A Nine columnist learned an alarming lesson this week. If you come for Peter van Onselen, or his family, you’d better bargain for an 800-word rebuke in response.
The political and economics editor of the Daily Mail Australia was not amused by last week’s Rear Window column in the Australian Financial Review, which referred to his wife, Ainslie van Onselen, who is the head of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
The column, written by Hannah Wootton, claimed Ainslie van Onselen had handed KPMG a “free pass” when the industry body released its quality practice review of the firm after whistleblower scandals over alleged misconduct and misuse of confidential client data.
“To call the resulting report a whitewash is an insult to fences,” Wootton wrote. “Chartered Accountants found the firm ‘actively promotes a culture of confidentiality’, has adequate compliance processes, and boasts leaders with a sterling commitment to ethical behaviour.”
The column got quite personal, describing Ainslie van Onselen as “publicity-happy” and claiming it couldn’t “be cheap” for her to maintain “the $3.4 million Vaucluse mansion she shares with her media personality husband Peter van Onselen”.
“Especially given the hefty bills he clocked up unsuccessfully suing his former employer Network 10 in 2023.”
The story was later corrected to clarify that Network 10 sued Van Onselen, not the other way round. Van Onselen reasonably pointed out this error in his own column, released five days later, which ran under the blistering headline: “A sneering nepo baby with a home paid for by the bank of mum and dad … the AFR’s Hannah Wootton ought to know what her colleagues really think of her before coming after me.”
In what read like a very long Burn Book, Van Onselen went into Wootton’s affluent family background in great depth, including Land Registry and Asic records showing she had acquired a property from her parents. The relevance of this?
“Having invited readers to inspect our household finances, she can hardly object when the inspection moves on to hers,” he wrote.
Van Onselen was annoyed at Wootton’s reference to the cost of his and his wife’s Vaucluse mansion. This was inaccurate, he wrote, because “that was the pre-reno purchase price back in 2011, and we bought it with a mortgage”.
“If she knows where local ‘mansions’ sell for that today, I’d appreciate the tip.”
What a stitch-up. Not only did Wootton think Van Onselen had attempted to sue instead of getting sued himself, she also grossly underestimated his home value.
Your mum
Another day, another stuff-up at News24. This time, bizarrely claiming Pauline Hanson and Sarah Hanson-Young are related.
The rebranded Sky News Australia was quick to cut up a digital article and YouTube clip based on last Sunday’s Outsiders program, in which the host, James Macpherson, nominated his “wally of the week” – a recurring segment where the network singles out public figures for making embarrassing or stupid decisions.
Macpherson picked the Greens senator, claiming she had decided to focus on One Nation after losing her bid for the party leadership. OK, sure. Then somewhere along the line, things got a little confused.
The News24 article based on his comments, headlined “Sarah Hanson-Young ridiculed for turning on Pauline Hanson after Greens loss”, inserted this fairly significant error into its copy:
“News24 host James Macpherson mocked Senator Sarah Hanson-Young for criticising her mother, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, and her campaign,” its summary read, which was also pasted into a clip uploaded to YouTube.
Honestly, we had never noticed the family resemblance!
Related: ABC reporter could face disciplinary action over opinion piece, journalists’ union says
According to News24, the mistake was due to a copy-editing error in the online video caption which was swiftly removed. The article and YouTube clip were taken down, but the false claim still appeared in Google searches as of Thursday.
Guardian Australia’s wally of the week goes to … ? Well, you can guess.
Journalists back in union chief
More than 400 ABC journalists have publicly supported the union office-holder and award-winning climate reporter Michael Slezak after he was threatened with disciplinary action for writing an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review.
Slezak wrote the article, published last Monday, in his capacity as head of the ABC’s house committee and federal president of media at the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).
Last Wednesday, Slezak was called into a disciplinary meeting with the new ABC director of news, Simon Robinson, and the head of digital and national news, Lee Glendinning, where he was advised he could face disciplinary action, including dismissal, over the ABC’s external work policy and code of conduct.
The union says Slezak did not need to seek approval for the article because he has an agreement with the ABC which permits him to engage in public comment on behalf of journalists in his MEAA role.
Before a union meeting held the following Tuesday, which was attended by about 200 staff, Robinson advised Slezak that disciplinary action was off the table, but maintained he was in breach of the ABC’s policies, and said the public broadcaster wanted to revisit the agreement that had been made.
Nine house committees, including those of Guardian Australia, News Corp, Seven and Nine, have put out statements of solidarity with Slezak, and more than 400 ABC journalists have signed an open letter calling on Robinson to recommit to the agreement with Slezak and respect the rights of ABC journalists to “unionise without hindrance”.
A spokesperson for the public broadcaster said “the guidelines for external work and public comment are important and protect the reputation of the ABC”. They said the director of news would meet staff “to ensure there is a clear and consistent understanding of how the guidelines should be applied and upheld”.
Weekly Beast understands staff had not been informed of any such meeting as of Thursday afternoon.
Editor very much at large
For several months now the Daily Telegraph’s editor, Ben English, has embraced a new trend: filming social media videos of himself spruiking the paper’s front page.
For a disturbingly long period, many of these videos took place from his car, where he sat with a broad grin and unblinking eyes. But in recent weeks, English has made a strange and, some may say, ill-advised pivot.
Instead of remaining seated, either at his desk or inside his vehicle, English has taken to filming from a chair and then immediately jumping up to walk through the Tele’s newsroom, all the while maintaining laser-like eye contact with the viewer.
English’s seeming inability to blink aside, the videos also inadvertently highlight how profoundly empty the Tele’s newsroom looks. Is it due to News Corp’s years of budget cuts and restructures? Is it filmed very early in the morning? Or are people simply afraid to be around for his performances? It’s hard to say.
Related: Vikki Campion, News Corp columnist and wife of Barnaby Joyce, begins role with NSW One Nation
Unexpected appearance
The Australian is rarely shy about giving space on its pages to Josh Frydenberg, who has been promoting his new book while pointedly refusing to rule out trying to rejoin the parliament. In Wednesday’s national broadsheet alone we counted five photos of the former Liberal treasurer.
But on Friday the digital version of the print edition outdid itself, erroneously including two photos of Frydenberg in a collage about the paper’s extensive reporting on the murders of three Indigenous children in Western Australia (the images did not find their way into the actual printed edition).
One photo has Frydenberg with a swastika on his forehead, from an incident in the 2022 federal election campaign when his electoral signs were defaced with antisemitic imagery. Another has him photoshopped into an SS uniform, also from 2022, when it was reportedly posted on a Labor branch Facebook page. Images of the businessman Simon Holmes à Court, the MP Monique Ryan and aheadless teddy were thrown in for good measure.
When contacted for comment, The Australian explained that the rogue images were part of a graphic for an unrelated story on Frydenberg from the previous Friday and had appeared in this week’s digital print edition thanks to “a technical error”.
“We corrected the DPE as soon as we became aware of it,” a spokesperson said. “We are investigating how this happened.”
Alan Kohler bids final farewell
After three decades with the ABC, finance presenter Alan Kohler has delivered his final 7pm news bulletin. On Wednesday evening, Kohler proclaimed “for the 4,035th and final time” his iconic line: “And that’s finance.”
His last package included a slide show of what he believed were some of the most important graphs during his time at the public broadcaster, including falling productivity growth, rising median house prices and associated debt, global heating and, for “something a bit happier”, total superannuation assets.
Announcing his resignation late last month, the 74-year-old said he was ready to spend more time with his family, including six grandchildren. Next up for Kohler will be a podcast with his son, Chris.
The ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, said Kohler had made an “extraordinary contribution” to the nation. “For decades, he has helped Australians make sense of complex issues with insight, clarity and a uniquely engaging style, always delivered with warmth, humour and that trademark cheeky grin,” he said.
He will be succeeded by finance reporter David Chau.
