By Gemma Grant and Kishor Napier-Raman
Victorian Liberal MP Michael O’Brien was in the midst of a spiel about the state’s budget woes in the lower house on Wednesday when he picked at an old scab. O’Brien brought up the “corrupt” CFMEU. And he mentioned the close relationship the embattled union enjoyed with some politicians in the Labor Party.
Ah, that old chestnut.
Luba Grigorovitch, former state secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, and now Labor MP.Credit: Eddie Jim
And who would interject with a point of order on relevance but ex-Rail, Tram and Bus Union national-president-turned-Labor MP Luba Grigorovitch? You’ll remember that the backbencher was a staunch supporter of former CFMEU boss, John Setka, before everything that went down last year.
But we were surprised to hear her pipe up at work. CBD hasn’t heard her uttering the name of you-know-who in parliament since her heartfelt tribute to John’s dad, the late Bob “Boze” Setka, in 2023, during which she referred to the then-CFMEU state secretary, “Johnny”, as a brother.
CBD managed to get on to Grigorovitch, who told us that the state opposition have been “besotted” with the CFMEU of late, and that she is simply keen for them to stay on track. That’s politics, we suppose.
And if we may make a sharp pivot, the MP and her private equity honcho husband, Ben Gray, recently announced that they’re pregnant with twins. She shared the glad tidings on Instagram – where fellow mother-to-be and politician, Georgie Purcell, was among the well-wishers.
Perhaps one Grigorovitch-Gray child will be a banker and the other a unionist? Only time will tell. Congrats to the happy couple.
Could The Oz be media’s latest comeback kid?
It is the perennial challenge for any media organisation in 2025 – get the youth to watch, read, subscribe and God forbid, pay for the news.
This is a particularly steep challenge for News Corp’s prestige national broadsheet, The Australian, whose cantankerous columnists can’t seem to figure out why the under-25 set doesn’t share their enthusiasm for cool things like negative gearing, the Liberal Party, nuclear energy and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Chris Dore is the former editor-in-chief of The Australian.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
To the Murdoch empire’s credit, the paper did have a red-hot go at targeting younger readers with the 2022 launch of an online-only, youth spinoff, rather confusingly and unimaginatively called The Oz.
Featuring a zoomer-friendly aesthetic, articles on influencers and vapes, and staffed by most of the paper’s younger, female journalists (who have now nearly all left), The Oz had the blessings of all the right higher-ups: News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson; executive chair Michael Miller; even the big fella, Lachlan Murdoch, himself. But it was a particular brainchild of former editor-in-chief Chris Dore.
That turned out to be a kiss of death when Dore was dumped in late 2023 after allegedly making lewd comments to a woman at a media event in California. In one of her first shots across the newsroom, Dore’s successor Michelle Gunn scaled back The Oz to an Instagram-only play, before it eventually disappeared for good.
Dore has landed on his feet as editor-in-chief of billionaire Kerry Stokes’ The West Australian and his digital-only newspaper, The Nightly.
But it looks like The Oz, too, could be due for a comeback of sorts. CBD hears there’s been discussion among the strategy folks over at Holt St about resurrecting it, although one insider assured CBD it would not come to pass.
As for what any new iteration might look like, well, the influencers are still there and so are the vapes (despite what Health Minister Mark Butler insists). Except now there are also trendy labubus to write about, and the experts say that more young men have conservative views.
Hell, why not get the royal family themselves involved. After all, Lachlan’s 19-year-old son, Aidan Murdoch, was interning at Holt Street last year.
Gift diplomacy
If you’ve ever been nervous about buying the perfect present for the in-laws, imagine the pressure of choosing the perfect party favour for a head of government.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (a former general with a bespeckled history, to say the least), tried his best in May. He presented Anthony Albanese with a wooden carving of the famed Garuda Statue, according to the PM’s parliamentary register update from Wednesday. How generous of him.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Depicting a Hindu deity, the actual statue took almost 30 years to complete and is more than 100 metres tall. If that wasn’t spiritual enough for you, it’s also located in the province of Bali, a sacred spot for all Bintang singlet-wearing, beer-drinking Aussie folk.
It’s good to see that Subianto has mellowed out since 2024, when he gifted Richard Marles an actual rifle. If Parliament House security aren’t happy about metal keep cups entering the building, we can’t imagine they’d be pleased with long-barrelled firearms.
Subianto also raised eyebrows in Canberra earlier this year when he uploaded a minute-long video of a private call with a newly re-elected Albo. We hear this is a faux pas within world leader circles. Most top dogs want to keep things behind closed doors.
As for Albo’s trip to the Vatican to meet new Pope Leo XIV, all His Holiness could manage was a carved terracotta plaque. We expected a bit more bling from the Catholic Church.
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