Funding cuts had made the organisation “somewhat more timid”,“very much less confident” and “unfortunately in my view very much more interior focused”,Williams said.

He said a prominent but unnamed politician had given him his views about ABC news and current affairs “in fairly Anglo Celtic terms”.

However,Williams said ABC viewers were not dumping the 7pm news for SBS.

He said local radio was “in a rebuild phase” after a decade of neglect and must provide “the pulse of the city”.

Both men threw praise bombs. O’Brien said Williams was the most open and engaging ABC chairman since he first worked at the corporation in 1972.

Williams praised O’Brien’s output “without wanting to be guilty of inappropriate flattery”.

And Williams did have praise for some journalistic output,including “an exemplary piece of really great investment in journalism”,which turned out to be theexposé of the CFMEU prosecuted by this masthead,The Australian Financial Reviewand60 Minutes.

DISAPPEARING ACT

Scott Morrison not only won the supposedly unwinnable election in 2019,but the former prime minister can also make awkward quotes disappear from national newspapers.

In June,The Australian Financial Reviewdetailed how former prime ministerMalcolm Turnbull “at his own initiative” offered his services to the incoming government ofAnthony Albanese. Namely,that he,Turnbull,would have a word with French PresidentEmmanuel Macron to reinstate the French submarine-building contract Morrison had spectacularly binned in favour of the AUKUS agreement.

History will record that nothing came of this suggestion. But how generous and public spirited of Turnbull to offer it.

The original print version of the yarn,byAFR international editorJames Curran,who doubles as a professor of modern history at the University of Sydney,included this spicy quote from Morrison,about his defiance in cancelling the French subs contract.

“I mean,heaven forbid we upset the French! … the great disadvantage of upsetting the French is what,exactly? And the great restoration in that relationship has delivered what,exactly?”

But this plain talkinghas dematerialised from the online version.

Two sources told us that Morrison had complained that the above quote was off the record and that it was then removed. But despite our best efforts at sleuthing,we can’t confirm. Let’s file it under one of life’s little mysteries.

FRIENDS IN NEED

Federal parliament is back after a five-week winter break,and with it lobbyists,business chancers and sundry hangers-on will recommence their orbit around Parliament House.

And with a decidedly back-to-school vibe the Parliamentary Friends of Ending Loneliness is throwing a breakfast shindig on Monday at 7am.

Far be it for us to point out that old aphorism,“If you want a friend in politics,get a dog.”

And did you know that one in four Australians are now persistently lonely,driven by unemployment,cost-of-living strains and cultural and linguistic barriers? Well,you do now.

Discussing solutions will beMichelle Lim,chief executive of the group Ending Loneliness,alongside the obligatory celebrity invitee,in this case,the “original Yellow Wiggle” Greg Page.

Assistant Minister for Health and Aged CareGed Kearney is also set to address the breakfast,hosted by the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends GroupBridget ArcherandAndrew Giles.

If any MPs know a thing or two about ending loneliness,it would be the Liberal Party rebel and the minister demoted to skills and training after the government’s disastrous handling of immigration.

BUTLER IS BACK

One former MP who has no such need for the making of parliamentary friends isTerri Butler. Butler was the rising star Labor MP for the Brisbane seat of Griffith from 2014 until her shock loss to Greens candidateMax Chandler-Mather in 2022.

On Friday came news that Workplace Relations MinisterMurray Watthad appointed Butler,46,deputy president of the Fair Work Commission.

The minister’s press release said the appointment was about “restoring balance”,implying but not stating such after years of Coalition “jobs for the boys” appointments.

One fact missing from Butler’s extensive industrial relations CV detailed in the release was her and Watt’s affiliation with the Australian Labor Party. The job at the FWC is hers until she has to retire aged 65.

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