Latest news with #AfterDark
Sky News AU
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
ABC misses Pentagon meeting on Iran attack before copping Antoinette Lattouf judgement - despite employing 30 legal staff
At 10 pm (AEST) on Thursday 26 June, the United States Department of Defense held a press briefing at the Pentagon. It was addressed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. Both men spoke and took questions. The briefing, on the US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, took around 40 minutes. How does Media Watch Dog know this? – avid readers might ask. Well, it was shown live on Fox News in the US (which is available in Australia on Foxtel). And the Fox coverage was shown live on Sky News (available on Foxtel as well as Sky News Regional). And what about the ABC? – MWD hears avid readers cry. Well, zilch is the answer. ABC TV continued with its usual (boring) late night programming. And the ABC TV News Channel did not bother to cover the Pentagon gig – and was as dull as usual. Agree with President Donald J. Trump's decision to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities or not – this was riveting television. Hegseth (a one-time Fox News presenter) criticised sections of the media for their dismissive coverage of the attack. And Caine gave a fascinating account of how the air raid was conducted – covering events of up to 15 years ago. Retired General Jack Keane described the occasion as one of the most instructive Department of Defense briefings he had ever witnessed. But you would not know this if you watched the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster After Dark (as the saying goes) on 26 June. EDITORIAL YET ANOTHER ABC LEGAL HOWLER Media Watch Dog was not surprised by Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah's decision in Antoinette Lattouf v Australian Broadcasting Corporation which was handed down on 25 June. The judge found that the ABC had contravened the Fair Work Act 2009 by terminating Ms Lattouf's employment in late December 2023. MWD had this to say on 28 February 2025: As MWD has maintained from day one on this matter, the ABC should not have employed leftist activist journalist Antoinette Lattouf for five days as a fill-in presenter on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program. And it was most unwise for the ABC to terminate her employment after three days of a five-day contract. Both were instances of poor management. The process went through six lines of management and involved ABC managing director David Anderson and (former) ABC Chair Ita Buttrose – who are currently in disagreement about facts in the case. Mr Anderson and Ms Buttrose have since left the taxpayer funded public broadcaster as has the ABC's Christopher Oliver-Taylor who was involved in the decision making. Meanwhile the ABC – which has a legal staff of around 30 – has ended up paying more than $1 million dollars in compensation and costs. Meanwhile Ms Lattouf remains an activist journalist – saying this after Justice Rangiah's judgment was delivered: 'I was punished for my political opinion. I won't be taking any questions. I'll have more to say in due time. Thank you.' That's all well and good. Ms Antoinette Lattouf was not employed for her political opinions. However, she was treated much more harshly than some high-profile ABC journalists who proclaim their political opinions. CAN YOU BEAR IT? You've heard about the ABC – as in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. But what about the ABC – as in the Always Bryant & Curran? As avid Media Watch Dog readers will recall, as recently as 14 June, Ellie's (male) co-owner drew attention to the political love-in between ABC presenter and former BBC journo Nick Bryant and the Professor of Modern History at Sydney University, James Curran. The reference was to a discussion on ABC Radio National's Saturday Extra about your man Curran's book The Unknown Nation: Australia After Empire – which is the outpouring of an alienated member of the leftist intelligentsia concerning Australia's (alleged) faults. It was one of those familiar events on the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster where the left-of-centre Bryant agreed with the left-of-centre Curran and, in time, the learned professor – well, you get the picture. On Saturday 21 June, Saturday Extra ran a segment titled 'Influence and Ignorance: A Short history of snubbed Aussie PMs'. The guest was James Curran and presenter Nick Bryant. It would seem that this ABC duo believes that the Australia-United States alliance can be judged with respect to the personal relationships between Australian prime ministers and the US presidents. In any event, this is how Comrade Bryant kicked off the discussion. Or bounced-the-ball as they would say in Australian Football League language: Nick Bryant: Now this weekend, the analysis pages of the newspapers should have been full of commentary on Anthony Albanese's first sit-down meeting with Donald Trump. But it didn't happen, of course. Because the US president left the G7 summit in Canada early to deal with the escalating war between Israel and Iran. Instead, there have been a rash of headlines about the Australian prime minister being snubbed. It's not the first time the press have seized upon the perceived slighting of an Aussie PM. Jimmy Carter called Malcolm Fraser, 'John'. Richard Nixon reportedly had to ask William McMahon how to pronounce his surname. And when he announced the AUKUS Defence Pact, Joe Biden seemed initially to struggle to recall Scott Morrison's name. Joe Biden: I want to thank – uh – that fella down under. Thank you very much, pal. Appreciate it Mr Prime Minister. Nick Bryant: But does all this get a little bit overblown? Well yes, it does. But this did not stop the Bryant/Curran discussion from extending for a further 15 minutes and 30 seconds. Soon after, Bryant acknowledged that the formal name of Australia's 22nd prime minister was John Malcolm Fraser. He already had conceded that President Biden, who was cognitively challenged at the time, remembered Scott Morrison's name after a ten-second, er, senior moment. As to whether President Nixon asked William McMahon how to pronounce his name – who knows? In any event, the US president might have been distracted by Sonia McMahon's dress – which was described by the Powerhouse Collection – 'Straight bodied, full-length evening gown…. Long slit sleeves decorated with a ladder-effect of rhinestones. The dress is slit from the underarm to the hem with an infill of flesh-coloured nylon fabric with bands of rhinestones extending from the underarm to the hip.' MWD avid readers might like to know this – it is certainly more interesting than yet another Bryant/Curran discussion. Then the learned professor (who is also the Australian Financial Review's 'international affairs expert') spoke about how Prime Minister John Gorton was denied 'a private sandwich with the president' which Prime Minister Harold Holt had previously experienced. Yawn. But it went on and on. Including this piece of trivia: Nick Bryant: And George Herbert Walker Bush actually tells the story of being reduced to tears when he delivered an address in the parliament in Canberra and saw his old friend Bob Hawke not sat in the Prime Minister's chair but on the back benches. [Interesting – I thought G.W.H Bush died in 2018. Maybe he was communicating from the other side via the psychic John Edward – MWD Editor.] James Curran: Yeah. Well, that's right. I think, as I said, the expectation was that he and Hawke would continue the chemistry. But as I said, he [Bush] got [Paul] Keating [who had replaced Hawke as prime minister] and then [Bush] went up and vomited in the lap of the Japanese prime minister. Nick Bryant: The famous moment which may even have cost George Herbert Walker Bush the presidency. [He] went on to lose that election in 1992, of course…. Go on. And they did. Comrade Curran went on to state and re-state his familiar critique of the Australian-American Alliance. Along the way, he had this to say about how/when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should/could meet President Donald J. Trump. Let's go to the transcript: James Curran: …it's almost as if the nation's prestige and honour has been affronted. But you know, I mean, if you look back in history, it often has taken a good six months, sometimes longer for an Australian prime minister to secure a meeting, an initial meeting, with an American president. So, the kind of, the kind of hair pulling and hand wringing that's going on now, I think frankly, it's a little bit immature. I think it's a sign of a kind of almost a dedicated provincialism to the place sometimes. We just can't seem to rise above it. We panic. And the alarm bells go off. Which raises the question. How much hyperbole can an AFR international affairs expert drop into a couple of sentences? However, it continued with the learned professor telling listeners – if listeners there were – Australia 'can't keep sort of getting its knickers in a twist'. At this time, it being around 8.30 am (aka Hangover Time on a Saturday) MWD threw the switch to Zzzzzzz. He woke up asking: Can You Bear It? Media Watch Dog just loves it when ABC journalists interview ABC journalists on the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster. And so Ellie's (male) co-owner was thrilled – absolutely thrilled – when he found out that the ABC's Patricia Karvelas was to interview the ABC's Raf Epstein on the ABC's Politics Now podcast. It's the sort of thing that gives (political) incest a bad name – but it's great for Ellie's (male) co-owner. Now Comrade Epstein also stars in this issue's hugely popular 'A Moment' segment – in this instance, 'A Raf Epstein Moment' (re which see below). No surprise then that the Raf/PK exchange went to air on Monday – the day after Comrade Epstein appeared on Insiders . He seems to be in demand by ABC types to talk about Iran and Israel. It turned out that he repeated on Monday much of what he said on Insiders on Sunday. Including the point that Trump had once misspelled the nuclear facility of Fordow as Forgo on a Truth Social post. Yawn. And he criticised Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu but not Iran's Sayyid Ali Khamenei. And he quoted from Tucker Carlson. Yawn again. Here we go: Raf Epstein: And if I can end on a final point, Tucker Carlson got a brief mention over the weekend, and we glossed over him on Insiders. We're in a bad place if someone like that, who I don't actually regard as a good-faith actor in the American media landscape, if he's the only one saying to a proponent of war, "do you actually understand the country you seek to topple?" That's really important. I can't name every ethnic group in Iran – Patricia Karvelas: No, but I've got to say on that, that clip between, that went viral, between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, what alarmed me is that I definitely could answer more of the questions than Ted Cruz. Wasn't that alarming, though? This is a lawmaker. Raf Epstein: In some ways it comes as a lawmaker because I would always expect you to answer more questions than a Senator from Texas. It's not accurate to describe Senator Cruz as a 'proponent of war'. After all, he merely supported a military air strike on Iran's nuclear capacity. The Trump administration has no intention of going to war with Iran. Moreover, Iran would be a nuclear threat whether it had a population of 10 million or 100 million. Cruz did not know the answer to Carlson's question about Iran's population but this was a mere 'media gotcha' moment. As to Comrade Epstein's put-down of Texas senators – this raises the question. Is Epstein a snob who is contemptuous of the American South? And here's another question: Can You Bear It? As avid MWD readers well know, Hendo loves ABC programs with a left-wing tendency and a lack of viewpoint diversity. Why? Because they provide lotsa copy for Ellie's (male) co-owner. Consequently, ABC Radio National's Late Night Live is a MWD fave because it's invariably 'Late Night Left'. Unfortunately, Laura ('the Morrison government was into ideological bastardry') Tingle has changed roles and exited LNL. She is now the ABC's Global Affairs Editor and – as such – intent on explaining Australia to the world, as she put it. A big task, to be sure. But, as the saying goes (or went), someone's gotta do it. MWD expects that the Conservative Free Zone will select another left-of-centre type to do the Australian national politics slot on Mondays. This leaves the Tuesday American politics slot to the left-of-centre Bruce Shapiro and the Wednesday British politics slot to the left-of-centre Ian Dunt. But, MWD digresses – not for the first time. On Tuesday 24 June, Late Night Live presenter David Marr interviewed an ex-ABC journalist, the left-of-centre Andrew Fowler. Discussion turned on the new edition of Comrade Fowler's book on Julian Assange titled The Most Dangerous Man in the World: Julian Assange and his secret White House deal for freedom. Andrew Fowler is a member of the Julian Assange Fan Club. While on Ellie's Late Night Walk, Hendo tuned into the Marr/Fowler exchange which was described by the ABC as follows: A year ago this week, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from prison after a 14-year fight for freedom. Assange accepted a guilty plea of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. documents in exchange for being returned home to Australia. But how did this deal come about and what happened in the lead-up to his return home? Journalist Andrew Fowler shares the inner-dealings and joins the dots on the backstory of the negotiations to release Assange. On the way home, Ellie's (male) co-owner noticed that Comrade Fowler had not made any reference to Comrade Assange's woman problem. However, towards the end of the interview, the issue was raised by David Marr. Let's go to the transcript: David Marr: Do the Swedish charges that were eventually abandoned, the accusations of sexual misconduct. Do those still hang over his reputation? Andrew Fowler: They do hang over his reputation, yeah, and they shouldn't. David Marr: What are his plans now? What's he going to do? Andrew Fowler: By the way, [the UN] Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer actually nailed that whole story of the, of the women and Assange in Sweden and what happened. And it's a long and complicated read. But his view, his view, was that this should not be proceeded with any further and he was quite strong in his condemnation of the way the whole process operated…. David Marr: Fair enough. Is it? The fact is that Assange's long incarceration in Britain's Belmarsh Prison was primarily due to the Swedish charges (as David Marr described them). By the way, MWD takes no position on the allegations against Assange – only that they were made and affected his long incarceration. In Human Rights Watch on 16 April 2019, Heather Barr (the associate director of the HRW's Women's Rights Division) described the situation as follows – note that HRW was broadly supportive of Assange. When WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was arrested in London last week so he could face charges in the US, it raised deep concerns around media freedom. Amid these concerns, however, let's remember that Assange is also accused of rape. Assange fled to London's Ecuador embassy seven years ago to escape pending extradition proceedings that would have seen him returned to Sweden to face charges of unlawful coercion, sexual molestation, and rape, based on allegations by two women. He stayed in the embassy since then, he says, because Sweden would not guarantee against his onward extradition to the US, should the US wish to prosecute him for leaking diplomatic cables. As Assange sheltered in the embassy, beyond the reach of law enforcement, the statute of limitations expired on the charges of unlawful coercion and sexual molestation, meaning that they can no longer be prosecuted because so much time has passed. The rape charge was shelved, but can be restored until its statute of limitations expires in August 2020. It is the Swedish prosecutor's job to determine whether to seek Assange's extradition to Sweden under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). In short, Assange ended up in Belmarsh Prison because he skipped bail. This is a serious offence under English law. He remained in prison while extradition proceedings were underway. As former British prime minister Lord Cameron (aka David Cameron) put it on ABC TV's Insiders on 21 March 2024 when interviewed by Sarah Ferguson: Sarah Ferguson : You don't want to see him extradited to the US? David Cameron: I think there are legal processes that need to be gone through. I think, you know, part of this [delay] is because Assange himself decided to camp in the Ecuadorian embassy for years on end. That was unnecessary. He should have faced his accusers earlier, in my view. This point is frequently overlooked by members of the Julian Assange Fan Club. In 2010 Sweden sought Assange's extradition to face sexual assault charges with respect to two women. Assange, who was living in Britain, was arrested but bailed. Assange skipped bail and obtained entry into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2012. Andrew Fowler did not mention Assange breaking bail in his LNL interview. Can You Bear It? Here's how the Sydney Morning Herald's headings covered the US attack on Iran nuclear facilities between Monday 23 June and Thursday 26 June. This gives a pretty clear idea of where the powers-that-be at Nine's SMH stand on this issue. Can You Bear It? A RAF EPSTEIN MOMENT IN WHICH ABC PRESENTER RAF EPSTEIN RANTS AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP Did anyone see Raf Epstein in rant mode on ABC TV Insiders last Sunday? Comrade Epstein was on-the-couch with Phil Coorey ( Australian Financial Review ) and the zany Samantha Maiden ( ). David ('Please call me Speersy') Speers was the presenter. Coorey and Maiden made sensible and considered comments about the Israel/Iran War. Not so much with the others. Let's go to the transcript early in the program: David Speers: So, Raf, the pressure is building on Iran. But the pressure is also building on Donald Trump who has to make what's a difficult decision. Raf Epstein: It's pretty scary to be honest, seeing him say, "I don't care what the intelligence community thinks". I don't know any intelligence, I don't know of any American intelligence assessment that says what he says, what Bibi Netanyahu says… David Speers: Ann Coulter's quote about Donald Trump – that he's like a sofa, he bears the impression of the person who last sat on him. You just hope that it's not Netanyahu that he was listening to. The Israelis can make a case, and you can make a case for why something should happen. But the very first basic steps of, what does the intelligence actually say? I mean, that's that does seem to be something that's absent from the conversation. What a load of absolute tosh. As to Ann Coulter's comment about President Donald J. Trump 'resembling a sofa in that he hears the impression of the person who last sat on him', it is not only as old as Methuselah. It's also inaccurate. Trump does not act in accordance with the view of the last person to whom he talked. [I remember that DLP Senator Vince Gair used the sofa/impression put-down against Liberal Party leader Billy Snedden half a century ago. And it wasn't new even then. – MWD Editor.] Also, the message from the Second Gulf War of recent memory is that United States intelligence agencies make errors. The discussion continued: Phil Coorey: Well, they [Israel] don't want a country [Iran] sworn to their destruction having nuclear weapons. And they don't want them to have the wherewithal to build those weapons. Raf Epstein: And they [Israel] can make that argument. That's fine if they want to make that argument… But what is completely absent from the discussion, and as much as I love my colleagues, and you know, I'm talking about my friends as well as my colleagues, there has been not a single question about whether or not what Israel is doing is illegal. I have not seen Penny Wong or Anthony Albanese – no one asked that question. Comrade Epstein is an example of a taxpayer-funded journalist at the Conservative Free Zone that is the ABC criticising a Labor government – from the left. By this time your man Epstein was somewhat garrulous – and engaged in vigorous arm movements to give emphasis to what became an anti-Israel rant: Raf Epstein: The issue is, how does the world deal with the problem? And Israel's great at escalating conflicts…. Your man Epstein continued: Raf Epstein: The concern is also, and, I mean, it's a bit embarrassing as well. It takes Tucker Carlson, who's a charlatan in many respects, but it takes someone like him to expose – Samantha Maiden: You're on the Tucker bandwagon again are you? Raf Epstein: Well, you know how much I love him. But he's someone who's exposing that how weak and pale and shallow the American understanding is of Iran…. How about that? Raf Epstein favourably quoted Tucker Carlson's (alleged) knowledge of Iran. This is the same Tucker Carlson who exhibited woeful ignorance about the late Soviet Union and contemporary Russia in his fawning interview with Vladimir Putin in February 2024. David Speers made this point at the end of Epstein's comment re Carlson. Soon after, Comrade Epstein channelled Carlson – who had asked Senator Ted Cruz about the population of Iran – with this question: Raf Epstein: …Here's a pop quiz. Are Persians, a majority ethnic group or a minority ethnic group in Iran? Phil Coorey: Wouldn't have a clue. Raf Epstein: Right. Exactly. We're all talking about the fate of that country. Can I, I had to look up another ethnic group - I know there's Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and Assyrians, but I have to look that up on Google . It is widely known that Iran is a majority Persian nation with very few Arab residents. But what matters in this context is not the size or composition of Iran's population – but rather whether the theocracy controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. Then, near the end of Insiders , Speersy read out the breaking news that the US had attacked the Iranian nuclear family at Fordow. At this time, Epstein became a military expert: [Speers reads out Trump's Truth Social post about bombing Iran] David Speers: Well, that is some big, big news. Raf Epstein: That's a full plane load? Because there's two bombs per B2. Phil Coorey: Whatever. Raf Epstein: Well, no, it's important – David Speers: A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site Fordow. Raf Epstein: Because the speculation was that you need more than one plane because you need to drop a series of those bombs so that they get down and actually successfully destroy Fordow. David Speers: Well, we'll see how successful it was. That is a big, big development right at the end of our show. Let's get some quick Final Observations… This is how your man Epstein commenced his final observation: Raf Epstein: He [Trump] misspelt Fordow on his social media site as "Forgo" – which personally I find a little bit terrifying, but interesting breaking news…. It turned out that the US had sent seven B-2 Bombers to Iran which dropped a total of 14 bombs – not one as implied by Epstein. So, there you have it. The presenter of Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne was terrified that President Trump had once made a typo by spelling Fordow as 'Forgo'. Really. [Come to think of it, your man Epstein's 'terrifying' moment may have been due to an autocorrect function. – MWD Editor.] Verily – A Raf Epstein Moment. AN ABC UPDATE On ABC Radio National Breakfast in 2025, ABC management has decided it is a good idea to get Melissa ('Please call me Mel') Clarke to comment on political interviews after they concluded – so much so that RN Breakfast has almost become the Mel Clarke Show. This is what she had to say, after New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters was interviewed on Wednesday 25 June, concerning his view of the US bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities. Melissa Clarke: I did find it interesting that he [Peters] said that, you know, where he does have these concerns about the legality, that it's something that he would relay in private. It kind of put off a little bing inside my head, because it's only in the last couple of hours that we've seen Donald Trump publish a text message from Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO. And Mark Rutte had sent a very, I think it's fair to describe it as a pretty obsequious text message to Donald Trump…and Donald Trump just posts it on Truth Social. So even if Winston Peters and others do want to raise their concerns in private with Donald Trump, sometimes you just never know where your communications might end up. Sally Sara: Yeah…. Clarke's analysis was highly opinionated – with reference to the bing within her head and the reference to Rutte's (allegedly) 'pretty obsequious text' to President Trump. It would appear that the powers-that-be at RN believe that listeners are so ill-informed that they need to have interviews conducted by Sally Sara explained to them by Melissa Clarke. On Radio National Breakfast on Thursday 26 June, Sally Sara interviewed Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley followed by Labor's Minister for Finance Senator Katy Gallagher. Sussan Ley was challenged by Sara. But Katy Gallagher was given soft questions – including an opportunity to criticise Ley: Sally Sara: Finally, the Opposition leader, Sussan Ley, gave her first major speech at the Press Club yesterday after the federal election – and is talking about having a fresh approach and doing things differently. Have you noticed a shift in the Opposition's approach since the election? Katy Gallagher: Well, time will tell, I guess. I think it's an important speech she gave yesterday. I think when I looked at the comments that she made about women, I think it is important that these matters are dealt with by the Opposition. I don't think problem identification is the issue, though. I think there's been many a time where problems have been identified about their policy offering, the number of women, how their organisation works. It's actually the next step that matters, which is what are you going to do about it? And I think we'll just have to wait and see whether the rhetoric actually is matched by action. Sussan Ley was not asked her opinion about Labor's Senator Gallagher. THE FLANN O'BRIEN GONG FOR LITERARY VERBAL SLUDGE As avid Media Watch Dog readers are aware, this occasional segment is inspired by the Irish humourist Brian O'Nolan (1911-1966) – nom de plume Flann O'Brien – and, in particular, his critique of the sometimes incoherent poet Ezra Pound. By the way, your man O'Brien also had the good sense not to take seriously Eamon de Valera (1882-1975), the Fianna Fail politician and dreadful bore who was prime minister and later president of Ireland for far too long. The Flann O'Brien Gong for Literary or Verbal Sludge is devoted to outing bad writing or incomprehensible prose or incoherent oral expression or the use of pretentious words – or a combination of all of the above. CHRIS WARREN SCORES FOR A REFERENCE TO HAMMERS, NAILS AND SO ON Lotsa thanks for the avid West Australian reader who drew MWD's attention to an article in Crikey on 25 June. It was written by Christopher Warren and titled 'The category error behind the ABC's latest 'Back to the Future' reset'. Comrade Warren is a former federal secretary of the Journos' Union – aka the Media Entertainment Arts Alliance. Essentially your man Warren called for new ABC managing director Hugh Marks to be sacked. Already. It seems that he wants a return of Q+A which was junked under the ABC's new management. Comrade Warren blamed News Corp, yes News Corp, for the current state of the ABC. Quelle Surprise! But he then threw the switch to written sludge. Here we go: There's a good rule of thumb at the ABC: if News Corp likes what you're doing, it's probably the wrong thing. The strategy is, in philosophical terms, a category error — the sort you get when the national broadcaster puts a commercial hammer in charge of the delicate knowledge-making network that is the ABC. All of a sudden, diffuse cultural creativity becomes just so many nails to be hammered into the planks of a mass medium. Clever, eh? But what does it all mean? Well done Comrade Warren – you won the Flann O'Brien award. Literary Criticism By Flann O'Brien of Ezra Pound My grasp of what he wrote and meant Was only five or six % The rest was only words and sound — My reference is to Ezra £ * * * * * Literary Criticism By Ellie of Chris Warren My grasp of what he wrote or meant Was only four or five per cent Maybe he just took the p*** The reference is to Comrade Chris **** Until Next Time ****
Perth Now
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
The star will be joined by award-winning entertainers
The City of Belmont is set to come alive with the glitz and glamour of world-class entertainment as Australian cabaret royalty Rhonda Burchmore headlines a brand-new pop-up event at the AfterDark Performance Lounge. The five-night cabaret spectacular will see The Glasshouse venue in Faulkner Park undergo a dramatic transformation that will see it turn into an intimate, fully licensed cabaret lounge. Burchmore, who most recently featured in the hit musical Sister Act, will debut her new show Tall Tales, an evening of her heartfelt and hilarious journey through four decades in the limelight. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'I will be opening the vault on my 40-year career in showbiz, sharing wonderful stories and killer songs that will fit perfectly in the intimate AfterDark Performance Lounge.' she said. 'It's so wonderful to see a new performance venue popping up in Belmont and engaging such an incredible line-up of fabulous cabaret stars.' Belmont mayor Robert Rossi said the event was a great chance to bring world-class entertainers to Belmont's local stage. 'AfterDark brings outstanding live performances to our local community and sees the Glasshouse venue transformed into an intimate space hosting a bold and brilliant line-up of performers,' he said. 'We're offering discounted tickets for local residents, making it easier for more people to enjoy a high-quality artistic experience.' On top of Rhonda's appearance, the series will host some of Australia's other brightest cabaret stars such as Mama Alto, Michael Griffiths, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, and Libby Hammer and Ali Bodycoat, each bringing their own flair to the experience. Mama Alto will present her WA premiere of Transcendent, a soul-stirring show blending classic songs with some unexpected delights. Helpmann Award winner Michael Griffiths will lead his band through a joyous tribute to the legendary Peter Allen, who was known for his flamboyant stage presence. Award-winning Michael Griffiths will pay tribute to Aussie icon Peter Allen. Credit: City of Belmont Williams and Ghouse will bring a modern take on ancient traditions, merging natural acoustic instruments, stories and voice. Two of Perth's most loved jazz vocalists, Libby Hammer and Ali Bodycoat will also sparkle at the event, reuniting in a heartfelt celebration of music, friendship and sisterhood. The event will end with two adult-only literary events Adult Storytime by acclaimed poet and performer Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa and A Timeless Gathering by Live History, all the way from Canada. The event runs Thursday, July 24 to Monday, July 28, tickets go on sale on June 19.
Hamilton Spectator
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Want to celebrate Pride but don't know where? Let us help
June is the official Pride month, and there is plenty to do locally leading up to the summer Pride event in August. Details are limited for the Hamilton Pride festival, set for Friday, Aug. 8 to Sunday, Aug. 10. For now, here is what you can do for Pride month in Hamilton: On Friday, June 13 from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Fruit Salad will host a pop-up prom party at Bridgeworks at 200 Caroline St. N. in Hamilton. The group said attendees should wear their 'best Pride gear' with fancy dresses, suits, a tux or a ball gown. Entertainer Eshe will perform at the party. Early bird tickets are $22.50. Go to for more details or to buy tickets. The Staircase Theatre is hosting its third annual Pride festival on Friday, June 13 from 6 to 11 p.m. and Saturday, June 14 from 5 to 11 p.m. DeAnne Smith will headline the event, which also features comedy showcases with other queer comedians. The theatre is at 27 Dundurn St. N. in Hamilton. Tickets are $20 for Friday, $25 for Saturday or $40 for both days. For more information on the lineup or to buy tickets, go to . On Saturday, June 14 from 12 to 5 p.m., HamOnt QT Market is hosting a market featuring queer- and trans-owned small business at The Gasworks. The market will have more than 20 vendors and swag bag prizes for the first 10 visitors. The venue is at 141 Park St. N. in Hamilton. On Thursday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m., the Royal Botanical Gardens will host a 'Summer Pride Party' version of their After Dark series event. The 19-plus party will feature music, food and atmosphere. Two DJs and three drag queens — Karma Kameleon, Jessie James and Hexe Noire — will perform. The event ends at 10:30 p.m. and will take place in the garden's 'Rock Garden' at 1185 York Blvd. in Hamilton. Tickets are $30.25 for adults or $27.99 for students. Go to to buy tickets or for more details. On Saturday, June 21 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Ottawa Street Farmers' Market will have Pride flags, buttons and vendors selling Pride-themed products. The market is at 3 Britannia Ave. in Hamilton. On Saturday, June 21 from 1 to 4 p.m., the Art Gallery of Hamilton will host the Quiet* Queer Studio, an art hangout. The gallery said the studio is for introverted or quiet people who want to celebrate Pride in a calmer atmosphere. The event includes button- and sticker-making, creating a community banner and exploring other art forms such as collage, watercolour and pastels. Exercises are themed under mindfulness and grounding, identity exploration and expression and building a relationship with joy. Tickets are $5 at . On Sunday, June 22, House of Adam and Steve, International Village BIA and the City of Hamilton will host a free Pride party from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ferguson Station. The event features a Queer Maker's Market and drag queen performances. The library is holding several pride events in June across its various branches, including book club meets for older adults on Monday, June 16, an arts and crafts session on Thursday, June 19 and an author series event on Monday, June 23. For more information on times and locations, go to . McMaster University is holding several events at the school throughout June. On Tuesday, June 10 from 12 to 1 p.m., the university is hosting a free virtual session that introduces a 'patient-centred framework to support inclusive, equitable care for two-spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse patients regarding gender inclusive language within sexual and reproductive health,' the school wrote in a release. On Tuesday, June 24 from 12 to 1:15 p.m., the university is hosting a virtual panel that will explore what intersectional solidarity looks like in LGBTQ+ communities. For more details on the events and registration, go to . Cheyenne Bholla is a reporter at The Hamilton Spectator. cbholla@ Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Spectator
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
When did we become so boring?
Recently, I found myself trying to explain to a much younger colleague who Oliver Reed was. We'd got on to the subject of the hell-raising actor because I was bemoaning the fact – perhaps rashly – that today's world is completely anodyne. Fear of offending others means it's better to keep your thoughts to yourself; after all, who needs the police investigating them for a non-crime hate incident? Brave is the person who brings their whole self to work, as many of us are encouraged to do. The government's Employment Rights Bill, which some are calling the 'banter ban', may mean we're even more reluctant to speak our minds. This prohibition against saying anything even vaguely controversial extends to all walks of life – including television. So, I cited Reed's legendary appearance on the late-night Channel 4 discussion programme After Dark as an example of a time when we didn't have to weigh every word before uttering it. During an episode on men, Reed got hammered on the free booze, became argumentative and gave horrified feminist author Kate Millett an unsolicited peck on the cheek. Eventually, after being told off by Helena Kennedy, he was asked to leave. Some may think he confirmed masculine stereotypes with his boorish behaviour, but it was one of the funniest things ever broadcast and went down in the annals of television history. From today's vantage point, it seems almost unthinkable that an unscripted debate – where guests were plied with free booze – could ever be broadcast on terrestrial television. Instead, we're fed a diet of inoffensive pap featuring vacuous individuals with perfect hair, unblemished skin and 'Turkey teeth'. Intellectually challenging television is a thing of the past. Now, we have to endure endless crime dramas and cookery programmes, which are little more than chewing gum for the mind. God forbid we be allowed to view anything that jolts us from our collective stupor. I hanker after moments like 1985's Live Aid when Bob Geldof jabbed the table and said: 'Fuck the address, let's get the numbers!' when emphasising the urgency of getting donations by phone rather than giving out postal addresses. Interviewed on Sky News in 2014 about critical reactions to the re-recording of Do They Know It's Christmas, he said: 'I think they're talking bollocks.' Asked not to repeat the word, he responded to another of the presenter's assertions with: 'Complete load of bollocks.' The interview ended abruptly. Absolute comedy gold. I, for one, am sick of today's bland entertainment. We need TV programmes fronted by louche characters with several days' beard growth who look like they've come straight from a nightclub. Their rasping voices should suggest a 40-a-day habit. And the news would be far more interesting if presented by people who'd clearly enjoyed a good lunch on expenses. Broadcaster and journalist Reginald 'Reggie' Bosanquet often appeared worse for wear while fronting the News at Ten. One of his co-presenters, Anna Ford, recalled: 'Reggie was a dear. I mean, you wouldn't have chosen a man who had epilepsy, was an alcoholic, had had a stroke and wore a toupée to read the news, but the combination was absolute magic.' Just imagine how ratings would soar for any channel brave enough to put a modern-day Bosanquet in front of the camera. It would be compulsive viewing. Forget the daily diet of doom – you'd tune in to see how pissed they were. And if we must suffer never-ending food programmes, at least let the chef have a fag planted in the corner of their mouth (Marco Pierre White is the only living cook I know to have done this). Then we could watch transfixed as the inch of ash hanging precariously from the tip threatened to drop into whatever they were preparing. It would be even more compelling if they were helping themselves to liberal amounts of alcohol like the late Keith Floyd. Sadly, because everything's now so carefully choreographed, there's no danger of anything spontaneous and, therefore, interesting happening. Gone is the era when a group of young musicians like the Sex Pistols could appear on live TV and turn the air blue. When challenged to say something outrageous by host Bill Grundy, guitarist Steve Jones responded by calling him a 'Dirty bastard' and a 'fucker'. It caused outrage, but the nine-year-old me was delighted. It just couldn't happen now. Neither the producers nor the band's management would allow it. We need TV programmes fronted by louche characters with several days' beard growth who look like they've come straight from a nightclub I like to imagine that, in the unlikely event I'm ever invited on to Today, I'd say something that would have the punters choking on their cornflakes: 'Sorry, Emma… [prolonged sniffing] Feeling a bit liverish. I'm afraid I had a couple of grams of Bolivia's finest washed down with a bottle of Jack D. Never a good idea on a school night.' Raffish laughter. But in reality, I'd be utterly craven. Anyway, I've switched to Radio 3. As for comedy, fuhgeddaboudit! I recently watched the first episode of Tina Fey's Four Seasons and nearly wept at the banality. Anything from yesteryear seems to have to carry a health warning. Can you imagine a new series of Little Britain making it past the morality police? Neither can I. Comedy from the 1970s and 1980s? Don't even go there. There is some hope: The White Lotus – a satire about the entitled rich – has produced some sublime moments. But it's a drama. We need more real-life characters in the media: rakish individuals and loose cannons, preferably those with charm, intellect and wit. Give John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, his own show. He may have mellowed with age, but he could be relied on to ignore the script. This isn't a rallying cry for bad behaviour for its own sake – or an argument against common courtesy, which is already in decline – but rather a call to loosen the fetters that mean, in today's world, it's easier and safer to say nothing at all. Our fear of opprobrium means public debate is the poorest quality I can ever remember. Rather than reasoned discourse, we have facile comments or pure vitriol. So come on, commissioning editors, instead of rendering us insensible with unmitigated twaddle, bring back cerebral discussion programmes whose participants aren't censored. Invite bon viveurs, intellectuals, raconteurs and wits. Mix it up occasionally with a disreputable character or two, supply the guests with a heavily laden drinks trolley and something contentious to debate, and you'd have an explosive cocktail – as well as the makings of brilliant television. Sadly, Oliver Reed died while filming Gladiator. He met some off-duty sailors in a bar and challenged them to a drinking match but fell ill and collapsed with a heart attack. My God, what an epic way to go. Of course, I could never say that to my younger colleague because the age of giants is over, and the unexceptionable are now in charge.
Sky News AU
25-05-2025
- Sky News AU
Call for early intervention programs to fight youth crime epidemic
Cairns Police Department Senior Sergeant Kelly Chamberlain says early intervention is the 'absolute key' in easing Australia's youth crime crisis. As the founder of PCYC's diversion-based program 'After Dark', Ms Chamberlain is providing a safe environment for 11 to 17-year-olds, hoping to steer them on the right path. 'If we can prevent young people from starting to make those poor choices early, then eventually we are going to get to the point where the increases in crime start to slow down,' she said. 'We all know it's never ever going to completely stop, but what we want is obviously this epidemic that's going through the whole of Australia, not just Cairns, to slow down significantly, and the only way is through early intervention – starting younger and younger.' In partnership with Harvey Norman
