On Thursday, media tycoon Kerry Stokes presided over his last annual general meeting as Seven West Media’s chair (as long as the anticipated merger with Triple M and Hit radio network owner Southern Cross Media goes ahead).
The 85-year-old, who is expected to step down in February, tried to reassure shareholders, telling the company’s AGM in Sydney that executives at Network Seven and The West Australian newspaper had not been paid bonuses this year.
Shareholder Paul Keighery took up the microphone in the audience to address Stokes, saying Seven West was “the greatest media company in Australia” but it was treating minority shareholders like him and his wife with “contempt”.
Seven West shares have declined by 30% over the last five years to about 13.5 cents.
Keighery, who said he bought 200,000 shares when they were worth $5, asked Stokes if the company could consider paying even a “minuscule” dividend to investors.
“My wife and I, we love Farmer Wants a Wife, Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, all those programs, good on you,” he said.
Stokes assured Keighery that he “had no dividends either” and later said the company’s earnings have “actually been challenged by some very large international companies stealing all our revenue”.
Nevertheless, Stokes failed to soothe the shareholders who voted to impart a “first strike” against the company – which occurs when more than 25% of shareholders vote against executive pay plans.
The strike would normally open up the company to the risk of a board spill next year if it were to record a second consecutive strike, however that could be complicated by its anticipated merger.
Switzer rebound
This week marked the end of a hiatus from The Australian for political commentator Tom Switzer, who, in the intervening months, quit The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) amid accusations filed in the Fair Work Commission that he harassed a colleague. Switzer reportedly said that he made the decision to leave before the allegations were made. .
In August, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Emilie Dye, a marketing and research analyst at the right-leaning thinktank, had lodged applications with the Fair Work Commission alleging Switzer had rubbed her leg, told her she had a “great arse” and described himself as “a very sexual guy” on a night out.
He categorically denied the claims and there is no suggestion that the allegations are true, only that they were made in a filing with the Fair Work Commission.
Dye also claimed the CIS engaged in “retaliatory” action by investigating her conduct after she refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the complaint. The CIS went on to publicly apologise to Dye as part of a settlement that included a payout.
Switzer’s comeback commentary focused on the Liberal party’s challenges – and how history shows that setbacks can be overcome.
“No victory lasts forever,” Switzer wrote, “… and no downfall is permanent”.
Race returns, but will it work?
Race Around the World was a “logistical nightmare” where every “single thing was, like, 10 times bigger than what we thought it was going to be,” its producer Paige Livingston told the ABC in March.
The unlikely hit of the 1990s pitched eight young people headlong into rough-and-ready film producing way, way back before everyone could make short films on their smartphones in minutes – and the emergence of risk-averse corporate culture.
The format – each entrant had to produce 10 documentaries in 10 countries in 100 days – was a leap of faith that launched the careers of John Safran and Olivia Rousset. Safran’s success was largely down to his gonzo approach – grist for today’s social media mill.
“I don’t think Race Around the World would work just because of the way technology works now,” judge David Caesar told the broadcaster.
Richard Fidler, who presented the show, was equally doubtful. “I think that identity politics would be lathered over the whole thing,” he said.
“Like, should you have gotten that kind of person? Does that person have the right to tell that story? I think we live in a kind of culturally constipated moment that wouldn’t want that.”
But, despite the warnings, the program about intrepid, budding film-makers will be back in 2026, with Endemol Shine Australia now on the hunt for talent for the revival.
In a world that faces almost bewilderingly different tech, access, political and social landscapes, the version will need to make room for AI, disinformation, polarisation, instancy and shareability among all of the other fickle and varying mores of social media.
Forever war
Forget about Christmas coming early – Australia Day culture wars are now all year round.
With hundreds of councils no longer holding Australia Day citizenship ceremonies, 26 January has become a day of more nuance than ever (Peter Dutton notwithstanding).
Well, “certainly not [for] Maitland”, says its mayor, after the New South Wales LGA began preparing for the national day. The mayor, Philip Penfold, is leading a campaign to give away Australian flags in “celebration” of the moment many would rather treat with muted reflection.
“Well, Australia Day is around the corner and I’m glad to say that the council have decided to give away some free Australian flags for households or businesses,” Penfold said in a social media video on Wednesday.
Penfold said the flags will be ready to collect before Christmas so that “you can fly them proudly into the future and especially on Australia Day”.
Flags for flagpoles or wall-mounted versions are available as part of the initiative for which “$5,000 to $10,000” had been set aside, he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
Fordham has given the freebies his seal of approval, with Maitland an antidote to the scourge of viewing the day as a moment that marks Indigenous resistance. “Sadly there are a lot of people who want to talk down Australia these days, but there are some who are still pushing our pride,” Fordham said on Wednesday.
Penfold agreed.
“We want Maitland residents to know that they can be proud of their flag, of their country,” he said. “We have to get prepared, mate.”
Outback mystery
The unexplained and awful disappearance of South Australian boy Gus Lamont continues to consume plenty of column inches at the Daily Mail.
“Armed tirade at Daily Mail” the newspaper reported on 31 October after senior reporter Jonica Bray was told to leave the private property of Gus’s grandmother, Josie Murray, who was holding a shotgun at the time. Gus went missing from the Yunta property more than a month ago.
“The grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont has waved a pump-action shotgun at a Daily Mail reporter who enquired about the ongoing search for her grandson.
“Ms Bray had offered her condolences to Gus’s other grandmother Shannon Murray, who declined to comment, and was leaving the property when the weapon was pulled on her,” Bray wrote.
Then, on 3 November, Bray wrote a first-person piece about the experience in less sensational tones.
“It was Shannon Murray who wearily greeted me at Oak Park station last week, but she told me she had no comment on her grandson.
“It was when I was leaving that Josie exited the other side of the house, rounding the corner and brandishing a shotgun,” she wrote.
“Having a gun waved in my direction was certainly a first. I guess turning up at the same time that a snake was apparently seen nearby was bad timing.”
