Latest news with #ACurrentAffair
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Ten's The Project replacement 10 News+ hits new low in latest TV ratings as it plummets to 20th spot
The Project replacement 10 News+ has sunk to a new low in the TV ratings just weeks after its debut. This week's ratings showed 10 News+ has plummeted to the 20th position on a list of Australia's highest rating news programs with a combined national average of just 140,000 viewers. Seven's nightly news led with a combined viewership of 1,318,000 people, with 9News taking second position at 1,215,000. However, in the traditional five metro cities market segment, 9News seemed to race ahead with 863,000 viewers to Seven's 858,000 figure. The ABC's evening show made it to third position, while Nine's A Current Affair finished in fourth and the ABC's 7.30 program hosted by Sarah Ferguson grabbed fifth spot. The July 16 ratings showed 10 News+ floundered in 20th position, while even regional television programs such as Win News performed better. The 6pm news aired for the first time on June 30, but the hard news segment did not seem to appeal to viewer's expectations as a replacement of the more conversation-infused The Project. 10News+ launched with just 291,000 viewers and continued to decline throughout the week, but it seems the broadcast is not ready to let go just yet. The fall in viewership is especially stark when compared to The Project's final episode on June 27, which saw 478,000 people tune in to bid the struggling programme farewell. However 10 News+ inherited the first half of The Project's 6:30pm–7:30pm slot, with the second half hour now freed up for the channel's primetime programming, meaning the two shows cannot be directly compared. Promising "extended context and deeper reporting on the day's biggest stories", the show is anchored by ex-Seven talent Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace from Sunday to Thursday, with Ursula Heger and Hugh Riminton hosting on Friday. The network previously said it was keen to see the team's work delivered to audiences across the country, but audiences have so far failed to engage. A spokesperson for Ten previously told the network was 'taking a long-term, multi-platform view of audience development.' 'Building a loyal news audience takes time, and we are prepared for gradual growth as audiences discover and connect with our unique approach to news delivery across many platforms,' the spokesperson said. '10 is fully committed to 10 News+. This is a marathon, not a sprint. "We are investing in building a sustainable, quality multi-platform news service that will grow and evolve with our audience's needs over time.'
The Age
15-07-2025
- The Age
Misleading ATO statement could have put trio in jail for a decade
A misleading witness statement tendered to court by an ATO officer that could have sent three innocent Australians to jail has been uncovered. The document was discovered by businessman Jae Jang through Freedom of Information laws and will now form part of an independent investigation by the Tax Ombudsman into a decade-long case first exposed by A Current Affair and published by this masthead. ATO officer Anthony Rains was the lead investigator in the criminal prosecution of Jang and two of his employees, Gold Coast-based Debbie and Bill Ingleton. The trio were charged in late 2017 with conspiracy to defraud the Australian Taxation Office, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail. Jang was arrested just days before Christmas that year, and may have spent three weeks in jail had extradition to Queensland been successful. After 2½ years with strict bail conditions, the charges were dropped with 'no evidence to offer'. It can now be revealed that a witness statement, tendered by another ATO officer, appears to have had a crucial line added to it by Rains. 'Anthony Rains is the criminal investigator taking witness statements, he should be independent,' Jang said. 'However, in this case, it's clearly shown that he has actually written that for the witness, which, in my view, is totally wrong.'
Sydney Morning Herald
15-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Misleading ATO statement could have put trio in jail for a decade
A misleading witness statement tendered to court by an ATO officer that could have sent three innocent Australians to jail has been uncovered. The document was discovered by businessman Jae Jang through Freedom of Information laws and will now form part of an independent investigation by the Tax Ombudsman into a decade-long case first exposed by A Current Affair and published by this masthead. ATO officer Anthony Rains was the lead investigator in the criminal prosecution of Jang and two of his employees, Gold Coast-based Debbie and Bill Ingleton. The trio were charged in late 2017 with conspiracy to defraud the Australian Taxation Office, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail. Jang was arrested just days before Christmas that year, and may have spent three weeks in jail had extradition to Queensland been successful. After 2½ years with strict bail conditions, the charges were dropped with 'no evidence to offer'. It can now be revealed that a witness statement, tendered by another ATO officer, appears to have had a crucial line added to it by Rains. 'Anthony Rains is the criminal investigator taking witness statements, he should be independent,' Jang said. 'However, in this case, it's clearly shown that he has actually written that for the witness, which, in my view, is totally wrong.'
The Advertiser
13-07-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Rigged contracts the focus of transport kickbacks probe
Allegations that public servants rigged lucrative government contracts for kickbacks will form the centre of a major corruption inquiry. During an estimated six weeks of public hearings beginning on Monday, an integrity watchdog will probe whether several Transport for NSW employees were favourable or dishonest in awarding tenders to private companies dating back to 2012. Transport for NSW is responsible for issuing contracts to private companies for new works and maintenance, with companies vying for multimillion-dollar jobs after being placed on a panel. A NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation led to raids on the head office of Protection Barriers Pty Ltd, one of the state's biggest roadworks companies, in September. Government records show the business secured significant deals worth more than $110 million from Transport for NSW for road safety work during the past decade. One state employee told Nine's A Current Affair the company was given preferential access to tenders. "They (Protection Barriers) should have been doing seven million worth of work a year - in actual fact, they were doing nearly $30 million worth of work a year," Adele Graham told the program. Luxury cars were seized from the company's headquarters in northern NSW in raids led by the commission before the firm fell into voluntary administration in March. Company founder Jason Chellew is set to face the inquiry on Monday, followed by his wife Meshel on Wednesday. The inquiry will also hear from Peco and Saso Jankulovski, directors of Complete Linemarking Services Pty Ltd, later in the week. The six-week inquiry will be presided over by chief commissioner and former NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos, with Rob Ranken SC and Grainne Marsden as counsel assisting. In 2023, the corruption watchdog found two former Transport for NSW employees awarded roads and maritime contracts in exchange for more than $7 million in benefits from mid-2010 to about mid-2019. Allegations that public servants rigged lucrative government contracts for kickbacks will form the centre of a major corruption inquiry. During an estimated six weeks of public hearings beginning on Monday, an integrity watchdog will probe whether several Transport for NSW employees were favourable or dishonest in awarding tenders to private companies dating back to 2012. Transport for NSW is responsible for issuing contracts to private companies for new works and maintenance, with companies vying for multimillion-dollar jobs after being placed on a panel. A NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation led to raids on the head office of Protection Barriers Pty Ltd, one of the state's biggest roadworks companies, in September. Government records show the business secured significant deals worth more than $110 million from Transport for NSW for road safety work during the past decade. One state employee told Nine's A Current Affair the company was given preferential access to tenders. "They (Protection Barriers) should have been doing seven million worth of work a year - in actual fact, they were doing nearly $30 million worth of work a year," Adele Graham told the program. Luxury cars were seized from the company's headquarters in northern NSW in raids led by the commission before the firm fell into voluntary administration in March. Company founder Jason Chellew is set to face the inquiry on Monday, followed by his wife Meshel on Wednesday. The inquiry will also hear from Peco and Saso Jankulovski, directors of Complete Linemarking Services Pty Ltd, later in the week. The six-week inquiry will be presided over by chief commissioner and former NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos, with Rob Ranken SC and Grainne Marsden as counsel assisting. In 2023, the corruption watchdog found two former Transport for NSW employees awarded roads and maritime contracts in exchange for more than $7 million in benefits from mid-2010 to about mid-2019. Allegations that public servants rigged lucrative government contracts for kickbacks will form the centre of a major corruption inquiry. During an estimated six weeks of public hearings beginning on Monday, an integrity watchdog will probe whether several Transport for NSW employees were favourable or dishonest in awarding tenders to private companies dating back to 2012. Transport for NSW is responsible for issuing contracts to private companies for new works and maintenance, with companies vying for multimillion-dollar jobs after being placed on a panel. A NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation led to raids on the head office of Protection Barriers Pty Ltd, one of the state's biggest roadworks companies, in September. Government records show the business secured significant deals worth more than $110 million from Transport for NSW for road safety work during the past decade. One state employee told Nine's A Current Affair the company was given preferential access to tenders. "They (Protection Barriers) should have been doing seven million worth of work a year - in actual fact, they were doing nearly $30 million worth of work a year," Adele Graham told the program. Luxury cars were seized from the company's headquarters in northern NSW in raids led by the commission before the firm fell into voluntary administration in March. Company founder Jason Chellew is set to face the inquiry on Monday, followed by his wife Meshel on Wednesday. The inquiry will also hear from Peco and Saso Jankulovski, directors of Complete Linemarking Services Pty Ltd, later in the week. The six-week inquiry will be presided over by chief commissioner and former NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos, with Rob Ranken SC and Grainne Marsden as counsel assisting. In 2023, the corruption watchdog found two former Transport for NSW employees awarded roads and maritime contracts in exchange for more than $7 million in benefits from mid-2010 to about mid-2019. Allegations that public servants rigged lucrative government contracts for kickbacks will form the centre of a major corruption inquiry. During an estimated six weeks of public hearings beginning on Monday, an integrity watchdog will probe whether several Transport for NSW employees were favourable or dishonest in awarding tenders to private companies dating back to 2012. Transport for NSW is responsible for issuing contracts to private companies for new works and maintenance, with companies vying for multimillion-dollar jobs after being placed on a panel. A NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation led to raids on the head office of Protection Barriers Pty Ltd, one of the state's biggest roadworks companies, in September. Government records show the business secured significant deals worth more than $110 million from Transport for NSW for road safety work during the past decade. One state employee told Nine's A Current Affair the company was given preferential access to tenders. "They (Protection Barriers) should have been doing seven million worth of work a year - in actual fact, they were doing nearly $30 million worth of work a year," Adele Graham told the program. Luxury cars were seized from the company's headquarters in northern NSW in raids led by the commission before the firm fell into voluntary administration in March. Company founder Jason Chellew is set to face the inquiry on Monday, followed by his wife Meshel on Wednesday. The inquiry will also hear from Peco and Saso Jankulovski, directors of Complete Linemarking Services Pty Ltd, later in the week. The six-week inquiry will be presided over by chief commissioner and former NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos, with Rob Ranken SC and Grainne Marsden as counsel assisting. In 2023, the corruption watchdog found two former Transport for NSW employees awarded roads and maritime contracts in exchange for more than $7 million in benefits from mid-2010 to about mid-2019.
Courier-Mail
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
Who is the biggest Aussie TV personality of the 21st century?
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News. Choosing the best Aussie TV stars from the past 25 years isn't an easy task — mostly because there aren't many. The days when the television landscape was dominated by household names who TV viewers genuinely loved have almost gone, replaced by a catalogue of reality drama queens, game show jesters and the odd newshound. And to make things more difficult, hardly anyone is watching. Anything. You only have to look at this year's Gold Logie nominations to get a view of how bleak things have become. To celebrate the launch of the new app, we're celebrating the people, places and events we'll never forget from the first quarter of the 21st century by asking for Australia's view. Our 25@25 series will finally put to bed the debates you've been having at the pub and around dinner tables for years – and some that are just too much fun not to include. The inclusion of the genuinely glittering Hamish Blake, Julia Morris and Sonia Kruger is countered by the eye-raising additions of P-plater A Current Affair host Ally Langdon and the ABC's Lisa Millar, who clearly got a guernsey because everyone loves the real stars in her fly-on-the-wall bush drama Muster Dogs. Surely there isn't enough people watching the ABC breakfast show to warrant a nod in the category of Australia's most popular TV personality, especially when the more established morning talent Karl Stefanovic and Nat Barr didn't get a look in. Who is the best Aussie TV personality of the 21st century? Eddie McGuire Karl Stefanovic Carrie Bickmore Rebecca Gibney Georgie Parker John Wood Rove McManus Hamish Blake Sonia Kruger Kate Ritchie Cast your vote Then you throw in reality chef Poh Ling Yew (albeit undoubtedly a great cook) and Home and Away darling Lynne McGranger and you start to see what we mean. The evolution of Australian free-to-air TV is the root cause of the demise of the personalities. Talk shows are dead, expensive dramas are now almost the sole domain of the streamers and the audience in the mornings is now so small the Logies would struggle to raise a quorum. And when was the last time a free-to-air Aussie comedy got made, let alone found an audience? All that being said, the early 2000s did give rise to some genuine hitmakers, beloved characters and loungeroom favourites that deserve their place at the top of this list. Take your pick in the poll above. The inclusion of A Current Affair's Ally Langdon as Gold Logie nominee was eye-raising. Rebecca Gibney When it comes to TV stars, Rebecca Gibney is a sure bet. Even in the fickle world of small screen drama, the model turned actor doesn't do duds. And when you consider television is an industry that generally courts youth, Gibney keeps getting work – and getting better. She may be a Kiwi by birth, but she is also an Aussie citizen and thanks to a raft of hit shows (did you see what we did there?) she is one of most bankable and popular stars. She was Australia's favourite TV mum as Julie Rafter on Packed to the Rafters, the smartest shrink on the planet in Halifax f.p. and a woman with a dark secret in the crime thriller Wanted. All quality, all hits and all added up to one Gold Logie and umpteen nominations. Rove McManus The last of the talk show kings whose career declined as Australian audiences fell out of love with the TV format. But at his peak he was a TV juggernaut. Rove Live was well watched and much-loved. His boyish charm and ability to get his guests to spill made him lots of money and won him three Gold Logies during a period when the competition was hot. So popular was he, he tried to transplant his Aussie-ified talk show into the tough US market, and although it ultimately failed, the brave attempt won the former stand-up guy much respect. He was also one half of one of Australia's much-loved romances, that with his late wife, Home and Away star Belinda Emmett, which only made audiences admire him more. Rove McManus at the 2003 Logies. Georgie Parker Before she rebooted the role of Alf's daughter Roo in the soap Home and Away, Georgie Parker was the most loved star on TV. Early on she built fans for her work on prime time drama A Country Practice but it was her spin as Sister Terri on the popular medical drama All Saints that carved her name into the Aussie TV record books. She won two Gold Logies, and many other Logie categories as well, and appeared as herself on dozens of other programs, including on stage at Carols by Candlelight and as a regular on Play School. She went quiet for a bit in the middle 2000s but returned to the screen in the Summer Bay soap in 2010, where she remains. Hamish Blake There is something irresistible about Hamish Blake. His easy charm and laconic sense of humour has made him a favourite among TV viewers of all ages. Whether he is appearing with his lanky sidekick Andy, or going it alone on his latest megahit Lego Masters, Blake can't help scoring a ratings bullseye. Like Rebecca Gibney, Blake is a TV hitmaker and he has earned two Gold Logies along the way (and it probably should have been more). He was also honoured with the Bert Newton Logie for TV presenter, which perfectly sums up his likability and his strike rate for making people laugh. A genuine star. X Learn More SUBSCRIBER ONLY Sonia Kruger One of the highest paid hosts on television, Sonia Kruger earned her stripe by working really hard. With her easy wit and megawatt smile, Kruger was so reliable she became the TV host of choice. Kruger had early success and then she built her following on the Mornings couch with David Campbell. She realised one way to attract attention was to ride the wave of reality television, taking on roles in Dancing With The Stars, Strictly Come Dancing, Big Brother Australia, The Voice Australia and she even survived the short-lived but truly horrible reality golf show, Holey Moley. Kruger made headlines for her misunderstood Gold Logie winning speech in 2023 (which you can watch in the player at the top of the page) but it didn't do her too much harm because she is back on the nominees list this year. John Wood Probably the most unlikely genuine star of Australian television through the 2000s, John Wood started getting noticed when he played the magistrate with a sharp mind and a heart of gold in the hit drama Rafferty's Rules. It won him awards and a loyal — and rather large — audience. It's an audience he brought with him when he signed for the blockbuster cop show Blue Heelers and, with co-star Lisa McCune, rode a wave of success that would last a decade. He was nominated for the Gold Logie every year for 10 years, before finally scoring the gong in 2006, the year the show was cancelled. We would have included McCune on this list but she left the show in 2000. Eddie McGuire Nicknamed Eddie Everywhere for his seemingly endless list of TV credits, sports-mad McGuire was once considered the most powerful face on television. Not content with ruling the world of AFL as a commentator and president of the polarising footy club Collingwood, McGuire was literally everywhere. He has been host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Millionaire Hot Seat, 1 vs 100, The Footy Show, Footy Classified, the Million Dollar Drop, Between The Lines and This Is Your Life. At one stage he was even CEO of the Nine Network and temporarily hosted A Current Affair, which was a bit of a disaster. If there was a telethon or natural disaster fundraiser, McGuire was on the mic, and although he never won a Gold Logie, he hosted the awards twice! Dannii Minogue, Eddie McGuire, Bec Cartwright and Sophie Monk at the Logie awards. Kate Ritchie Although now almost exclusively spending her time on radio, Ritchie is responsible for nurturing one of the most-loved characters on Australian TV – Home and Away's Sally Fletcher. For 20 years fans watched Sally grow up, surviving way too many scandals and traumas that could conceivably occur in one small town, especially one with the particularly sunny name of Summer Bay. She was rewarded with two Gold Logies and a loyal base that followed her to other TV projects, including crime hit Underbelly, and eventually onto radio. So popular is she, that media organisations reporting on her recent personal traumas cop bag-loads of hate mail from TV viewers warning to leave their Sally alone. Now that's superstardom. Carrie Bickmore Carrie Bickmore may have made her name as the foundation host of the now-defunct The Project, but she was never better than as the quick-witted journo sidekick to Rove McManus on the talk show Rove Live. The segment, Carrie @ The Newsdesk, was the precursor to the Project slogan, news done differently, and won the young West Australian a huge following, especially among young female viewers. She won a newcomer Logie for her work, as a warm up for the gold statue, which she won in 2015. It was during her acceptance speech that her stardom exploded when she accepted the award wearing a beanie to launch her now successful brain cancer charity. The beanie idea was a tribute to her late husband's own cancer struggles. Karl Stefanovic Alternately described as a TV buffoon and an undeniable chat show talent, it's hard to ignore the man affectionately known as Karlos. One of the highest paid stars on the small screen throughout the 2000s, Stefanovic had minor gigs before landing the seat on the Today Show, Nine's flagship brekkie offering. Famously starting the job on less money than his more famous co-host Lisa Wilkinson, Karl leveraged his talent and his blokey charms to eclipse Wilkinson in salary, and ultimately outlast her on the Today couch. Although the show struggles in the ratings, and breakfast audiences aren't as lucrative as they once were, Stefanovic remains one of the biggest names on the box. More than just a TV buff? Take part in our other 25@25 polls Originally published as Who is the biggest Aussie TV personality of the 21st century?
