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School principles: Alan Tudge and Gina Rinehart.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>John Shakespeare<\/cite><\/p>\n We recently reported that Tudge had dipped his toes into private consulting, and now the former education minister has found a gig as a columniser.<\/p>\n Not with The Australian, <\/i>or even one of the News Corp tabloids, but with The Spectator Australia<\/em>, the conservative magazine that shares the politics but none of the gravitas of its British parent publication.<\/p>\n Amid the affair with a staffer, robo-debt and commuter car park scandals, it\u2019s easy to overlook that Tudge was one of the last government\u2019s truest culture warriors.<\/p>\n And his hot-taking in The Spectator<\/em> continues that theme. His first piece, published last month, appears to be a bold defence of the robo-debt affair.<\/p>\n While a recent royal commission described some of Tudge\u2019s actions as \u201ca reprehensible abuse of power\u201d (findings he denies), the minister in charge had a different take.<\/p>\n \u201cScott Morrison<\/strong> referred to the robo-debt royal commission as a \u2018lynching\u2019. I call it a missed opportunity,\u201d Tudge wrote. Specifically, a missed opportunity to properly crack down on welfare compliance.<\/p>\n Tudge\u2019s latest effort is a gushing tribute to Campion College, a Catholic liberal arts institution in western Sydney that recently named a building after Gina Rinehart<\/strong>. The college, Tudge wrote, stood out \u201camong the postmodern rot that infests most of our universities\u2019 humanities faculties\u201d, owing to its focus \u201con the origins and brilliance of our Western civilisation\u201d.<\/p>\n We asked Alan if all this hot-taking was going to become a regular thing. He never responded.<\/p>\n A fascinating snippet from the ABC\u2019s freedom of information disclosure logs caught our eye.<\/p>\n Paul Barry is reportedly paid over $200,000 to host Media Watch.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Dominic Lorrimer<\/cite><\/p>\n Someone \u2013 and we have our strong suspicions who it might be \u2013 has invoked the legislation to find out how much of your hard-earned tax dollars go into bringing the ABC\u2019s Media Watch<\/em> to our screens each week.<\/p>\n Forty-five grand, on average, is the answer, which our newsroom TV experts reckon is \u201cdirt cheap\u201d (the show\u2019s critics might think it\u2019s a bit steep) for a weekly standalone show requiring a big research effort.<\/p>\n And for which host Paul Barry<\/b> is reportedly paid in excess of $200,000.<\/p>\n We called the ABC on Wednesday to see if it thought it was getting bang for its buck, but the broadcaster had zero interest in sharing its thoughts on that question.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll just have to let value be in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n It\u2019s amazing what passes for being in the public interest these days and the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources appears to have developed a novel understanding of the concept.<\/p>\n Our WAToday<\/em> colleague Peter Milne<\/b> asked the department to supply, under the freedom of information (FOI) legislation, some official documents about the decommissioning of Australia\u2019s clapped-out offshore oil and gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n You can have them, a departmental official told Milne on Monday. But in the \u201cpublic interest\u201d, he would have to wait until Thursday to get them, so as not to \u201caffect departmental operations and ministerial considerations\u201d.<\/p>\n CBD has had its share of FOI knock-backs, lord knows, but that\u2019s a new one on us.<\/p>\n Milne wondered if ministerial considerations included a carefully planned and strategic drip-feed of the information from federal Resources Minister Madeleine King<\/b>\u2019s office on Tuesday, culminating in the \u201cannounceable\u201d of an issues paper on decommissioning, with a big number \u2013 $60 billion \u2013 attached.<\/p>\n Minister for Resources Madeleine King.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n We asked King\u2019s office if it was indeed the political desire to tightly control the message on this job that trumped the public\u2019s timely right to know.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d said a spokesman. \u201cThe minister\u2019s office did not ask the department for a delay in the release of the document.\u201d<\/p>\n And we\u2019ll just have to leave it there.<\/p>\n Most Collingwood fans were quietly pleased on Tuesday night at news of Brayden Maynard<\/strong>\u2019s acquittal by the AFL Tribunal over that<\/em> challenge on Melbourne\u2019s Angus Brayshaw<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But former Pies president Eddie McGuire <\/strong>was loudly ecstatic.<\/p>\n Video posted to the socials by former Pies player Dale \u201cDaisy\u201d Thomas<\/strong> shows McGuire stopping proceedings dead in Hawthorn eatery Choi\u2019s \u2013 where he was dining with members of the club\u2019s 2010 premiership side \u2013 to declare to the roomful of diners that \u201cjustice has been done!\u201d and that \u201cMaynard is free to play for the Pies!\u201d<\/p>\n Eddie told us on Wednesday morning that he was simply providing a public service broadcast to his fellow diners, many of whom had stopped him on the way to his table asking for news from the tribunal.<\/p>\n The former journalist was happy to oblige once the marathon tribunal session had confirmed its verdict.<\/p>\n McGuire reckons it was an opportunity not to be missed for a lighter moment after a tense few days in the game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get a bit of fun back into the footy,\u201d he told us. \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty tough this week.\u201d<\/p>\n The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <\/i><\/b>Sign up here<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nWATCH THE PENNIES<\/h3>\n
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