Friday 29th of March 2024

are you from the ABC?...

mal and nev

It seems these things happened in another lifetime, when Bill Leak was at his zenith working for the SMH, before he fell from a balcony. This fantastic cartoon (February 1998) from the collection "Drawing Blood" shows Bill with real pen and ink rather than the awful tablet he seemed to use for the crappy cartoons he did for the crappy slanted Murdoch media, after his fall.

 

There, there is a fat-faced Malcolm starting to get grey on the temples, slightly forlorn, while being advised by a confident Neville Wran, a formidable man, former Labor Premier of New South Wales, from whom many New South Wales Labor politicians learned the technique of talking straight through the corner of the mouth while covering it with the hand so no one could lip-read. 

The book of course tells us the conversation, as guessed by a brilliant writer, Doug Anderson — a conversation which is related to the "Republican Convention" the sinking sentiment of which stayed like a sharp stone in Malcolm's shoes till today — because Mal eventually got done like a dinner by a sneaky royalist John Howard. 

My personal view on this, was that Malcolm, always searching for the simplest lazy solution, was secretly — or dare we say subconsciously —  doing Howard's bidding by having a minimalist exclusive nibble at the republican ideal, because he feared that a popularly elected "President" of Australia could end up being someone like Jimmy Barnes, Jason Donovan or John Farnham. Kylie Minogue would have been a long shot since she was a woman.

So one could not join the Malcolm Republican party (club) unless one was invited. This smelled like a dead rat being waved in front of a fierce cat, John W Howard...

the conversation...

the conversation

The conversation as noted by Doug Anderson. Note: Wran was a famous "Balmain Boy"...

meeting neville...

I met Neville Wran a few times in my official capacity of sub-exec head-loafer of a fiddlestick company. I remember the first time. It was at the Sydney Botanic Gardens where he was going to officiate at the opening of something. I remember now, it was a new important exhibition about the first European planting by the boffins of the first fleet on that same spot. Apparently it was not wheat, nor carrots, but vines. The soil was poor and the wines made from this area would have been really awful compared to the excellent vinos and champs that were served for these special celebrations.

Neville was talking to his minders, and suddenly he walked to our small group of loafing piss-pots and shook hands introducing himself. He did not say his famous line "are you from the ABC" then. 

"Neville Wran".

"Gus Whatever".

He was not a particularly tall guy, but stocky with a honest handshake and a steely gaze that plunged deep into the hidden passages of your brain to the exit of your digestive system. He knew you or all there was to know in an instant. He was a true Labor from Balmain, a social thinker and a doer, unlike the awful crop of Liberals (CONservatives) residing in Macquarie Street now who only think with their cash register.

You could trust Neville. 

 

at the buzzer...

In today's Gadfly column, we are reminded of Mike Carlton's court-case against Neville... In order to smooth things a bit, David Hill (former CEO of the ABC, of the Railways, and former advisor to Wran) took Carlton to meet Neville Wran, Premier of NSW, at his abode in Woollahra (a Sydney upper-class burb) — bringing in the booze themselves and some flowers.

 

They buzzed the intercom, which was answered by the familiar raspy voice.

"We've dropped by for a drink" Hill announced. "Can we come in?"

"Who's with you?"

"Mike Carlton."

The Premier paused: "You can come in. But tell Carlton to fuck off."

 

Neville Wran had had a problem with his throat and the surgery had left him with a particular croaky speech, if I remember correctly.

turnbull — the bullshit republican

 

Paul Keating has accused Malcolm Turnbull of capitulating to conservatives in the fight for a republic, launching an extraordinary denunciation of the recently toppled leader and declaring  Australians would need a "microscope" to find his true beliefs.

Mr Keating savaged the former prime minister for doing too little during almost three years in power, saying he had “failed dismally” in leading the Liberal Party back to the centre of Australian politics.

The rebuke came in response to Mr Turnbull’s secretly recorded comments in New York where he dismissed Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott as "miserable ghosts" and signalled he would keep up his advocacy for a republic.

 

Mr Keating said those remarks “make you choke on your Weeties” because Mr Turnbull had done so little on the republic in government even though he had been the head of the Australian Republic Movement in the 1990s when the issue had been voted on in a referendum.

"His capitulation to conservatives on the republic says all that needs to be said about Malcolm’s wider ambitions for the country," the former Labor prime minister told Fairfax Media.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/you-would-need-a-microscope-to-find-his-true-beliefs-paul-keating-savages-malcolm-turnbull.html

 

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singing for milne...

Former ABC chairman Justin Milne wanted to hire pop queen Kylie Minogue to sing about the public broadcaster as part of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign.

Multiple sources have told Fairfax Media the idea was shot down by senior ABC management, including former managing director Michelle Guthrie, because the singer's $750,000 price tag was deemed too expensive.

Ms Guthrie is understood to have "hit the roof" when she discovered the proposal.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/justin-milne-wanted-kylie-minogue-to-sing-about-the-abc-with-a-potential-price-tag-of-750-000.html

 

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