saddened to hear of Sam’s passing,’ Pennells said.
‘Sam was not only a brilliant sound recordist but also a kind and dependable colleague during my early years on Sunday Night.
‘I’ll never forget his calm professionalism and unwavering support, especially during a particularly challenging assignment in Lebanon.
‘The crew are rarely the faces of a show like that but the magic you saw on screen had more to do with their hard work than any of us.
‘Sam was one of the good ones. He was a joy to work with and will be greatly missed by everyone who was lucky enough to work alongside him.’
His thoughts were echoed by Sunday Night’s founding executive producer, Mark Llewellyn.
‘Sam Beattie was not only good at his job – in fact, very good – but more importantly he was a good man,’ he told Inside Mail.
‘His colleague’s loved him, and so did the interviewees he micced up on the road.
‘He had that great knack of making them feel relaxed and just that little bit more comfortable. Sam was just a top bloke and his loss is being keenly felt.
‘Like everyone who worked with Sam, I am lost for words. Too young. Just heartbreaking.’
Cameraman and close friend Andre Eavis also shared a heartfelt tribute.
‘Vale – Sam Beattie. I will miss you my friend,’ he said.
‘I loved your dedication, your friendship and your entertaining company. This post is dedicated to you and all the people you made happy, there were so many.
‘I was fortunate to be a friend. Rest in peace, Sam.’
Indeed.
Genovese caught between a rock and a hard place
Sometimes in life it seems you just can’t keep anyone happy – as Nine’s newly installed Perth news director Michael Genovese is rapidly discovering.
Inside Mail last week revealed the troops in Gena’s St Georges Terrace newsroom were rebelling after he filled-in as the network’s prime-time news anchor over the summer break while the highly regarded yet lazily nicknamed Michael ‘Thommo’ Thomson was on leave.
‘He shouldn’t be reading the news now that he’s in management,’ they cried.
And, of course, they’re right.
But worry not, Nine assured us, it was just one of those roster snafus.
Gena doesn’t have any intention of trying to take on both roles, they said.
Phew! That’s a relief. We’re glad that’s all sorted because… oh, wait… what’s this?
Now we’re hearing the station’s execs are rebelling against Nine’s explanation?
That’s right, Nine Perth’s top brass reckon Gena does need to be taking on two roles and reading the news whenever the spot is up for grabs.
What’s more the outraged execs warned the network’s national news director, Fiona Dear, that the network had invested way too much time and money into making Gena an on-air star to have him consigned to some stuffy desk job overlooking mundane budget sheets and staff rosters.
They’d even given him a plum U.S. correspondent gig to help him build his ‘brand’ for heaven’s sake – did that mean nothing?
Well, apparently not, because the execs’ pleas fell on Dear’s deaf ears and the debonair reporter is now firmly ensconced in middle management.
Poor fella. Still, it’s good to be in demand, we suppose.
Raygun’s media minder offers words of wisdom
It’s a tale as old as time itself: a middle-aged academic hip-hops about like a kangaroo in front of a large crowd of baffled onlookers before being mercilessly mocked by Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show.
Yet, somehow, native animal impressionist and theoretical breakdancer Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn seems stunned by the ongoing backlash over her Olympics ‘routine’… as well as her desperately ill-advised threats to sue comedian Steph Broadbridge for parodying her ‘elite-level’ performance.
Fortunately, she found just the right man to help explain it all to her.
Inside Mail can reveal highly regarded one-time Daily Tele sports editor, former NRL spin doctor and all-round set of safe hands David Taylor was assigned the daunting task of media managing Gunn after her breakdancing debacle blew up and attracted headlines from around the globe.
Unfortunately, it was only on an interim basis.
Taylor, who is a Telstra exec these days, has volunteered to help ‘s sporting greats with their public relations strategies at the Olympics for the past two decades and his time with Raygun wrapped up at the end of the global sporting event… just about the time things started going downhill for her.
He wouldn’t share any insider secrets when we contacted him this week…
However, we hear he did offer her some choice words of wisdom after her dance floor debut in Paris: ‘Ummm, you might want to stay off social media for a while, Rachael.’
If only it were all that easy.
Still, Gunn might well want to adhere to that sage advice after outraged reality TV fans this week lost it over speculation she had been signed up to rumble in the jungle in Ten’s upcoming season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Many of her not-so-ardent admirers were so worked up, they called for her to be pre-emptively canned by the stunt-based survival show.
Of course, the online furore will have only excited the series’ producers, who will doubtless adhere to the time-honoured TV adage: ‘Love her or hate her, as long as you watch her, she’s not going anywhere.’
Seriously though, let’s just be happy she’s not on Dancing with the Stars… yet.
Oz US corro Joe Kelly’s on song in Washington D.C.
It will come as no surprise that The n’s editor-in-chief Paul Kelly is often mistaken for the iconic singer-songwriter of the same name… at least when making dinner reservations over the phone.
But his son, and the national broadsheet’s U.S. correspondent, Joe Kelly, is far more likely to be confused for crooner Joe Cocker.
The talented newsman and muso has been busy cataloguing all his tunes online of late in between press conferences at the White House – and is slated to upload another original track later this month.
With his raspy voice and ear for a bluesy love ballad, Kelly has been proving he’s just as adept at waxing lyrical at a piano’s keyboard as he is at a computer’s.
Sadly, when we got in touch with Kelly this week, he told us he was far too preoccupied covering all the action in Washington to perform much these days…
Still we’re sure there’s a quiet little piano bar somewhere in D.C. just waiting to have its ivories tickled.
Well played, Joe – literally. We’re looking forward to the next release.
Stargazing Seven News axes controversial segment
Speaking of stars, in the end, it turns out they didn’t quite align for Seven News’ ambitious new astrology segment.
Inside Mail can reveal the headline-grabbing horoscopes reports with professional stargazer Natasha ‘AstroTash’ Weber will not be returning to the network’s prime-time bulletins this year after being ‘rested’ over the summer.
We reckon Jupiter’s transit in Taurus is to blame.
Although the segment had its detractors, we’re reliably informed it actually performed okay for Seven… but the channel’s news bosses aren’t happy with just okay performances and are ratcheting things up a gear this year.
As a result, the whole astrology bit has had to make way for another innovative project the network has in the pipeline.
We’d love to be able to predict what that is… but without the stars to guide us, we’re hopelessly lost.
Stopwatch already running on Hamish Macdonald
Okay the countdown begins… right… about… now!
One of the worst-kept secrets in radio was confirmed this week with the ABC announcing roving reporter Hamish Macdonald will be replacing ousted Sydney Mornings presenter Sarah Macdonald on 702AM.
Although the dashing host will slip behind the mic for the first time next Monday, we hear his colleagues are already taking bets on how long he will last.
Not that any of them reckon he’ll be bad at the gig…
It’s just that Macdonald has earned a bit of a reputation for being a one-man game of musical chairs when it comes to media roles.
What do we mean? Well, let’s work through it.
The former Scots College student cut his teeth in journalism during a brief hit-out on the federal politics beat for the regional WIN television network in 2003 before moving to London where he eventually found a home at Channel 4 News.
A couple of years later, in 2006, he moved to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where he worked as first a producer then news presenter for Al Jazeera English for a remarkably long five-and-a-bit years.
So far, so simple.
Now, strap yourself in, because we’re about to head into a whirlwind.
In 2010, he moved back to after signing on as a foreign correspondent with the ill-fated eponymous George Negus at 6.30pm show on Ten… until it was canned and he moved on to host the 10 Late Night News.
In 2013, he moved into long-form, after Ten gave him his own investigative series, The Truth Is, only for the program to be canned after a paltry three episodes.
In 2014, he moved to New York after being offered a gig as an international affairs correspondent with America’s ABC network before moving to London later that year.
In 2017, he moved back to and Ten again as a regular host for The Sunday Project.
In 2018, he moved into a full-time presenting role on The Project but got typically restless just shy of two years and decided, shock of all shocks, it was time to move on. And move on, he did.
In 2019, he announced he was moving to the ABC to replace long-standing Q&A host Tony Jones – but lasted just 18 months before moving off the show in mid-2020.
In 2021, he moved back to The Project, saying the progressive news and current affairs show was in his ‘DNA’ while revealing he had even greater ambitions to expand his horizons with a move into the extended ‘Paramount+’ universe.
By 2023, he had moved on from exploring Paramount’s horizons and back to the ABC where he joined Aunty’s Radio National morning show, RN Breakfast, while also filing for the public broadcaster’s Foreign Correspondent program.
Then, coming full circle, in late 2024, he was tipped to move into Sarah Macdonald’s spot on ABC Sydney Mornings – before the move was confirmed this week.
Seriously, we’re exhausted just thinking about all that moving about. The bloke is like a human yo-yo.
Someone please run us a Radox bath.
We’ll keep you abreast of Macdonald’s next move, when he reveals he’s rejoining The Project and Ten as a full-time host again, at some point next year.
Oz Idol host worshipped as ‘real-life mother Teresa’
If there are two things Queenslanders do better than anyone else, it’s telling you how great Queensland is… and telling you how great Queenslanders are.
(Heck, they’re even more than happy to claim Kevin Rudd, bless them).
Little wonder then that the types in at Brisbane’s ultra-parochial Sunday Mail news sheet worked themselves into a lather at the weekend after finding a tangential Queensland link to the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
The paper’s proud-as-punch writers boasted that one-time n Idol host and former Brissie boy Scott Tweedie had graciously opened the doors to his home in LA’s Venice Beach to evacuees throughout the devastating ordeal.
‘I’ve got about 12 people in my place at the moment, popping in and stay here,’ Tweedie said. ‘A handful of my friends have lost everything.’
Indeed, his hometown paper was so inspired by Tweedie’s tender act of kindness, it gushed his benevolence had won him the nickname of the ‘real-life Mother Teresa‘.
(You know, as opposed to the fictional Mother Teresa you hear people banging on about all the time).
Now, of course, we’re not taking anything away from Tweedie’s phenomenal gesture – it genuinely shows an amazing sense of community spirit – but comparing him to a devout nun canonised as a Saint by the Catholic Church after she was recognised for working two miracles?
That might be laying it on a bit thick even by Sunshine State standards…
But, sure, why not?
Altogether now: Queenslander!!!
And the title of Dummy of the Week goes to…
Well, you wouldn’t think someone could collect the coveted title for Dummy of the Week two times in a row… but when you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll.
Besides, reigning titleholder Albo’s choice of words has been a little off of late.
First he decided to have a crack at cabana-using beach-goers.
Next he used the LA fires to deliver a sermon about the importance of taking action to address climate change.
This week at a press conference our DJ-bopping PM has decided to embrace the rhetoric of today’s youth.
Or at least how over 60-year-olds assume they speak.
Because, you know, with an election just around the corner the youth vote could be the difference between winning or losing.
Albo was talking about what as a ‘multicultural, tolerant nation’ should stand for when he decided to start referring to his inner-city electorate of Sydney as his ‘hood’.
According to dictionary.com, hood is slang for ‘an urban neighbourhood inhabited predominantly by African Americans of low socioeconomic status’.
For the record the same website gives the definition for ‘foot-in-mouth’ as an ‘inappropriate, insensitive, or imprudent’ statement.
No picture of Albo to go with it, however.
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