INSIDE MAIL: Knives out at Sky News Australia over controversial new hire, how Nine staff secretly feel about Sam Armytage and the REAL story behind the deputy PM’s scandal

In our must-read Mail+ column, Steve Jackson and Peter van Onselen reveal what’s REALLY going on in the worlds of media and politics each week. 

Ex-PM investigates Ray Hadley’s big (Sky) news

The plan was simple enough: talkback titan Ray Hadley announces his retirement from Nine Radio’s flagship 2GB station before hanging up his headphones for the final time next month. 

Then, come the new year, before anyone has even realised what’s doing, he has joined the conservative crowd up the road at Sky News Australia. What a coup!

It was almost too easy…

That is, until former prime minister and Fox Corporation board member Tony Abbott got a whiff of the plan after your’s truly revealed Hadley had been secretly meeting with Sky News Australia boss Paul Whittaker and head of programs Mark Calvert. 

Now Abbott is snooping around and asking all sorts of uncomfortable questions about Hadley’s past interactions with staff and lengthy history with his station’s HR department.

Of course, it’s nothing a quick Google search wouldn’t have turned up.

A court heard as far back as 2013 that Hadley’s former boss, then Macquarie Radio Network executive chairman Russell Tate, had directly accused the morning show presenter in an email of being ‘a psychotic bully’ and abusing his direct line to the station’s former owner, famed adman John Singleton. 

The damaging correspondence emerged after Hadley’s one-time producer Richard Palmer sued the top-rating radio announcer for workplace bullying. 

Hadley was briefly suspended before the matter was quietly settled out of court.   

Then, five years ago, the ABC’s 7.30 program featured a host of Rampaging Ray’s former colleagues again accusing him of workplace bullying and intimidation.

One of his accusers, former 2GB producer and close friend Chris Bowen, sued Hadley the following year for workplace negligence and breaching his duty of care. 

In June 2020, the NSW District Court heard allegations Bowen had been subjected to ‘no less than a thousand’ of Hadley’s sprays during his 16-year career at 2GB and accused the talkback king of repeatedly attacking him with ‘vile homophobic slurs’ and calling his ex-girlfriend a ‘curry muncher’. 

Again, the matter was quietly settled out of court. 

The allegations in the 7.30 report were all historic and, to his credit, Hadley has repeatedly addressed his previously ‘robust’ behaviour and is adamant he is a changed man – and Inside Mail does not suggest otherwise.

However, we hear not everyone has been willing to forgive and forget – and a few former 2GB employees are all too happy to furnish Abbott with their war stories.

That’s not to say his move to Sky News Australia will necessarily be scuppered – or even could be – by Abbott’s enquiries. 

Technically, Fox Corporation, which Abbott was elected as a director of last November, only controls Rupert Murdoch‘s U.S.-based television interests, while Sky News Australia falls under the umbrella of sister company News Corp. 

Still, we asked the former PM whether he would be giving Hadley’s appointment his personal nod of approval – if asked, of course – and he did not come back to us.

Awkward.

Big question about Richard Marles’ controversy

The identity of the Deputy PM Richard Marles‘ staffer alleged to have bullied his chief of staff out of the office has finally been revealed now that Federal Court action has been launched. 

The alleged bully, it turns out, is a young female employee named Kate Hanns. 

Now everyone is innocent until proven guilty, of course, and we have no inside knowledge whether or not the bullying complaint has legs. 

But if the allegation is true, what could make a junior member of staff think they can do that to their most senior colleague in the office?

There would have to be a backstory there, we assume. Maybe some journalists will look into what it might be.

Not-so-warm welcome for Nine newbie Sam Armytage 

It’s tough being the new kid at school – the harder you try to fit in with the cool kids, the more likely it is you’ll wind up eating alone at lunch. 

It’s a lesson Nine newbie Samantha Armytage seems destined to learn the hard way after embarking on something of a media blitz to boast she is joining the network – and its breakfast show Today – over the summer.

Sure, the fill-in hosting gig is for little more than a week while regular presenters Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo are off on holiday and it’s been all smiles on set. 

But Inside Mail hears that, behind the scenes, there are already rumblings of discontent about her appointment – and the accompanying fanfare – within Nine. 

That’s not to say it’s Sam’s fault – some TV types simply don’t work or play well with others, particularly when it comes to sharing the limelight with such a boisterous personality.

Back at Armytage’s alma mater, Seven’s rival breakfast show Sunrise, the reaction has been somewhat more collegiate – but only if we’re grading these things on a bell curve. 

‘Sam joining Today?’ one staffer yawned when approached by Inside Mail. ‘It’s kind of predictable… but mostly boring.’ 

Boring? Predictable? Oh, come on!

They obviously didn’t ‘get’ all the wild Plato and Heraclitus sex ‘jokes’ in Armytage’s rip-snorting Sunday Telegraph column over the weekend. 

But then again, who did? 

Matt Stanton firms as full-time Nine chief

It’s the sliding-doors moment that (allegedly) sums up just about everything you need to know about Mike Sneesby‘s colourful three-year reign as Nine boss. 

The way Inside Mail hears it, the former chief executive hadn’t been long in the role when he squeaked into the elevators at 1 Denison St, North Sydney, for the short ride up to the network’s HQ alongside one of the network’s tea ladies. 

A man of the people, he decided to introduce himself and asked how long she had been with Nine.

Somewhat bemused, ‘the tea lady’ – who was in fact A Current Affair’s award-winning then-host Tracy Grimshaw – politely informed him she had been with the station for a touch over four decades.

Now, to be fair, legend has it she was taking a tray of donuts up to the newsroom as a surprise treat for her colleagues at the time. 

We’re not sure how much of the comical tale is fact and how much is fiction – quite frankly, we’re afraid to ask. 

Either way, there was a perception at Nine that the man running the country’s biggest TV network didn’t actually know who was on the country’s biggest TV network.

But there’s a new sheriff in town – and interim Sneesby successor Matt Stanton has wasted no time winning over the media giant’s troops, wowing them with his exacting knowledge of the company during a nationwide tour of its newsrooms. 

Not only does he know who’s who on-air, he is happy to give everyone at Nine a full and frank rundown of the business and its future direction. 

‘He really knows his s*** and is passionate – chalk and cheese with Sneesby,’ one insider gushed when asked about Stanton.

Another swooned: ‘I learnt more in one hour from him than I have from every other one of these [talks] combined – it was genuinely fascinating. Very sharp guy.’

It’s hard to see anyone beating him for the top job on a full-time basis at this rate.  

Still, Stanton’s candour has certainly raised a few questions around the network.

Staffers were left scratching their heads after he explained the company’s headline-making radio arm accounts for just two per cent of Nine’s revenue while struggling to attract listeners in key demographics under the age of 55. 

‘So why are the radio hosts all on so much money?’ they wanted to know.

Good question. News and weather coming up next.

Want a loyal friend in TV or politics? Go buy a dog 

There’s an old adage in television and politics: if you want a friend, buy a dog.

It’s not terrible advice in a world where loyalty usually expires at the end of your network contract or term in office, if not before.

So it’s no surprise to hear one particularly disloyal senior TV staffer has been busily buddying up to his newly minted boss of late… whenever they’re in earshot.

As soon as he’s in another corner of the media company’s office, he’s more than happy to offer an all-too-honest character assessment (or should that be assassination) regarding his fearless leader’s news sense and level of experience.

In fact, he’s usually the one to raise the contentious topic.  

Don’t get him wrong: he thinks his boss is great! 

It’s just that they’d be even greater… in a different job. 

Maybe a demotion to chief of staff somewhere would be suitable, he suggests.

It would all be quite sinister if it wasn’t so laughably transparent.

In his mind, he is operating with all the shrewd political nous of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the power player from Yes Minister. But in reality, he’s about as cunning as Humphrey B. Bear. Even if you can’t hear what he’s actually saying, it’s still fairly easy to figure out what he’s trying to achieve.

We are not sure if word about his treacherous comments has trickled back to his boss yet and, to be honest, we don’t want to be the ones to spoil the surprise.

Newsrooms being what they are, they’ll hear about it soon enough.

Linton Besser sticks with the ABC, despite Nine interest

When it comes to fronting news and current-affairs programs at the ABC, it looks like Linton Besser is doing his level best to just about collect the whole set.

The well-liked reporter, who has won accolades for his hard-hitting journalism across 7.30, Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners, was last week announced as the new host of the national broadcaster’s Media Watch program from next year.

However, his career could have taken a decidedly different path. Inside Mail is reliably informed it’s not just the ABC that’s smitten with Besser’s on-air talents. 

After kickstarting his career at Nine as a young-gun producer on the Today show, word is the station made a play to lure him back to the network about 18 months ago – only this time as a reporter for 60 Minutes.

In the end, he decided to stay with the ABC and the role eventually went to that other guy… you know the one we mean?

No, us neither.

Crikey! Answer our survey or be forever shamed!

Meanwhile, over at Crikey, the niche news website, they’ve been busily interviewing Australian media’s ‘movers and shakers’ about what they think is moving and shaking in the Australian media.

As Inside Mail’s readers will know, it’s rarely a challenge to get journalists to discuss their two favourite topics: themselves and their very busy and important jobs.

Which is why eyebrows were raised about the note sent out to the 200 media heavy-hitters asked to share their views on the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities as part of the survey.

Buried deep within the email were two not-so-veiled threats noting ‘we will list everyone who did not respond or declined participate’. 

Crikey! The horror! The horror!

It’s a weirdly menacing salvo for what otherwise seems quite a harmless project.

Ultimately, the name-and-shame list will say more about those who buckled to the ridiculous ultimatum than those who didn’t.

Indeed, Inside Mail’s better half, Peter Van Onselen, wasn’t having any of it when he responded to Crikey.

‘I was very happy to participate as I indicated by text, but the implied threat that anyone approached who doesn’t answer the survey QTs will get named (and by extension shamed) is such a d**k move that I’m out,’ PVO told the website. 

‘Go ahead and add me to that list instead.’

Ousted News Corp editor-in-chief tipped for new role 

There was much outcry in May when Lisa Muxworthy was ousted as the editor-in-chief of News.com.au amid a wide-ranging reshuffle at News Corp’s Holt Street headquarters.

The well-liked News lifer was replaced by former Sunday Telegraph boss Mick Carroll after finding herself unexpectedly unemployed.

So we are happy to hear Muxworthy has found a new home over at Seven’s ‘Media City’ HQ in Sydney’s inner-south, and is tipped to be announced as the new chief of 7News.com.au any day now.

Not editor-in-chief, mind.

Seven’s new news supremo Anthony ‘Acca Dacca’ De Ceglie has retired all editor-in-chef titles (except for his own) since being appointed to the company’s top editorial role in April.

While editor-in-chief titles may be handed out like lollies at other media outlets, at Seven it seems, like Highlander, there can be only one.

Basil Zempilas’ very underwhelming impact on the polls

WA Liberals really are a breed all of their own. 

Readers might remember at their last state election in 2021 the party was reduced to just two seats in the 59-seat Legislative Assembly. 

The pair of them struggled to agree on who should lead the party, splitting 1-1 over the issue before a deal was done to make David Honey the leader and Libby Mettam his deputy. 

At least they achieved gender equality, we suppose. 

The party ranks swelled – if that’s the right term – to three when a Nationals MP defected to increase their numbers by a whopping 50 per cent. 

David then lost his preselection to stay in parliament and Libby took over as his leader. What a wild ride!

Fast forward to today and another state election is due early next year but WA’s business community is worried that she isn’t doing as well as she should be against a Labor government that no longer has the popular pandemic premier Mark McGowan leading it. 

With TV personality and Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas poised to enter state parliament for the Libs, a poll has been commissioned and leaked to the media showing the struggling party would be better placed to make him the leader now, even though he’s not even an MP yet. 

A sort of western Campbell Newman.

Anyway, when we heard this we assumed the poll must show a Basil-led Liberal Party would have a chance of challenging Labor for government, but no. 

Apparently switching to him would help the Libs win an extra five seats, which might not happen under Libby’s leadership. 

Talk about fighting over the leftovers! 

Even if that’s right, it would still only see the Libs winning, at best, eight seats in the 59-seat lower house.

Of course, the bullying to force Libby out didn’t work – she has said she’s going nowhere – so now this largely empty maxi-cab party room is more divided than ever. 

‘What a complete s*** show,’ is how one former senior Liberal MP from the west summed it up.

Spot the ’80s Aussie TV icon

Usually it’s the kids who get the biggest kick out of seeing Santa at the local shopping centre – but this year, some of their parents (and grandparents) are sure to get a little surprise while visiting Saint Nick‘s nearest North Pole outpost.

At least, if they’re lucky enough to be shopping at Westfield Chatswood, in Sydney’s inner-north, where eagle-eyed fans of iconic ’80s children’s show Simon Townsend‘s Wonder World might recognise the man behind the beard.

Can you spot the famous star of yesteryear?

Come on, if you squint hard enough it’s obvious, isn’t it? 

The centre’s Kris Kringle is surely none other than ever-popular Wonder World reporter Maurice Parker, who has decided to spend his spare time spreading a little extra cheer this festive season.

Having been the line producer for many a year at the now-defunct Studio 10, we’re sure the kiddies’ wish lists will seem a doddle compared to the diva demands he’s used to dealing with. What a legend!

Guess who, don’t sue

In an early tease, let’s play the ‘guess who, don’t sue’ game…

Who is the senior television personality upsetting her co-workers because she’s using her platform to push an ideological agenda? 

Like refusing to do stories or interview experts on topics that she doesn’t agree with?

Those around her think she gets away with it because she’s ‘untouchable’ in the eyes of management.

There’s apparently a lot more to this story – if it ever comes out.

Dummy act of the week

Acknowledgements of country can be a wonderful way to show respect for Australia’s Indigenous population, the oldest continuous civilisation on the planet, no less. 

Some Australians think there are too many acknowledgements done, such that they are losing their meaning. 

However, that’s a contested view. 

But surely we can all agree there is no place for them when attending events overseas? Apparently not!

An Australian delegation to the COP29 climate-change conference in Azerbaijan started by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land they weren’t meeting on, and have been rightly slammed for doing so.

Where on Earth did they get the idea that was the right thing to do? 

From the climate minister Chris Bowen, we assume, who did the very same thing last year at the same conference. 

Some people never learn…