EXCLUSIVE What happened to Roxy's 'clones': They were gossip fodder for years... now PR insiders reveal some won't speak to her after bitter feuds - while others have overshadowed her completely
For someone whose fondness for headlines earned her the nickname 'The Publicity-Seeking Missile', it's unsurprising PR supremo Roxy Jacenko liked to choose staff who style and appearance perfectly matched her upmarket personal brand.
During her years as Sydney's most in-demand lifestyle, fashion and beauty publicist, Roxy famously hired an army of 'clones' to work at her Paddington-based firm Sweaty Betty PR.
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The two sinkholes that opened up above the M6 tunnel were not a normal risk associated with digging, Dr Francois Guillard says. The senior lecturer in the school of civil engineering at the University of Sydney says sinkholes can happen anywhere water penetrates the ground, although karstic regions – often made of soluble limestone – are typically more prone to sinkholes. Sydney is not especially prone to the phenomenon, given its mainly sandstone geology, Guillard says. For a sinkhole to develop, material under the ground's surface needs to be removed, usually by water erosion or chemical decomposition. In urban areas, disturbance of usual water drainage patterns can lead to sinkhole formation under the surface of tarmac. He agrees that investigations of soil and geology from the surface are 'not perfect'. Guillard says human-made sinkholes, triggered by engineering or building works, are 'rare' – as are urban sinkholes generally. 'I would not recommend people be worried, it's low risk,' he says.
