You’d think Geelong’s new mayor, Peter Murrihy, has enough drama in his life.
Murrihy took the helm of the embattled City of Greater Geelong Council last month after his predecessor, Stephanie Asher, failed to win the seat of Corangamite for the Liberals at the federal election and Premier Daniel Andrews said he had lost confidence in the council.
What’s lurking in the council of Greater Geelong?Credit:AMC
Shortly after Murrihy took over, his high-paid CEO, Martin Cutter, announced his resignation, leaving the new mayor with a bit of work ahead of him.
Things are about to get even more dramatic for Murrihy – a former police prosecutor and well-known local footy coach – who is about to make his movie debut in a thriller/horror flick: Crow Valley, which premiers on Google Play and YouTube on August 5.
The independent production was made by, and stars, Josh Conn, a former subeditor at the Geelong Advertiser, whose experience working for Rupert Murdoch’s empire must have set him up nicely to make a horror film.
Murrihy doesn’t have a huge role, but it does involve him lying face down in a pool of blood. Perhaps it reminded him of his early days in local government when he was sacked, along with the rest of the Darryn Lyons-led council, by the state government after just two months in the job.
A ROYAL PAIN
The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association is demanding a royal commission.
But the call isn’t about any of the public health challenges facing Australia – the pandemic, the vaccine rollout, state hospital capacity or even the spectacular failure of the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s vaping ban.
No, the good doctors want a royal commission into the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the regulator’s investigations into keyboard-happy doctors.
The push was triggered by AHPRA’s recent imposition of strict restrictions on Broome GP David Berger’s ability to practise, requiring him to complete a course on “behaving professionally and courteously to colleagues and other practitioners including when using social media”.
Berger, a prolific Twitter user, describes himself as a “Fearmonger Zerocovidista zealot extremist” and is a vocal advocate for imposing tougher pandemic restrictions.
That advocacy is often accompanied by highly charged criticism of other medical professionals who take a different, less risk-averse approach to the pandemic, with former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth a particular target.
It’s that tweeting that ostensibly led AHPRA to request Berger take a course in being nice on the socials.
But his online presence (he boasts more than 37,000 followers) has also attracted a huge outpouring of support from many in the medical community, which is bitterly divided between COVID hawks like Berger and optimists. No wonder the Victorian AMA, which once called for COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers to be denied treatment, has sprung to Berger’s defence.
Either way, we don’t think anyone will be calling a royal commission on this one.
GOOGLE IT, MATE
From the refugee advocacy community comes a David and Goliath story that’s, well, a little strange.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s Kon Karapanagiotidis had obviously had a gutful on Friday when he took to LinkedIn to complain that other organisations might be cashing in on his outfit’s brand recognition.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on … is we don’t bid on keywords of names of other charities on Google to trick people to give to us,” the veteran advocate wrote. “I’m not going to name any charities today that are doing this, but if it continues, I will. So deeply unethical.”
Kon Karapanagiotidis has lambasted fellow refugee charities for using his organisation as a keyword.Credit:SMH
Karapanagiotidis might not have wanted to name names but he didn’t have to. Typing in Asylum Seeker Resource Centre into the all-conquering search engine last week yielded, at the top of the results page, an ad for Australia for UNHCR, a “partner” organisation to but separate from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
But the resource centre chief’s intervention must have had an effect because the ad no longer appears at the top of a Google search for the ASRC.
CBD understands that Karapanagiotidis and his people have also had words, on occasion, with another well-known name – Amnesty International – over the same issue.
Both Amnesty and Australia for UNHCR had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
HIGH FLYERS
The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority’s reports offer a fascinating glimpse into just how much politicians are allowed to bill taxpayers.
Take the travels of Nationals MP Mark Coulton, who’s charged the public over $160,000 in “unscheduled travel” (essentially commercially chartered transport), since last April, including $10,750 spent on a single trip between Morree and Canberra in June 2021.
All within the rules, which allow members like Coulton, who represents the sprawling western NSW electorate of Parkes, greater leeway.
Meanwhile, we almost feel sorry for Greg Mirabella. The former Victorian senator and husband of ex-Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella spent nearly $5000 flying six family members from Melbourne to Canberra to hear his maiden speech.
Just passing through: Greg Mirabella in the Senate in February.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
It turned out to be Mirabella’s only real contribution to parliament. After being appointed to fill a casual vacancy last December, Mirabella lost his seat to the United Australia Party’s Ralph “Deej” Babet in May.
At least he got six months of parliamentary perks.
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