(Image: AP/Noah Berger, File)

Too good to be true It made a cosy scene: Rupert Murdoch telling British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “get rid of the BBC” as he “dandled” Johnson’s 18-month-old son Wilfred on his knee at Chequers, the PM’s country residence. 

That was the report on Saturday on the authoritative Daily Mail website, citing Johnson’s sister Rachel, a London radio presenter, as its source. According to the ever-reliable Mail, she allegedly told an industry event last week that the BBC’s existence was under threat — “especially when you have got people like Rupert Murdoch going to Chequers and saying to my brother, as he dandles Wilf on his knee, ‘Boris you’ve got to get rid of the BBC, it’s eating my lunch, they got a website, they’re a publisher, it’s not competitive’. You can see that there are pressures from all sides.”

A few hours later, in a rare refutation of a Daily Mail story, Rachel Johnson tweeted: “Sorry to disappoint but Rupert Murdoch NEVER told the PM to get rid of the BBC as I am quoted as saying in today’s Daily Mail. It never happened. Joke taken out of context. Totally my fault for agreeing to say ‘a few words’ about future of the media. Apols to all who got excited.” Some joke.

Germs galore COVID super-spreaders rejoice, you are now allowed to be identified in the media as long as you’re an investment banker or a “public figure”, according to a ruling by the Australian Press Council (APC).

The APC found the Australian Financial Review did not breach the Council’s media standards by naming Apollo Global Management managing director Tom Pizzey as the person who unwittingly spread coronavirus throughout Sydney.

Pizzey was named by the AFR as the “mystery shopper” who had been ducking into a number of BBQ Galore stores on the same day — to purchase the franchise, as it turns out, not buy BBQ products. 

The story copped a lot of flack at the time, including by Media Watch. NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said the story “stinks” and naming Pizzey would discourage the public from getting tested. 

But the APC disagreed: “The Council considers there is a public interest in reporting on the business activities of Apollo Global Management in Australia, and notes the named person is somewhat of a public figure given his position within the organisation.

“It also notes that such public interest does not necessarily justify identifying a person’s medical information. In this case, however, the Council is satisfied the publication took reasonable steps to not intrude on the person’s reasonable expectations of privacy by contacting the company in advance of the article’s publication and by removing a photograph of the person upon request.”

Such a Downer The large brain of former foreign minister Alexander Downer — the politician who brought us the bugging of the Timor-Leste embassy and Australia’s involvement in the Iraq War — has a plan to solve the AUKUS deal’s submarine riddle. If Downer were PM (he was once the Liberal Party’s shortest-serving leader), he would simply buy some nuclear submarines off the Americans, and pay South Australia a cool $10 billion in compensation for not building them in his home state.

Writing today in the Australian Financial Review, the man who Fox News believes is a left-wing super spy makes the salient point that under the AUKUS deal, submarines will take 30 years to be operational and cost us billions. He also points out, with refreshing candour, that building the submarines in his beloved Adelaide has the advantage of “helping the Liberal Party secure votes in the state”.

He’s got a point here. Once a Liberal stronghold, the outer Adelaide seat of Boothby is now held by the government on a 1.4% margin, and MP Nicolle Flint’s retirement puts it in play for Labor. Of course, Downer’s own former seat of Mayo is well gone — daughter Georgina has twice failed to win it.

But would $10 billion be enough to buy back the votes of South Australians? If Downer were in charge, he’d spend it partially on “a beautiful concert hall for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.” Hardly a populist vote-winner but, then again, Downer’s blood was always the deepest blue.