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Mia Freedman’s son Luca Lavigne sparked national headlines on Monday after he was appointed CEO of the nation’s largest women-focused media company, Mamamia, which was founded by his parents in 2007.
The news mostly triggered eye rolls in Australian media circles. The industry, after all, is built on nepotism, and Luca is only the latest to walk a well-worn path trodden by the Murdochs, the Packers and others.
But even so, few have gone from Merivale bartender to CEO at the rapid clip Lavigne has.
The Mamamia reshuffle went on to prompt intrigue beyond the confines of the media industry, including on the Facebook page for fans of Chat 10 Looks 3, the independent podcast hosted by high-profile ABC personalities Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb. But discussion there was shut down because the hosts are friends of Freedman’s.
“I heartily agree – a million male-run family businesses end up with sons or daughters running them and it passes barely remarked,” Sales wrote in response to someone who posted about coverage of Lavigne’s appointment, and asked why Freedman and Mamamia get criticised.
“As Crabb and I are friends with Mia and have known Luca since he was a child, I’m going to not allow commenting on this.” Sales declined to comment further.
But another fan of the pod didn’t like what they saw. In a follow-up post, this person said the comments on the original post were disabled because of friendships.
“I really respectfully want to be able to talk about how we can have a Facebook chat group whereby we are encouraged to post and have open conversations, but get shut down when moderators are friends with the subjects? Isn’t that exactly the point of the original post? I’m really trying to understand this,” they wrote.
We heartily agree! In response, Sales said fans of the pod are actually not encouraged to have open conversations, particularly when they’re likely to descend into nastiness.
“What some people are looking for is an excuse to pile onto Mia Freedman in an open forum and I’m not here for it. Closing down comments here too.”
Barnaby barks back
One Nation’s star recruit Barnaby Joyce’s appearance on the ABC’s flagship 7.30 program may have been an attempt to mop up some of the mess left behind by Pauline Hanson’s comments on the podcast of far-right freak show Tommy Robinson late last week.
On it, Hanson claimed Australia’s immigration problems began when the Whitlam government “opened up and got rid of the White Australian [sic] policy”. But it wasn’t Joyce’s clean-up job that sparked headlines. Instead, it was a mid-interview outburst at his dog.
Well, we’re pleased to report the dog still loves him, at least according to its owner. When reached on Tuesday morning, Joyce said the Staffy-Border Collie Cross, Stella, is “only young” and a farm dog. He said the backlash to his outburst, which has drawn criticism from the Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, highlighted the “regional-city divide”.
“People in the regions laugh about it,” Joyce told CBD. “People in the inner city think it’s a war crime.
“It just came under the deck while Sarah Ferguson was giving me a grilling. I tried [to go on] for a while, hoping it would stop. I was missing Sarah’s questions. The dog loved me in the morning. I don’t know if the same can be said about Sarah.”
Hanson seemed amused by what she saw on Monday night, when speaking with reporters in Perth on Tuesday. “I laughed. It’s funny. That’s Barnaby. This is why I love the people around me. We’re just human,” Hanson said. “He told the dog shut up. So what is your problem with that?”
The One Nation leader was less forthcoming on how her now famous trip to Europe with billionaire Gina Rinehart was funded last week. Of course, Hanson was pictured poolside at a luxury Italian resort with Rinehart, in photos first published by The Australian Financial Review, while Rinehart was having a little dip. In the days since, it’s been crickets on how the trip was funded.
“It didn’t cost the taxpayer one cent for my trip overseas – not one cent,” Hanson said, still seemingly reluctant to disclose how the jaunt was paid for, before turning to the Cirrus G7 plane that Rinehart donated to the party earlier this year. “I did get the plane from her. You know what I did? I declared it.”
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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