Textor’s porn star gibe goes global. Liberal party pollster and strategist Mark Textor has hit the headlines in Indonesia, starring in the lead story today on Kompas, one of Indonesia’s most influential newspaper websites. The story runs under a headline that can be translated as: “Australian political figure calls Indonesian foreign minister a porn star.”

The story then reads:

“In the midst of growing tensions between Australia and Indonesia over phone-tapping, an Australian Liberal Party political figure made comments that have disturbed the atmosphere. Mark Textor, via his Twitter account, published comments attacking and insulting Indonesia. One of them said Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa looks like a porn star from the 1970s.”

Textor has since deleted the tweet which did not name Natalegawa directly.

The spying scandal continues to dominate the media in Indonesia, with the front page of yesterday’s Jakarta Post carrying a story headlined “Battle lines drawn against Oz.” The English-language paper was far from bolshie in its latest editorial, arguing:

“The cordial relations that Yudhoyono established with successive prime ministers since 2004 have facilitated and strengthened relations even further. But as with any neighbor relations, there are bound to be hiccups from time-to-time. This week is one of those downturns in the relationship. If President Yudhoyono now decides to review overall cooperation with Australia, he would do well to be selective and be sure not to affect the overall long-term relationship that he helped build.”

Meanwhile, the Bali Post offered this cartoon:

— Matthew Knott

Tele‘s Rees reveations re-open privacy debate. Debate about how far the media should pry into politicians’ private lives has erupted again in NSW after The Daily Telegraph revealed ex-Premier Nathan Rees had an affair with a constituent. The Tele ran the scoop on its front page yesterday under the headline “Nathan Sleaze: Ex-premier admits to sex romp with constituent”. Rees resigned from shadow cabinet following the revelations.

Tele state political editor Andrew Clennell justified the story on the grounds that Rees breached his position of trust by entering into a sexual relationship with a constituent who was lobbying his office. The woman was seeking assistance from Rees because she believed police officers had failed to arrest someone who had assaulted her son. Rees wrote a letter marked “draft” to the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission but the paper suggests he did not sent it. Columnist Sarah Le Marquand writes today that publication was justified because there was a power imbalance between Rees and the vulnerable woman.

Not everyone agrees. Sydney Morning Herald state political editor Sean Nicholls wrote yesterday the paper was approached by the woman several months ago, claiming a non-consensual relationship. “But when pressed, the woman acknowledged the affair was consensual and that Mr Rees had done nothing wrong,” Nicholls wrote. At that point the paper abandoned the story.

The ABC’s Annabel Crabb wasn’t convinced about The Tele‘s call, tweeting yesterday:

The general public was also divided:

Channel Seven sparked a major privacy debate in 2010 case when the network revealed then NSW police minister David Campbell had attended gay bath houses. — Matthew Knott 

Front page of the day. The Ashes kick off in Brisbane today and The Courier-Mail isn’t holding back with today’s front page. The paper has decided to “ban” English fast bowler Stuart Broad — or “smug pommy cheat” as the paper calls him — from its pages. Broad was labelled a cheat during the last series for not walking after being caught. The Courier-Mail says it will “simply refer to ‘a 27-year-old English medium pace bowler’, and we will de-identify any images of him.” We wonder how the policy will play out if Broad nabs a hat-trick or does something else especially news-worthy.