Losing her sparkle?
It’s that time of year when Inside Mail gazes into its crystal ball and ponders who might be getting boned during TV’s annual sacking season come November.
And all signs point to Sonia Kruger.
At the height of her workload, she was fronting not one, not two, but three flagship entertainment franchises: The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and Big Brother.
A lot has changed since then. Let’s start with the most recent development.
Inside Mail’s Rob McKnight broke the news yesterday that this year’s season of The Voice will be the last on Seven, with its budget reportedly siphoned off to fund I’m a Celebrity. (A Seven spokesperson said ‘no decision had been made’ for 2027.)
That’s one gig down.
All signs point to Sonia Kruger (pictured) getting boned during TV’s annual sacking season come November
Last October, sources said Dancing with the Stars, which Kruger co-hosts with Dr Chris Brown, had been ‘paused’ due to high production costs.
Two down.
Then there was Big Brother. Last year, the format moved from Seven to Ten, taking another role from Kruger, who was replaced by rising star Mel Tracina.
Three down.
As it stands, unless DWTS rises from the ashes at the next Upfronts, Kruger could be left on a reported $1.3million contract without a confirmed hosting project beyond the current season of The Voice.
If we had to put our money on it, we’d wager on Kruger sashaying stage left by the end of the year.
Indeed, it’s a fate the Gold Logie winner already seems resigned to.
In a recent interview with Stellar magazine, Kruger lent weight to a report by The Australian that she was exploring opportunities overseas.
Dancing with the Stars, which Kruger hosts with Dr Chris Brown (left), is currently on hold due to high production costs
She remarked that if the UK or US version of Dancing with the Stars ‘ever wanted Tina Sparkle to turn up and be a guest judge on either of those, she’d be there’.
We found that a little optimistic given Tina Sparkle’s appearance in Strictly Ballroom remains Kruger’s one and only film role… 32 years later.
When we contacted Seven for comment, a spokesperson pointed to The Voice’s impressive launch numbers this year but wouldn’t be drawn into Kruger’s status.
‘We don’t comment on individual contracts,’ they said.
‘Announcements in relation to Seven’s 2027 programming schedule will be made in the back end of the year as part of the normal network Upfronts strategy.’
That’s not a denial…
‘Doxxing is illegal’
Questions over the accuracy of reporting by colourful former Mongols bikie-turned-Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal have intensified after Media Watch raised a series of concerns on Monday.
Fazal’s employment was terminated after an ABC investigation into his appearance on a podcast, with two episodes of Four Corners and one episode of Background Briefing later removed due to accuracy concerns.
In both the Background Briefing program and the episode ‘Cocaine Nation’, Fazal interviewed ‘Remy’, a masked figure presented as a cocaine dealer to Sydney’s elite.
Now, Media Watch has reported that self-styled Sydney rapper Charissa Habkouk claims she was the person behind the ‘Remy‘ persona and that the central elements of her story in both programs were fabricated.
Habkouk told Media Watch she viewed Remy as ‘an acting role and a favour to Mahmood’.
Prior to joining the ABC, Fazal had worked for VICE as a senior staff writer and host of the series Violent Times.
Inside Mail is reliably informed that Habkouk, who previously lived in public housing in Ultimo, a stone’s throw away from the ABC’s Sydney HQ, is an aspiring rapper who performs under the stage name ‘Cee em cee‘.
According to a former associate, the 35-year-old saw the appearance as a chance to raise her profile rather than tell her story.
Media Watch alleges that ‘Remy’ was a role played by self-styled aspiring rapper Charissa Habkouk, also known as ‘Cee em cee’, for the purposes of a Four Corners ‘investigation’
The 35-year-old saw the appearance as a chance to raise her profile rather than tell her story. Remy (in a cap) is seen with associates who aren’t involved in the Four Corners controversy
Habkouk has since broken her silence on TikTok and Instagram, accusing Media Watch, or whomever tipped them off, of having ‘doxxed’ her
Indeed, we have found photos of Habkouk that show she is already living the life of a platinum-selling rapper… albeit without the success.
‘It was all about the exposure,’ the source told Inside Mail. ‘If she wasn’t getting that, she would’ve had her face blurred.’
Habkouk has since broken her silence on TikTok and Instagram, accusing Media Watch, or whomever tipped them off, of having ‘doxxed’ her. (She joins a long list of people who misunderstand what ‘doxxing’ actually means…)
‘Doxxing is illegal and it’s one thing when random nobodies on TikTok do it, but at your level of ‘professionalism’, and given the current situation surrounding your organisation, you chose to dox someone?’ she wrote.
She added: ‘I won’t let this go. Retainer paid, legal representation in action.’
Habkouk lists legal practice management software company Smokeball as her employer on LinkedIn. Perhaps that’s where the legal confidence comes from.
Spy vs. Spy
GetUp! is continuing with its resolve to never stray far from the headlines.
Months after staging a coup at Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club address, the left-wing political activist group is busy antagonising its latest target.
This time, it’s not populist party leaders in the firing line, but rather Coles supermarkets’ collaboration with the CIA-linked data analysis giant Palantir.
Coles is halfway through a three-year partnership with the controversial tech giant, best known for its use by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencies, with their software deployed across 840 stores.
Months after staging a coup at Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club address, left-wing political activist group GetUp! is busy antagonising its latest target: Coles
That’s right, the same technology reportedly used to carry out mass deportations stateside is now being used to crack down on Australian shoplifters.
Coles insists the data is not being given back to Palantir and is only being used for internal purposes. GetUp! isn’t buying it and has responded with a guerrilla advertising campaign, buying up ad space in the vicinity of Coles stores.
The ads, parked within 50 metres of Coles retailers, uncannily resembled the supermarket’s actual promotional material, warning passers-by: ‘Coles, we’re watching you.’
Coles, still licking its wounds from that pesky price-gouging kerfuffle courtesy of the ACCC, is not impressed to say the least.
In a Tuesday afternoon newsletter, GetUp!’s CEO Paul Ferris claimed that not only was Coles threatening litigation, but it was also strong-arming advertising agencies behind the scenes to cut ties with the campaign.
According to GetUp!, Coles’ interference caused several agencies to bend over, resulting in almost 700 ads being rejected.
On Wednesday, Mr Ferris told Inside Mail that ‘all evidence suggests Coles worked to have our billboards taken down’ and were now sending threatening legal letters.
Mr Ferris also added that ‘brave sources’ from within the Coles bunker had revealed staff were briefed to keep their eyes peeled for suspected GetUp! activity.
A senior source at Coles rubbished GetUp!’s claims of legal sabre-rattling and underhanded tactics, telling Inside Mail they had neither commenced proceedings nor sought to have GetUp’s ads removed.
The supermarket did, however, send the group a confidential letter regarding a Coles team member who appeared in the campaign after allegedly being filmed without her permission.
Ultimately, GetUp!’s gripe is that Coles won’t answer its questions about what data is going to Palantir.
‘If there’s nothing for its customers to worry about, then it should come clean, or it needs to end its partnership with Palantir immediately,’ Mr Ferris told Inside Mail.
Speaking generally about the Palantir partnership, a Coles spokesperson said on Thursday: ‘Coles use this software as a data integration and analytics platform, which helps our team members make practical, informed decisions across our business.
‘The software is used for bakery production planning, evaluating promotions, rostering and providing insights for retail media performance reporting. It’s an operational platform focused on helping stores run more effectively.
‘The software is deployed within Coles’ own environment and is operated and isolated under Coles controls. Palantir does not control the data, nor can it independently repurpose it.’
A snap decision?
Karl Stefanovic may believe he has a future as a commentator on UK politics, but if he’s serious about carving out a media career in Britain, he may need to develop a thicker skin. Fleet Street’s gossip merchants don’t play by Australian rules.
Fresh from his chummy interviews with Tommy Robinson and therapy session with Piers Morgan, Karlos found himself in the sights of British gossip newsletter Popbitch, which recently published an eyebrow-raising item for paying subscribers.
A gossip newsletter claimed last week Karl Stefanovic once snapped up pap pics of him enjoying an affectionate moment with wife Jasmine during the delicate early stages of their relationship. Karl’s rep denied the story, saying: ‘We have never paid for any photos to be withheld or otherwise.’ (The Stefanovics are seen at Fashion Week in Sydney in 2017)
The safe-for-work version is as follows…
Stefanovic, it is claimed, was papped enjoying an affectionate moment with wife Jasmine during the delicate early stages of their relationship, when his split from first wife Cassandra was still raw and causing PR headaches for Nine.
While photos confirming their romance did end up splashed across the front page of The Sunday Telegraph, the industry myth is that other images were offered for sale but never published.
One version of events holds that Karl paid the photographers six figures to acquire certain snaps for his personal collection, ensuring they were never seen beyond a handful of picture editors.
While it sounds like the sort of immortal media yarn that never dies, it is our regrettable duty to tell you it belongs in the same category as the apocryphal tale about Pauline Hanson posing for The Picture magazine before entering politics.
That is to say, it isn’t true.
A former Nine insider who worked closely with Karl at the time said the story ‘sounded like BS’. Two photo agency bosses we spoke to – who would definitely know – said they hadn’t seen any compromising photos (though one said they had heard the rumour before). A gossipy former pap-turned-reporter said he didn’t know.
Karl’s long-serving manager, Sharon Finnegan, was even more direct, replying within minutes of our emailed inquiry on Wednesday morning: ‘We have never paid for any photos to be withheld or otherwise.’
Case closed!
Nose for trouble
Speaking of Karl’s interview with Robinson, one rumour that spread like wildfire on social media was that the British provocateur had, shall we say, a pep in his step during the controversial sit-down.
Robinson has now addressed the speculation head on.
In a video released this week, he denied being under the influence of cocaine during his appearance on The Karl Stefanovic Show and took the extraordinary step of publishing a psychiatric report confirming he has ADHD and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which he says explains his edgy and at-times agitated presentation.
‘I’m not on drugs,’ he said. ‘In fact, I’m the leanest and fittest I’ve ever been in my life at 43. ‘Oh, look he just wiped his nose.’ F*** you.’
Tommy Robinson (right) has addressed speculation about his nose-rubbing on Karl’s podcast
Kochie’s call-up?
- Opinion by media commentator and former Studio 10 executive producer Rob McKnight
Morale at the Today show is hitting new lows as staff wait to see what ‘amazing’ rescue plan Nine’s executives can come up with.
Some staff cheered when Karl Stefanovic left under a cloud, but many now realise the real issue: they have little say over the show they pour hours into each week.
Word is Nine’s head of programming, Michael Healey, is calling all the shots on hosts, leaving the actual team with zero input.
Director of Morning TV Steve ‘Burlo’ Burling is left defending the casting of Healey’s mate, Mike Willesee Jr, while ratings nosedive.
Sam Armytage is calling the shots when it comes to who sits next to her, favouring Mike Willesee Jr over Joel Dry
Willesee has drawn negative headlines, and plenty of industry chatter, for failing to live up to his father’s charisma.
Meanwhile, reports claim Sam Armytage is dictating who sits beside her. The Australian says Armytage vetoed Queensland newsreader Joel Dry, choosing Willesee instead (good call there, Sam).
Staff are fuming that Nine had no succession plan, despite management knowing Stefanovic was on his way out by year’s end.
Others are angry that there’s no guarantee Sarah Abo will return, with Armytage reportedly favoured by Healey.
But if Armytage is in, who sits next to her?
One 2GB listener suggested a Sam-and-Kochie reunion – an idea that raised eyebrows, but isn’t the worst option.
Director of Morning TV Steve Burling (pictured) is left defending the casting of Healey’s mate, Mike Willesee Jr, while ratings nosedive
Sam and Kochie were a winning pair who kept Sunrise at number one, even if their relationship frayed towards the end. A reunion could give Today the hook it needs. Today has never matched Seven for production smarts, so if nothing changes behind the scenes, why not go back to the future?
Kochie, cut by Seven with a generous exit package, might relish a return to the grind, even if he’s kept busy by meerkat commercials. A breakfast gig pays well, and Kochie loves a pay packet.
At least Kochie polarises viewers – a good thing. No one watches bland TV. Even those who hate Kochie watch him. He has opinions, and unlike Nine’s parade of bland, good-looking young presenters, he’s memorable.
Need his number, Channel Nine? Just ask.
Sleeping with the enemy
Recent disclosures from MPs’ and senators’ registers of interests have revealed who picked up the tab at Canberra’s exclusive Parliamentary Press Gallery Midwinter Ball, with media companies and corporate heavyweights playing host to politicians from across Parliament.
Some declarations may prove awkward reading for Labor’s anti-Murdoch faithful.
While Labor figures routinely criticise News Corp’s coverage, the media giant was warmly received when it came to allocating seats at one of Canberra’s most coveted tables.
The latest disclosures show politicians were guests of News Corp, the ABC, the Australian Financial Review, NITV and mining giant Fortescue at the Ball.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared two tickets courtesy of Fortescue, attending the annual Canberra gala with wife Laura.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles received two tickets from News Corp, while Australia’s youngest-ever senator, Charlotte Walker, also attended as a guest of the Murdoch-owned media company.
For a party whose supporters frequently accuse News Corp of waging war on Labor, the guest list serves as a timely reminder that Midwinter Ball politics differ dramatically from the rhetoric found on social media.
Communications Minister Anika Wells attended as a guest of the ABC.
The economics are straightforward: tickets for MPs and staff cost about $250 each if purchased directly, but hosting a politician at a Midwinter table is one of the cheapest networking opportunities in Canberra.
A seat at the ball costs a fraction of what lobbyists, corporations and industry groups typically pay for access at Labor Party fundraising dinners.
In other words, for media companies seeking to guarantee the presence of a cabinet minister, shadow minister or influential crossbencher, Midwinter remains one of the best bargains in town.
Elsewhere, independent MP Monique Ryan declared two tickets from the Australian Financial Review, while Liberal MP Julian Leeser attended as a guest of NITV.
Nationals MP Anne Webster received a complimentary ticket from Free TV Australia, rounding out a guest list revealing Canberra’s media organisations are happy to spread their invitations across the political spectrum.
Inside the ‘YL Ball’
Despite the cloud hanging over the party from an ongoing ICAC inquiry, there was little sign of concern at the NSW Young Liberal Ball on Saturday night, with hundreds of members, supporters and senior figures packing out Doltone House overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park.
The annual event drew a strong Liberal contingent, headlined by NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, who delivered a campaign-style address to a room eager to turn its focus towards the next election rather than the headlines of recent weeks.
Federal Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume was among the key guests, while Today fill-in host and longtime Liberal activist Dr Nick Coatsworth also featured on the bill.
Other guests of note included state MPs Matt Cross, Jacqui Munro and Chris Rath, as well as federal MPs Simon Kennedy and Dave Sharma.
If there was any anxiety about the party’s broader woes, it wasn’t evident in the room.
The mood was upbeat, the drinks were flowing and the auction proved particularly lucrative.
Young Liberal President and husband of former Sky News Australia host Freya Leach, Cooper Gannon, kept the crowd entertained, holding up prizes during the auction, helping raise thousands of dollars throughout the evening.
Among the standout items was a collection of wine bottles signed by Sloane, which fetched $1,400, while a signed ‘Shirtfront This’ T-shirt from former prime minister and Liberal Federal President Tony Abbott also attracted keen bidding.
Kellie Sloane (in orange) gave a rousing speech to party faithful, alongside Jane Hume (centre)
The shirt referenced Abbott’s famous 2014 vow to ‘shirtfront’ Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One auction item, however, failed to generate quite the same enthusiasm from the otherwise free-spending crowd.
A signed copy of Scott Morrison’s ‘Plans for Your Good’ book, attracted a noticeably more subdued response compared with the fierce bidding that greeted other lots.
On the event brochure was a play on Angus Taylor’s phrase ‘restoring our standard of living, protecting our way of life’.
‘Restoring D[ance] floor strands, protecting our way of kicking on.’
Unlike Labor, where the youth wing operates with a greater degree of separation from the party machine, the NSW Liberals and Young Liberals remain closely intertwined.
Youth wing members continue to wield significant influence in internal party affairs, particularly when it comes to preselections for the Senate and the NSW Legislative Council.
For ambitious MPs and aspiring candidates, maintaining goodwill with the movement is more than a courtesy; it’s a political necessity.
The smartest operators understand that today’s Young Liberal factional numbers can become tomorrow’s preselection votes.
Why landlord Hughesy quit The Project
Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes has copped plenty of flak for criticising the Albanese Government’s federal budget changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Critics say he’s only upset because the changes affect his own wallet – but Hughesy insists that’s not the case.
‘I’ve never negative geared a property in my life – it doesn’t cost me a cent,’ he told McKnight Tonight on Monday, before outlining his relatively modest portfolio:
- A block of eight, two-bedroom flats in Caulfield, Melbourne
- The house he bought on The Block
- A house in his hometown of Warrnambool, where a niece with special needs lives
Hughesy says it’s the capital gains tax changes that make him angry, because they’ll hit people’s nest eggs.
He’s caught backlash from pro-Labor celebrity friends online, though he says that none has been able to demonstrate how he has misunderstood the legislation. The debate has even sparked lively exchanges with the likes of Peter FitzSimons on X.
He also revealed some anti-Labor business figures have tried to pay him to keep up his attacks.
‘And I honestly say to them, “No, I don’t want your money. I don’t need your money. I don’t want to owe favours to anyone.”‘
Hughesy says TV is on its last legs – the numbers don’t add up, and people just stare at their phones. ‘These political rants I’m doing get much more attention,’ he adds.
He traces his changing political views back to his departure from Channel Ten’s The Project, which lurched left before its cancellation.
‘I’ve never been all one-sided. Obviously now I’m going hard against the Albanese government, but I’ve always made up my own mind.’
Hughesy says his efforts to represent mainstream Australia were ignored by The Project’s editorial team. (He is pictured with co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and Charlie Pickering on the show’s first episode)
Hughesy’s independence didn’t mesh with the editorial line at Roving Enterprises. ‘We’re singing from the wrong songbook here,’ he says he tried to tell bosses.
Despite his popularity from stand-up and radio, Hughesy’s efforts to represent mainstream Australia were ignored by The Project’s editorial team, he claims.
Ultimately, it wasn’t a show for dissenting comedians, and that’s why he left.
‘I had so many frustrating moments where I’d think, “This is bulls***, guys.”‘
That’s funny, Hughesy. Viewers felt the same way.
Garma ghosting
Albo made an unambiguous promise at Garma last year: ‘Every single year that I have the great honour to be Australia’s prime minister, I will be here and engaged with you.’
This year, Garma came and went without him.
The PM wasn’t trapped at an international summit he just couldn’t get out of. Nor was he recalled to Canberra for a national emergency or required in Parliament for unexpected sittings.
Albo was kicking back on leave in Tasmania.
Defending yet another broken promise, he said he hadn’t taken a day off all year. Fair enough, prime ministers are entitled to holidays just like the rest of us. But Australians are also entitled to assume that emphatic public commitments just might mean something.
The lesson is this, Albo: stop making promises you can’t keep. Managing expectations and not over-promising and under-delivering is a life lesson someone far less senior than our PM should well and truly know by now.
The absence was conspicuous given Garma’s importance to Labor’s Indigenous agenda. Albo previously used the gathering to advance the Voice, then returned after the referendum’s defeat promising to remain engaged.
That made his yearly attendance more than just another diary entry. It was intended to symbolise continuity and commitment.
So much for that!
Apparently ‘every single year’ means when Garma doesn’t collide with the PM’s holiday plans.
Say ‘oui’
Bridgette Joyce has said ‘oui’ to forever.
The daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is officially engaged, with the happy news first leaked by her sister Odette on social media.
The engagement comes after Joyce himself hinted that a major family milestone could be on the horizon in July, revealing during an appearance on Nine that he was heading to Europe, including Sicily, to meet his daughter’s boyfriend’s family.
Bridgette, who swapped Tamworth for Paris, now lives full-time in the French capital with her fiancé, where she works for the OECD, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Bridgette Joyce, the daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, is officially engaged, with the happy news first leaked by her sister Odette on social media
Joyce’s revelation that he was flying overseas to meet his future son-in-law suggests the long-running rift with his daughters, sparked when he left their mother Natalie Abberfield for mistress-turned-wife Vikki Campion, may finally be thawing.
Rumours of family turmoil intensified when Joyce and Campion married at his family’s sprawling farm in Woolbrook, west of Walcha, in November 2023 and none of his four girls attended the so-called ‘bush bash’.
Odette told the Mail at the time: ‘Personally I wasn’t invited to the wedding, wasn’t even told about it from my father, I found out through other sources…
‘If my father doesn’t want to think about me or even consider me in the decisions he makes that ultimately affect me then frankly I don’t have the time to think about him.’
A Paris engagement and a family rapprochement? That’s quite the double celebration.
Hanson’s new hire
Pauline Hanson’s opponents still seem to assume that One Nation is just a chaotic protest party incapable of turning polling support into real power. It will flame out soon enough, they say in hope.
Enter Chris Taylor, Scott Morrison‘s former general counsel and senior adviser. He has become Hanson’s new chief of staff. James Ashby has shifted into the role of national party director, overseeing operations, campaigning, advertising, digital strategy and candidate recruitment.
One Nation isn’t just stealing Liberal voters anymore; it’s hiring Liberal Party expertise from the apex of the last Liberal government, and building the machinery to keep them. Don’t forget Ashby also used to be a Liberal staffer back in the day. And, of course, Barnaby Joyce is an ex-Nationals leader and Deputy PM.
The current Deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, described Hanson as ‘very lucky’ to have Taylor, before comparing political allegiances to football support, in a mangled attempt to move on from the embarrassment of what’s unfolded.
Unfortunately for the Liberals, staffers can change teams, and increasingly their voters are doing precisely that too. There’s far greater loyalty when it comes to sport.
Ashby’s move also places him outside the parliamentary staffing system now, and therefore its disclosure requirements as well, while freeing him up to concentrate on building the One Nation party nationally.
As Hanson’s most trusted adviser, that’s smart politics.
For years the major parties could rely on One Nation undermining itself via hopeless candidates and amateur organisational skills. Hanson is plainly trying to avoid a repeat of that. We’ll keep watching to see if it works.
Not so straight talk
Labor MP Luke Gosling has chosen an unfortunate moment to join a panel titled ‘Straight Talk, The Questions That Matter’.
The Member for Solomon in the Northern Territory is facing two assault charges over an alleged altercation with NT Administrator David Connolly at Darwin’s Grand Thai Festival.
Gosling strenuously denies the allegations and is presumed innocent, as he should be. But that isn’t the issue here.
Why has Albo allowed him to remain as the government’s special envoy for defence, veterans’ affairs, and northern Australia while the charges are before the court? How many times have you heard Albo and others call for resignations long before allegations are tested?
Labor MP Luke Gosling (centre) has chosen an unfortunate moment to join a panel titled ‘Straight Talk, The Questions That Matter’
Labor’s defence is that an envoy isn’t a minister and holds no executive decision-making power. That is a curious argument. If the position is so inconsequential that normal standards don’t apply, why appoint anyone to it?
Standing Gosling aside temporarily wouldn’t determine his guilt. It would simply recognise that a government representative facing criminal charges should not continue performing an additional government-appointed role until the matter is resolved.
Even the NRL has a no-fault stand down policy until criminal matters get resolved, and that’s a players’ primary function… playing in the NRL.
Instead, ministers have praised Gosling’s work while avoiding an explanation for why he remains an envoy.
Perhaps the ‘Straight Talk’ panel event can begin with the obvious question: if Labor believes the charges are serious enough to avoid discussing, why aren’t they serious enough to warrant standing him aside?
