Gongs, Murdoch, electoral law, talk circuit
July 22, 2008
Here are Stephen Mayne's five stories from the Crikey edition on Thursday, 29 June, 2006.
5. Donations for gongs – how about Hilton Grugeon?
By Stephen Mayne and Sophie Vorrath
The link between political donations and gongs has still not been examined by anyone in the mainstream media, but our old friends at The Northern Territory News did publish the following on page 11 yesterday:
Crikey, Stone's madMeanwhile, another big donating gong recipient has come to our attention in the form of millionaire NSW property developer Hilton Grugeon.
Former chief minister Shane Stone has slammed Crikey website correspondent Stephen Mayne for suggesting Darwin pearl magnate Nick Paspaley gained a Queen's birthday honour because of his generous CLP donations. Mayne asked if Mr Stone – a 2006 Companion of the Order of Australia – would he have been Mr Paspaley's nominator for the AC in 1995 if he had "donated four times as much to the Labor Party as the conservatives''?
Mr Stone said Mr Paspaley had been a "good supporter'' of the CLP but said the community group that nominated him were "intensely proud'' of his achievements.
Grugeon was made a member of the award's General Division – that's an AM, to you and me – for service to the community through contributions to business and economic development in the Hunter region, and as a benefactor to a range of not-for-profit organisations.
But Grugeon's contributions to the community also include his being the funding force, and public face, of the electoral lobby group Hunter First, which claimed political independence but was widely accused of promoting only Liberal Party candidates with its costly “Sack the Safe Seats” campaign during the 2003 state election.
Grugeon's financial connection with the Liberal Party came into question again just last week, with reports that Hunter First was looking to revive its campaign in the lead-up to the 2007 election. Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos called for a reform of the Electoral Funding Act after alleging "Mr Big Bucks Grugeon" declared less than $20,000 in political funding despite "trumpeting" about the $200,000 cost of the 2003 campaign.
Grugeon has since hit back at these comments saying that Hunter First's “Sack the Safe Seats” campaign was simply "about saying let's stop being taken for granted (by the state government)."
7. It's a big news day as He dispenses the interviews
By Stephen Mayne, unconfirmed (it was easier getting a response out of the Kremlin) News Corp board candidate
Rupert Murdoch separately gave an hour of his time to two journalists yesterday morning – The Australian's deputy business editor Nic Hopkins and The AFR's Chanticleer columnist John Durie – surrounded only by a couple of photographs of Wendi and their two young daughters, and the former James Hardie spin doctor now with News Ltd, Greg Baxter.
Both reporters have dealt with Murdoch many times over the years, although it was the first formal sit-down interview for Hopkins, who spent five years on The Times in London, whereas Durie has had about a dozen formal interviews and sometimes would speak to Rupert on a daily basis during his four year stint on The New York Post in the early 1990s.
In terms of interview yield, Hopkins had the disadvantage of going first but emerged the clear winner as he managed to eke out the following six stories from his hour in Rupert's dedicated fifth floor office at News Ltd's Australian head office in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills:
Investors should sue S&P over index decision
Murdoch's quit advice to Blair
US TV stations to go in Malone deal
PCCW's TV unit attracts Murdoch
Murdoch pushes for competition across spectrum
I won't give it away like Gates and Buffett, says selfish Rupert (not online, of course, and apols for the editorial licence)
While the call for investors to sue S&P for not allowing News Corp to double-dip in the indices of two countries was brazen, the classic Murdoch quote was: "We would like to see at least a year to 18 months' stand-off between Gordon Brown and (Conservative Party leader) David Cameron so we can decide which of those most coincides with our views."
Of course, the public interest and Britain's national interest is not a factor here – it's a case of who will sign up to an American foreign policy agenda, smaller government, media deregulation, tough anti-terror policies and a sceptical eye to Europe.
The AFR confined its coverage to Durie's regular Chanticleer column and a front page splash with a large spill, but there was plenty of copy focusing on the pending Malone deal, PCCW, MySpace and Telstra.
However, The Australian is getting far more credit around the world because of The AFR's Luddite approach to the internet in giving nothing away. The "Blair should go soon" comments certainly attracted plenty of attention in London, but the "Malone deal soon" has gone global.
9. The Rupert brown-nosing prize – and the winner is ...
By Stephen Mayne
Spotting attempts by News Ltd hacks to impress Rupert Murdoch when he visits Australia is a fun sport. But with the Sun King's trip winding up this weekend, we've already got a clear winner. Step forward, Andrew Bolt, who produced this on Tuesday:
Fox News, owned by the company that owns this paper, has a tone too raucous for the ABC. But it has a format for debate the ABC should copy, not condemn. .. Channel Nine under Eddie McGuire is examining the Fox News model because it makes for more interesting television – and cheaper. The ABC should, too, because it is more fair – and informative.The closest the ABC will ever get to Fox News was broadcasting Robert Greenwald's powerful Outfoxed documentary, which has sold more than 250,000 DVDs worldwide and was banned in Murdoch outlets across Australia, as Media Watch revealed at the time.
One of the Fox News media monitors from Moveon.org explains how they assembled the evidence to produce the documentary which left Rupert's claim of "fair and balanced" only supported by his most loyal courtiers, such as Andrew Bolt. Truth be known, Fox News is a disgrace to journalism, but Rupert can't afford to let it be labelled blatant Republican Party propaganda and patriotic pap.
Witness the way Fox News even sued comedian Al Franken in 2003, claiming that it had trademarked the expression "fair and balanced", although this proved to be a PR disaster.
Bolt has also been displaying the high-pitched patriotism that is characteristic of The Sun and Fox News. Witness yesterday's attacks on the minority of Italian-Australians who barracked for the Azzurri on Tuesday morning:
Did you see the pictures from Sydney's Norton St – the Italian heart of our most ethnically torn city – when the ball fizzed past Mark Schwarzer's despairing glove? As many as 8000 people, many in Italy's blue shirts, screamed, clapped, sang, danced, lit flares, honked car horns and set off fireworks. Fantastic! Australia, their home, was beaten! The country that had opened its arms to them and their parents was devastated! How sweet.Right, so next time Rupert Murdoch drops in on the US Open to cheer for Lleyton Hewitt, the New York Post will no doubt blast its US citizen proprietor for being un-American.
16. Minor parties deregistered by Howard electoral law changes
By Stephen Mayne
The Howard Government last week passed its most disgraceful piece of legislation since getting Senate control – the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006.
Whilst there's been the odd whinge, a respected political academic told me yesterday that the media have not kicked up an appropriate stink about these three absolute howlers in the new laws:
- The electoral roll closes on the day an election is called, thereby disenfranchising tens of thousands of young voters, who mainly vote Green and Labor, and ensuring hundreds of thousands of electors can't correct outdated enrolment details.
- Lifting the disclosure threshold for political donations from $1,500 to $10,000, arguably the weakest system in the developed world.
- Increasing the tax deductibility of donations from $100 to $1,500 when political parties are already lavished with federal public funding of almost $2 a vote.
People Power first lodged in November 2004 and we were put through the ringer on a range of issues but didn't finally get registered until 31 March, 2006. Lo and behold, just three months later the Howard Government passes new laws deregistering us and about ten other parties such that we'll all have so go through the process yet again. It's a disgrace. Talk about creating barriers to entry and a tilted playing field.
Incidentally, the new laws for tax deductions are now in place, so today I've transferred $1500 to People Power from my account and the beloved wife Paula has made a similar donation. That's just cost the Federal Government almost $1000 in lost tax revenue as this new system of expanded political welfare kicks in.
If you fancy another tax deduction before the end of the financial year, why not give generously to your favourite political party before close of business tomorrow night. Provided they are registered, of course, because donations to independents are not tax-deductible – one of the many quirks in the system that entrench the existing major party duopoly.
24. Confessions of a talk circuit tart
By Stephen Mayne, talk circuit tart
If you thought running in the Victorian election meant everything else would be dropped, think again, because if anything the schedule of public speaking engagements is getting crazier than ever.
Tuesday night was the fifth straight year of dinner talking to Geoff Allen's group of spin doctors who have an intensive five day training session at the Melbourne Business School for the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs Institute. This audience in 2003 was the toughest I ever faced and effectively ended Crikey's campaigning against Natasha Stott Despoja, although the 78 spinners attending this year were quite positive.
Tonight will be an MC role at this People Power launch function in Melbourne at Gary Morgan's Collins Street conference centre. Please don't pay the $40 to hear Nick Xenophon because he's ill and can't make it, which we hope has nothing to do with the drunken abuse he suffered at the hands of a senior South Australian Labor MP earlier this week.
On 7 July there's a trip to Canberra for ANU's Hartnell Colloquium, an invitation only forum about corporate regulation in Australia featuring HIH Royal Commissioner Neville Owen and a host of other participants who apparently get to enjoy an all-in, all-day debate. After that there is a weekend at the seaside resort of Lorne on 15-16 July for the Municipal Association of Victoria 2006 conference and my captivating topic is "Doing the right thing: the day-to-day dilemmas of a councillor."
20 July is the Macquarie Bank AGM in Sydney and failed public company board tilt number 23 and then the following week in Sydney on 26 July we have an Association of Super Funds of Australia (ASFA) lunch retailing a few AGM war stories. Sticking with the asset management industry are a couple of panel sessions at the big Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) conference on the Gold Coast on 2-4 August, followed by another panel at an MEAA conference on public relations in Sydney on 9-11 August .
After the fun and games with Phil Burgess at the recent Chartered Secretaries Association seminars in Melbourne and Sydney about whether the corporate AGM is dead, we have another CSA gig in Melbourne on 22 August dealing with the public sector.
The Conference of Major Super Funds (CMSF) annual gabfest has been a regular on the fixture for the past four years so it'll be back to Cairns on 28-30 August for a corporate governance update to industry super fund trustees and various service providers. Sadly, these trustees are happy to listen but rarely use their voting power to support an outside board tilt.
15 September is a business breakfast at Tullamarine Airport for Hume City Council and then there is the International Pokies Impact conference on September 18-19, which will finally start to focus on an issue relevant to the Victorian election campaign on 25 November. There's also a Probus Club talk on 3 October, although discussion on religion and politics is banned, and then a Skeptics Conference on 17 November, just a week before the polls open.
Throw in a likely trip to New York in October for the News Corp AGM and latest board tilt, a probably anti-pokies tilt at the Woolworths board, the kinder AGM and at least 20 speaking gigs, public forums and candidate debates during the campaign proper and I'll probably need to take all of December off.
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