Senator Don Farrell introduces Peter Malinauskas at Sydney Institute function

Senator Don Farrell wasn’t the headline speaker at Wednesday evening’s annual Sydney Institute dinner lecture. But that wasn’t going to stop the Labor Party godfather from hoofing it up to Sydney to be there for his old friend and South Australia’s Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Not a total surprise, of course, given the pair go way back. Farrell and Malinauskas met in 2001, after which Farrell, then boss of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association in South Australia, hired Malinauskas, who was working at Woolworths at the time, as a casual union organiser.

So in a sense, it was only fitting to see the South Australian premier’s political mentor introduce him to guests of the annual dinner lecture that the senator has previously given himself.

But Farrell’s sitting week excursion did pique our interest because CBD spies in the room reported that he was the only Albanese government minister seen at the dinner. The senator’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment by deadline.

In his lecture, Malinauskas took aim at the nation’s migration debate. He described the prospect of a “political race to the bottom” on cutting migration numbers as “madness”. He said there could be “no greater act of national economic self-harm” than to “slash migration numbers” for political purposes. And he said preserving Australia’s migration system had never been more important, giving drive-bys to the “far left” and “far right” in the process.

The annual get-together drew a decent crowd, but it’s the Minns government that was out in force. Among them was NSW Finance Minister Courtney Houssos and Housing Minister Rose Jackson, who were joined by former transport minister Jo Haylen. There was also former NSW premier Morris Iemma, we’re told, along with Louise Clegg, wife of Opposition Leader Angus Taylor.

What algorithm?

It’s not often that Meta makes the top executives of its social media platforms available to Australian journalists, so the timing of a press briefing by Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri scheduled for Thursday morning couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Or at least, so you would have thought. Just days earlier, the Albanese government announced plans that would force social media platforms to prompt users to opt in to the personalised algorithmic feeds that are the default on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and others. The legislation still has to go through consultation.

But as journalists started trickling into the online briefing, held on a Zoom call on Thursday morning, Instagram’s top local communications executive told journalists not to bother asking about the legislation because Mosseri wouldn’t answer. Then he asked journalists not to apply Mosseri’s comments “directly or indirectly” to reporting on the topic.

So what was the briefing about? What else but Instagram’s brand new “Your Algorithm” feature! In a note sent to reporters ahead of the call, the feature was described as an option which “gives users a direct way to see and shape their Instagram algo[rithm]“.

One way to interpret this, of course, is Meta front-running algorithm fatigue – and the possibility of regulatory action – in markets like Australia that have a record of developing tech policy that sparks similar policy moves in other jurisdictions.

Another way to interpret it is: maybe this is all just a bit of bad timing. Maybe Mosseri just wasn’t across the details, didn’t have time to read the news, or simply does not yet have a view on the legislative proposal, which is what we’d guess Meta would want us to believe.

The company would not be drawn on why Mosseri was not prepared to say anything at all about the policy. So far, the company has yet to issue a response to the proposal. But our guess is they don’t love it.

Double Bay’s big bash

Regulars of the Royal Oak in Sydney’s genteel Double Bay found themselves with cause to double-take on Tuesday evening when a gaggle of Australia’s top cricketing talent was seen at the pub having a weeknight beer.

Among them was Mitchell Marsh, who appeared to have made a full recovery from that testicular injury this year, along with Travis Head, Alex Carey, Adam Zampa and Nic Maddinson.

Residents of the harbourside suburb are never really far from the company of Sydney’s boldface names. So it wasn’t the presence of the Australian representatives that first caught the attention of our CBD spy. Instead it was their Tuesday night, uh, excitement that turned eyes in their direction. Not that the bar staff seemed to have any idea who they were serving.

Maybe it was news of Cricket Australia’s decision that day to let the sport’s state associations sell off stakes in their Big Bash teams to private investors that called for celebration.

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