While many in the media saw the National Press Club speeches of Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame as a “call to action, a warning against complacency in an election year”, Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt had his usual contrary take.
On his Wednesday evening program, the Murdoch columnist described the outpouring of anguish and frustration from the two young women as an “orgy of hate that should shame the press club” and an example of our “sick” political culture.
It reminded us of his treatment of another Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes, when he accused the AFL great of being racially divisive for calling out a 13-year-old girl in the crowd who racially vilified him.
Bolt couldn’t see past what he characterised as personal and unfair attacks on the prime minister. He even claimed the audience heard “not one serious practical policy from the two speakers”.
The Herald Sun columnist jumped to the defence of the prime minister, who he had dismissed only a few days earlier as “a man with the fight beaten out of him”.
Tame “went for Morrison’s throat”, Bolt told his Sky viewers, while Higgins threw the PM’s apology “back in his face”.
There was ‘unbridled hate’ for Scott Morrison at National Press Club #auspol https://t.co/R6jtFyz8EU
— Andrew Bolt (@Bolt_RSS) February 9, 2022
His stablemate Chris Kenny, an associate editor on the Australian, said it was “part of a campaign” to weaponise sexual harassment and abuse as a party-political issue.
“There is no doubt they deserve admiration for their public advocacy, their calls for better support and justice for victims of sexual assaults,” Kenny said.
“But none of this gives them a free pass from scrutiny or accountability about the highly politicised nature of their media-driven campaigning.”
Tame is of course used to being “commodified” by parts of the media, telling the audience she had been “re-victimised, commodified, objectified, sensationalised, delegitimised, gaslit, thrown under the bus by the biased mainstream media”.
Last drinks?
With an election looming, TV current affairs shows are rolling out their features on the prime minister and his challenger, Albanese.
As the election looms, we ask voters: Does Anthony Albanese have what it takes to be PM? Monday on #4Corners #AusPol2022 pic.twitter.com/r88NHmjbVt
— Sally Neighbour (@neighbour_s) February 9, 2022
On Monday the ABC’s Four Corners talked to undecided voters about what they thought of Morrison and how he had handled the past three years. In an attempt to be even-handed the program used “two political research companies and a range of community forums to recruit undecided voters”, according to executive producer Sally Neighbour. Next week reporter Sean Nicholls will subject Albanese to the same treatment.
After his toughest weeks in the top job, the Prime Minister fights back with his secret weapon. SUNDAY on #60Mins, can Jenny Morrison save her husband’s career? pic.twitter.com/qqZ8DSJGpO
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 9, 2022
Nine’s 60 Minutes took a different approach, sending a cheeky Karl Stefanovic to trot around Scott and Jenny’s Kirribilli House kitchen, margarita in hand, for a “behind the scenes” look as “Scott Morrison fights back”.
“Can Jenny Morrison save the election?” the promo asks.
Viewers are also in line for something special with the PM’s ukulele rendition of the 1977 hit April in the Sun in Cuba.
We are yet to learn whether the uke was a souvenir from Morrison’s ill-fated January 2020 in the sun in Hawaii.
Get you a Prime Minister who can do both (sing the same verse of April Sun In Cuba twice) pic.twitter.com/AQ8at4Gzpb
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) February 11, 2022
How it started …
A day earlier, Laura Tingle, ABC 7.30’s political editor, reminded everyone of where the feminist insurgency being played out in the media began, with a shout-out to Four Corners reporter Louise Milligan, whose Inside the Canberra Bubble story was instrumental in persuading Higgins to speak to news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden.
Maiden’s story is up for scoop of the year at the 66th Walkley Awards on 25 February, a gala dinner in Sydney that has been rescheduled twice due to Covid.
On a day Parliament has apologised to women who have suffered from its toxic culture, I applaud @Milliganreports whose ‘Inside the Canberra Bubble’ @4corners played a huge role in blowing it open. And send a big cheerio to those male reporters who greeted it with such hostility
— Laura Tingle (@latingle) February 8, 2022
Lisa Wilkinson and Ten’s Project team, who did the first television interview with Higgins, have been nominated in the public service journalism category for a series of three stories.
Interestingly, the three journalists are competing against each other in another category, coverage of a major news event or issue. Maiden for the Higgins story, Milligan for Inside the Canberra Bubble and Tingle (and James Elton) for her 7.30 coverage.
Sales away
With Leigh Sales stepping down from 7.30 in late June after the federal election, speculation is rife about who will replace her. Sales has anchored the key show for 12 years and her decision to walk away was a well kept secret at Aunty until she revealed it at the end of the show.
“There’s nothing wrong, other than I just feel a strong sense of it being time to pass the baton to the next runner in the race and to take a break,” a teary Sales said. “The end of an election cycle feels like a good time to move on to something new at the ABC.
Congratulating my colleague & friend @leighsales on her incredible work for 7.30. She espouses the finest virtues of public broadcasting journalism & I admire her. We’ll make most of her remaining time at 7.30 until June & can’t wait to see what she does next at the ABC. A legend pic.twitter.com/ZrBDMDKgfq
— Justin Stevens (@_JustinStevens_) February 10, 2022
“I’ve tried to shut down wafflers, call out bullshit, hold powerful people to account, expose lies, incompetence and exaggeration in all political parties and on all issues, and present facts even when they’re unpopular or inconvenient. I have truly tried my absolute hardest on behalf of you at home to do that every single time I’ve sat at the desk.”
There are a several moving parts at ABC news at the moment. The job of news director is yet to be filled after the departure of Gaven Morris, Fran Kelly hasn’t revealed what she will do now she’s out of RN Breakfast, and now Sales has to find a suitable berth too.
How many spare roles are there for senior ABC journalists? Although Sales said she was staying with Aunty, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine her taking over from Channel Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann. Uhlmann, Nine’s political editor, has said he’ll retire at the end of the year.
Red top
Two of the Australian’s “exclusive” stories this week were questionable, but for entirely different reasons.
Reporters from the Age and the Guardian say there was a midnight embargo on a report from the Climate Council that was published several hours earlier at 6.34pm by the Australian.
The Australian’s bureau chief, Joe Kelly, told Weekly Beast the report by Sarah Ison “was published ahead of embargo by accident”.
He didn’t say how it ended up with a big red exclusive tag on top of the story though.
Hey Oz come get your 'exclusive', it left home before it was ready and broke the midnight embargo 🤗 pic.twitter.com/ggEwdliLJk
— Miki Perkins (@perkinsmiki) February 9, 2022
Breaking … from 1991
It took the Australian’s Sharri Markson more than 30 years to dig up some dirt on the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese, but she is nothing if not tenacious.
Exclusive: Anthony Albanese criticised capitalism and family wealth as causes of social injustice while suggesting incomes above $100k a year were not deserved.
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) February 9, 2022
He made the remarks while arguing for death duties as assistant general secretary of NSW Labor.https://t.co/CEa7ISiLO2
The investigations editor’s “exclusive” story on page one of the Oz on Thursday was about Albo’s dark past as a “radical leftie”.
His crime was to argue for an inheritance tax at a Labor conference in Tasmania – five years before he even entered parliament as an MP.
At the time he was assistant general secretary of NSW Labor, having graduated from activist youth, a period now referred to as the “Hot Albo” era. (The Oz even used the famous “Hot Albo” photo to illustrate the article.)
The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, whose office might have been the source of the ancient speech, was at hand for the killer quote.
“Mr Albanese posed a ‘significant threat to Australia’s economic future with his socialist ideals and lack of economic experience, having never held a Treasury portfolio’,” the story quoted him as saying.
Twitter was fierce, with one chap saying: “Looking forward to your deep dive ‘exclusive’ into what Albo said in primary school too, Sharri”.
The wrong guy
With Australia’s longest-running drama set to end in June if a new broadcaster isn’t found, the future of Neighbours was a hot topic this week. Even the Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, was prompted into talking about it. Unfortunately Guy got his soapies mixed up, telling reporters he remembers “Alf’s white house” on the show back in the 1980s.
With Neighbours facing the axe, it's time to share your memories. Even if some got it wrong... pic.twitter.com/YcIlpOk9aA
— The Project (@theprojecttv) February 9, 2022
Alf Stewart is of course one of the original characters from our other long-running soapie, Home and Away.
