Labor MP caught in ‘reply all’ email fail

Ah, the dreaded “reply all”.

This week, it claimed a high-profile victim in the form of Labor’s Campbelltown MP and parliamentary secretary Greg Warren, who appeared uninterested in the prospect of a wholesome Macquarie Street clothing swap hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Sustainable Fashion. The group, convened by Labor’s Sarah Kaine and the Greens’ Kobi Shetty are holding something called Swaptober, supported by Baptist World Aid.

But when Kaine sent an email around calling for clothing donations, Warren didn’t seem thrilled.

“No thanks. Regards,” was the terse reply from the MP.

Unfortunately, he’d sent that to all staff and MPs and other inmates of Parliament House, which meant the email was swiftly forwarded to CBD.

When we came calling, Warren told us he wasn’t snubbing the clothing swap, and the whole thing was a misunderstanding, and that he’d quickly called Kaine to confirm he’d be donating clothes after all.

“I didn’t have my glasses on,” he told us.

Happens to the best of us.

Miller time

On Wednesday, hirsute News Corp executive chairman Michael Miller took to the stage and shared his condemnation of rival technology – social media and AI – to those who hadn’t already seen his thoughts in The Australian two days earlier.

Those hanging off Miller’s every word at Crown Melbourne included former ACCC chair and rent-a-quote commentator Allan Fels, and REA Group chairman Hamish McLennan (we won’t mention Rugby Australia if you don’t).

The speech was entitled The Big Steal. “We are at the dawn of the next new digital landscape and yet we are being challenged to accept another wave of publicly endorsed theft, and an assault on our privacy, our identities … and our livelihoods,” the media boss told his audience. “If it was a video game, it would be called Grand Theft Australia.”

Miller said in the US, News Corp was signing agreements with some AI companies but suing others. During questions, Fels asked whether in an ideal world, Miller would strengthen the Copyright Act. Miller said it had served the country well since 1968 and did not need strengthening.

Not in attendance was Miller’s big boss Lachlan Murdoch, although he is in the country. As CBD reported, the News Corp emperor was spotted trekking out to Homebush to watch the rugby league grand final on Sunday, accompanied by his wife, Sarah Murdoch, who has broken her leg.

Murdoch Jr was no doubt thrilled by the Brisbane Broncos’ drought-breaking comeback win over the Melbourne Storm.

After all, News Corp owns the club, which Lachlan began supporting in the 1990s. With the Broncos the only publicly listed club in Australia, its share price soared after dual grand final triumphs for its men’s and women’s teams.

Lord mayor of memes

We last caught up with Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Nick Reece when he was singing the praises of Sydney, in an uncharacteristic move from a resident of the southern city.

His latest trip has raised more eyebrows.

During his recent visit to China, Reece recreated ex-premier Dan Andrews’ infamous “Tiananmen Square on a mobile phone” photograph.

It was in September that LMNR (as he is known among staffers – it stands for Lord Mayor Nick Reece) took off to China and Japan along with councillors Gladys Liu (a former Liberal MP), Kevin Louey and Philip Le Liu and met with the mayor of Beijing and the governor of Tokyo.

But what really caught our attention was when we heard that LMNR had imitated the famous photograph of then-premier Dan Andrews on a mobile phone in Tiananmen Square – and was circulating it to mates for what we presume were shits and giggles.

A fond tribute or a biting parody? Greater minds than ours have tried to work out how LMNR’s mind works. And failed.

The famous Andrews photo that launched a thousand memes dates from 2015, but it’s fair to say views on Andrews and China soured more recently when in September, Andrews was back in Beijing and posed for that notorious class photo, as they say, alongside dictators including China’s Xi Jinping and, er, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and, er, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

It was an unwelcome return to the spotlight for Andrews, who keeps a lower profile these days but is understood to be still coining it from acting as a conduit between Chinese business interests and locals.

But what was the lord mayor thinking, we hear you ask? So we asked.

He replied: “This was a cheeky piece of political satire – happy to join in on the memes,” the mayor told CBD. Your move, Clover.

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