Latest news with #Sussan
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Influencer's rant about being 'ripped off' by large business backfires as she's called out for having unoriginal designs: 'Hardly groundbreaking'
An Australian influencer has lashed out at big fashion brands for allegedly ' ripping off' the design for her 'viral' robes - but the response she received from fans was brutal. Lily Brown, 27, took to Instagram on Wednesday to call out Sussan and Bras N Things for creating cheaper 'dupes' of her floral printed fleece Snug Robes, which retail at $159. However, her complaints backfired as followers flooded a Facebook gossip page to slam Lily for selling 'unoriginal' clothing designs through her sleepwear brand Chille. The debacle kicked off this week when Lily posted a lengthy rant to her Instagram Stories, tagging Sussan and Bras N Things as she called out the companies. 'So I've decided it's not flattering, it's unfair, rude and f***king annoying now to be completely honest, I wasn't going to name and shame, but this is ridiculous,' she said. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'Stop ripping off small brands with your hundreds of stores nationwide and internationally,' she continued. 'I don't think it makes much difference to either of these retailers bottom lines' if they sell a few robes here and there. 'For me, our Snug Robes are my whole life. I've continually invested and reinvested back into the business since day one.' Lily, who is currently dating ironman Jett Kenny, went on to say that she puts 'everything on the line' and takes 'huge financial risks' to sell her sleepwear products. She also revealed she 'moved three hours away from my warehouse to save money' while supporting her business, referencing her move into Jett's father Grant's Sunshine Coast home last year. 'So this is just another slap in the face,' she added. Lily then called out Bras N Things for launching their floral-printed Mila Short Hooded Gown just two weeks after the influencer worked in a campaign for the brand. She said she 'promoted their brand on my socials two weeks before they had this style on their shop floor'. 'So I've decided it's not flattering, it's unfair, rude and f***king annoying now to be completely honest, I wasn't going to name and shame, but this is ridiculous,' she said 'I know my Snug robes are low key viral, but tell your design teams to look elsewhere for their inspo. It's lame @sussanfashion @brasnthings,' Lily finished her post. Bras N Things' Mila Short Hooded Gown ($69.99) and Sussan's BCNA Floral Hooded Robe ($79.95) have very similar floral printed designs to Chille's Snug Robe. However, both feature hoods and have a much shorter hemline, unlike the Snug Robe which has no hood and is ankle-length. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to representatives of Lily, Bras N Things and Sussan for further comment. Meanwhile, followers of the influencer have flocked to a Facebook gossip page to claim the designs Lily put out have been around, in some variation, for years. 'A pink gown with hearts is hardly groundbreaking, I'm sorry but I'm sure I've seen this a million times over in Peter Alexander, David Jones, Target, etc,' one person said. 'Pretty sure The Nanny was wearing these in the 90s,' another wrote, as someone else added: 'Is she for real? Get a grip. Bras N Things had these like 15 years ago.' 'This looks so generic? I'm so confused. There's nothing unique or groundbreaking about this at all,' said someone else. 'I don't know who this is or what her robes look like, but if she's saying she thinks she came up with this design and it cost her blood, sweat and tears, I think she may need to reevaluate her level of design "skill",' they continued. Another commented: 'I have a pink one like this from Target which is like 4 ish years old? It's nothing unique.' Someone else wrote a similar message saying they had seen similar designs in Kmart, while others pointed out Bras N Things wouldn't be able to copy Lily's style and have them produced within a matter of two weeks as she claimed. A few more sympathetic fans came to Lily's defence, with one writing: 'Putting myself in her shoes, yeah I'd be pretty pissed off. 'I've never seen that pattern and design prior to Chille. So I think she's well within her right to be annoyed. 'Just because dupe culture has been normalised, doesn't take away from how disappointing it would be as a small business owner to have your product ripped off by a large corporation.' Another user agreed, saying: 'This one is important for me. It's her design that her brand is famous for and the big brands see it and take it as their own. 'It's a tale as old as time but it's still gross.'
The Age
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
‘Straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job': Hume admits she took Ley dumping personally
Liberal senator Jane Hume has rebuked Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for demoting her to the backbench, saying it hurt professionally but she would now be free to speak her mind on television. The embattled senator spoke publicly for the first time about her shock demotion to breakfast television on Friday. The Coalition frontbench was unveiled earlier in the week, revealing Hume had been booted from her previous role in shadow finance. 'If you're asking me whether … I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course it hurts. It hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition,' Hume told Seven's Sunrise. 'It hurts personally, too, because you know, Sussan and I are friends … [however], this isn't the playground, this is the parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference.' Hume's open frustration will test Ley's ability to manage disappointed party members who are no longer bound by shadow cabinet solidarity, following the open disappointment expressed by Nationals defector Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Sky News hours after she was sent to the outer ministry role of defence industry and personnel. Hume said she would now be free to speak her mind, and that would make for good television. 'There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points. That's certainly going to make for much more interesting Sunrise interviews. So, you're very lucky, I think,' Hume said to host Natalie Barr. Hume came under fire during the election campaign as the lead on the Coalition's policy ordering public servants back to the office full-time. Then-opposition leader Peter Dutton backfliped on the policy a little over a week into the campaign.
Sydney Morning Herald
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job': Hume admits she took Ley dumping personally
Liberal senator Jane Hume has rebuked Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for demoting her to the backbench, saying it hurt professionally but she would now be free to speak her mind on television. The embattled senator spoke publicly for the first time about her shock demotion to breakfast television on Friday. The Coalition frontbench was unveiled earlier in the week, revealing Hume had been booted from her previous role in shadow finance. 'If you're asking me whether … I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course it hurts. It hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition,' Hume told Seven's Sunrise. 'It hurts personally, too, because you know, Sussan and I are friends … [however], this isn't the playground, this is the parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference.' Hume's open frustration will test Ley's ability to manage disappointed party members who are no longer bound by shadow cabinet solidarity, following the open disappointment expressed by Nationals defector Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Sky News hours after she was sent to the outer ministry role of defence industry and personnel. Hume said she would now be free to speak her mind, and that would make for good television. 'There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points. That's certainly going to make for much more interesting Sunrise interviews. So, you're very lucky, I think,' Hume said to host Natalie Barr. Hume came under fire during the election campaign as the lead on the Coalition's policy ordering public servants back to the office full-time. Then-opposition leader Peter Dutton backfliped on the policy a little over a week into the campaign.
The Advertiser
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
'Straighten your tiara': Jane Hume breaks her silence over her demotion
The Liberals' former finance and public service spokeswoman, Jane Hume, has broken her silence over her controversial dumping from the Coalition frontbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise that the loss of her portfolio "hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition." "If you're asking me whether I've been ... I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course, it hurts," she said. "It hurts personally, too - because, you know, Sussan and I are friends." But, the Victorian senator said: "This isn't the playground. This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference." She made the comments after being asked if her demotion was "payback" for her role in announcing and advocating for the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy during the election campaign. Former opposition leader Peter Dutton retracted the policy to force public servants back to the office full time after a public backlash, particularly from private sector women who feared it would be expanded to deprive them of workplace flexibility. Senator Hume said her demotion would afford her more freedom to speak her mind. "There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said. "I will continue to do that every day from whatever position I am in," she said, calling on all members of the Opposition to "get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel." "There's a very big task ahead of us. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians, but also to hold this terrible government to account," Senator Hume said. "That's exactly what I am going to be doing every day, and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing every day. "As my very wise mother would say, 'Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'." The Liberals' former finance and public service spokeswoman, Jane Hume, has broken her silence over her controversial dumping from the Coalition frontbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise that the loss of her portfolio "hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition." "If you're asking me whether I've been ... I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course, it hurts," she said. "It hurts personally, too - because, you know, Sussan and I are friends." But, the Victorian senator said: "This isn't the playground. This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference." She made the comments after being asked if her demotion was "payback" for her role in announcing and advocating for the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy during the election campaign. Former opposition leader Peter Dutton retracted the policy to force public servants back to the office full time after a public backlash, particularly from private sector women who feared it would be expanded to deprive them of workplace flexibility. Senator Hume said her demotion would afford her more freedom to speak her mind. "There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said. "I will continue to do that every day from whatever position I am in," she said, calling on all members of the Opposition to "get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel." "There's a very big task ahead of us. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians, but also to hold this terrible government to account," Senator Hume said. "That's exactly what I am going to be doing every day, and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing every day. "As my very wise mother would say, 'Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'." The Liberals' former finance and public service spokeswoman, Jane Hume, has broken her silence over her controversial dumping from the Coalition frontbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise that the loss of her portfolio "hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition." "If you're asking me whether I've been ... I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course, it hurts," she said. "It hurts personally, too - because, you know, Sussan and I are friends." But, the Victorian senator said: "This isn't the playground. This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference." She made the comments after being asked if her demotion was "payback" for her role in announcing and advocating for the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy during the election campaign. Former opposition leader Peter Dutton retracted the policy to force public servants back to the office full time after a public backlash, particularly from private sector women who feared it would be expanded to deprive them of workplace flexibility. Senator Hume said her demotion would afford her more freedom to speak her mind. "There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said. "I will continue to do that every day from whatever position I am in," she said, calling on all members of the Opposition to "get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel." "There's a very big task ahead of us. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians, but also to hold this terrible government to account," Senator Hume said. "That's exactly what I am going to be doing every day, and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing every day. "As my very wise mother would say, 'Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'." The Liberals' former finance and public service spokeswoman, Jane Hume, has broken her silence over her controversial dumping from the Coalition frontbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise that the loss of her portfolio "hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition." "If you're asking me whether I've been ... I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course, it hurts," she said. "It hurts personally, too - because, you know, Sussan and I are friends." But, the Victorian senator said: "This isn't the playground. This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference." She made the comments after being asked if her demotion was "payback" for her role in announcing and advocating for the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy during the election campaign. Former opposition leader Peter Dutton retracted the policy to force public servants back to the office full time after a public backlash, particularly from private sector women who feared it would be expanded to deprive them of workplace flexibility. Senator Hume said her demotion would afford her more freedom to speak her mind. "There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said. "I will continue to do that every day from whatever position I am in," she said, calling on all members of the Opposition to "get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel." "There's a very big task ahead of us. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians, but also to hold this terrible government to account," Senator Hume said. "That's exactly what I am going to be doing every day, and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing every day. "As my very wise mother would say, 'Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'."
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Coalition's climate splits echo Labor's dragging divisions over refugee policy
The fast-paced drama of recrimination, estrangement and reconciliation between the National Party and the Liberal Party over the last fortnight has generated two phenomena. First: a serious degree of brand confusion with the 2025 series of Farmer Wants A Wife. (A series recap: David has told Sussan he can't be with someone who won't let him keep his collection of fantasy nuclear reactors. Sussan isn't bothered — she needs space to find herself anyway and is suspicious that David won't honour the solemn covenant of shadow cabinet faithfulness. It's OVER! Gasp! Everyone heads to IKEA to buy separate flat-pack shadow cabinets, the Liberals drawn immediately to the fun energy of the KLUSTERFÖK line, while the Nats opt for the more transportable DUMMISPIT, with optional display shelving and beer holders. But wait! Barnaby and Michael — who loathe each other a lot, but not as much as they jointly loathe David — have gone behind David's back and talked to Sussan! Maybe divorce is too expensive? Isn't it stupid to have two cabinets? David says gruffly that of course he'll respect shadow cabinet solidarity. Sussan says maybe the reactors can go in the shed for now. So she's back to making up spare beds for injured egos in the marital home. So many plot twists! Including that for the first time in forever, a Liberal leader is providing a deeply relatable moment for Australian women. Though not, admittedly, for great reasons.) These are eye-catching personal dramas, to be sure. But they obscure the larger and deeper fissure that yawns unbridgeable-y beneath the bickering parties. Which is all about policy, and not about personality quite as much as would appear. "There won't be a climate war," declared Sussan Ley at her first press conference as the first woman to lead the Liberal Party. "There will be sound and sensible consultation and I undertake 100 per cent to do that." But the truth is, there is still a climate war. Not just between the Nationals and the Liberals but within the Liberals, too. This war has been going on for the entire 21st century. It's bubbled along under multiple public protestations to the contrary, and it's never quite been extinguished despite serial ceasefire agreements, some of which were confusing to those watching from home. A reminder: it was John Howard's first environment minister, Robert Hill, who negotiated an advantageous deal for Australia at the Kyoto climate summit in 1997. It was Howard in his third term who then decided not to ratify Kyoto after all. But it was Howard again — in his final term — who developed an emissions trading scheme and took it to the 2007 election. Tony Abbott (despite having described climate change as "crap") signed up to significant emissions reductions under the Paris Agreement in 2015, only to repent in 2019. In late 2021, Scott Morrison — flanked by then energy minister Angus Taylor — announced a plan for Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Liberal leader Peter Dutton embraced a nuclear future so as to achieve net zero, a tactical Venn diagram whose crucial middle zone turned out to host not very many people at all. Like a colicky cat, the Liberal Party has curled itself into countless different climate change positions over the last 30 years, trying to find a comfortable one. But it hasn't worked. Why? Because incurring economic pain and harm for Australia — in the attempted resolution of a global problem — is incredibly controversial. For all the other benefits of a decarbonised economy and the opportunities for Australia that are afforded by new green industries and our natural resources beyond fossil fuels, the fact remains that our efforts won't make much of a difference to global temperatures unless the world moves with us. But if we all wait and see, of course, then it'll be too late for everyone. For the National Party, representing regional Australia, there are added complexities. Their constituents are on the front line of the changing climate — hotter temperatures, disappearing species, drier summers, more intense weather events. But they also experience greater disruption from a supercharged renewable energy rollout, which for Sydneysiders might involve installing rooftop solar or buying an EV, but for regional Australians is more likely to mean even more changes to their physical environment — the efflorescence of wind farms across the landscape, banks of solar panels, the ugly truss of transmission lines across tracts of land that once felt open. These are not trifling matters. How does the Liberal Party — the senior Coalition partner in a collaboration that has lasted 102 years — cogently and ably represent these diametrically-opposed constituencies? It's too late to be speculating on whether the Liberal Party will split. It already has. The shape of the Liberal Party is still clearly traceable across the House of Representatives benches. It's just that a clutch of those seats are now held by climate independents, whose campaigns in 2022 derived additional power from the Morrison government's high-handedness to women. Labor, having long ago picked a lane on both climate policy and representation of women, might take this opportunity for smugness. But it's not all that long since Labor had its own dragging, painful, exhausting split over an issue on which its opponents were jubilantly united. For the first decade of this century, Labor ripped itself apart over immigration and refugee policy, specifically the question of how it should respond to the Howard government's hardline commitment to mandatory detention and offshore processing of refugees. There are similarities between this issue — an existential one for Labor in both opposition and government — and the Liberal Party's ongoing climate dilemma, even though they land in different portfolio areas. Mandatory detention was Labor's invention originally (the Keating government introduced it in 1992, per immigration minister Gerry Hand), just as it was Howard who first agreed in principle to commit Australia to the task of carbon reduction at Kyoto. Just as the Liberal Party has tossed and turned on climate, Labor undertook multiple reversals as it grappled with refugee policy after the "Tampa election" of 2001. Kevin Rudd wound back the Howard government's border regime in his first stint as prime minister, only to be removed by Julia Gillard who moved to reintroduce offshore processing, and then was herself replaced by Rudd Mk II, who cemented the reversal amid a confronting flotilla of boat arrivals. Labor's rank and file harboured a commitment to the humane treatment of refugees every bit as passionate as the belief among the Liberal base that renewables are folly and that phasing-out fossil fuels is an act of national economic self-harm. The blunt force of electoral experience suggests both sets of believers were out of step with mainstream Australian opinion: Australians have voted as firmly in favour of border protection as they have for action on climate change. And both issues are reducible to the same essential human conundrum, the same pulsing kernel. What do those of us who live a lucky life on this great island owe to those who don't? How much should we inconvenience ourselves, to what extent should we disadvantage ourselves, to fix a problem that is not of our own making? The Labor Party's internal division on refugee policy was more or less quelled by its experience in government. Drownings at sea — and the horror of desperate humans embarking upon unreliable vessels captained by mercenaries — drove Labor back towards the Coalition's position, bilaterally hardening the nation's heart. Labor voters who couldn't stomach it, one assumes, defected to the Greens, whose primary vote more than doubled from 5 per cent to nearly 12 per cent as Labor wrestled with its moral dilemma between the 2001 and 2010 federal elections. But Greens voters — notwithstanding their history of disappointment or annoyance with Labor — overwhelmingly put Labor above the Coalition when they allocate their preferences in the privacy of the voting booth. That's how Labor managed, this month, a truly mind-bending feat: nearly two-thirds of the House of Representatives, off just one-third of the primary vote. The left flank of Australian politics is holding together. The same can't be said, at present, for the right flank. This can be confirmed with a casual glance at the spreading riot of colours overwhelming the previous blue of opposition benches in the Australian Electoral Commission's near-complete portrait of the 48th Parliament: Liberals, Nationals, LNP, the CLP, Katter's Australia Party, Teals, Centre Alliance and so on. In this election, for the first time, the Coalition didn't come first or second in the primary vote count. It came third, after "Anybody else". The Coalition: another victim of climate change.
