Monday, November 27, 2017

Morning mail: Don Burke denies harassment allegations

Morning Mail

Morning mail: Don Burke denies harassment allegations

Tuesday: Former star grilled on Nine as ABC interviews alleged victims. Plus: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are definitely engaged

Don Burke
Former Burke's Backyard host Don Burke on A Current Affair. Photograph: Channel Nine, A Current Affair

Eleanor Ainge Roy


Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 28 November.

Top stories

The man who was once Channel Nine's biggest star, Don Burke, appeared on Nine last night to deny allegations of sexual harassment made against him by three women who had told their stories to the ABC. It was an extraordinary hour of television, starting with Burke's lengthy interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair, and continuing on the ABC's 7.30, which devoted its entire 30 minutes to the story. To Grimshaw, Burke admitted he had been stupid and a bully and had engaged in multiple extramarital affairs – but denied all allegations of sexual harassment. "I'm not that man at all," he said. "It's a witch-hunt … I might have terrified a few people, or whatever, and I shouldn't have done that, but these sort of things bear no relation to me and what I am about."

Over on 7.30, the three women who accused Burke of abusive behaviour and indecent assault told their stories. "Dealing with Don Burke was an endurance test in terms of his persistence in commentary about anything sexual," a former researcher, Louise Langdon, told the ABC. This morning Fairfax Media has published further allegations against Burke, including comments he allegedly made while filming a TV segment at the home of Olympic swimmer Susie O'Neill.

The Minerals Council of Australia has backed away from its push for legislation to limit the environmental advocacy work done by charities. The council says it does not support policies requiring environmental charities to devote most of their resources to on-the-ground remediation, despite having written submissions to government calling for it to consider such policies. The MCA's submission to the federal inquiry into reform of tax-deductible gift recipients said Treasury's proposal to allow environmental charities to spend only 50% of their expenditure on political advocacy was "sound in principle", but urged it to consider limiting it to just 10%. BHP recently distanced itself from the MCA's original position on the issue.

Prince Harry has announced he and girlfriend Meghan Markle are engaged. The pair met in the summer of 2016, and the Prince told media gathered outside Clarence House that he knew Markle was the "the one" the first time they met. Markle and Harry have faced intense media scrutiny throughout their relationship. Last year the prince issued an unorthodox palace press release slamming some reports about Markle as racist and sexist. The couple plan to marry in the spring of 2018 – the Queen, Prince Philip, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were among many who offered their congratulations.

Most Australians would support a royal commission into the banks, the Guardian Essential poll has found. The poll showed 64% in favour, including 62% of Coalition supporters. Support is highest among Labor voters at 72%, and people intending to vote for someone other than the major parties (71%), but there is also clear majority support among Coalition voters and Greens voters. Barnaby Joyce has held out the prospect that the Nationals might formally support an inquiry into the banks when the party room meets next week, with dissident parliamentary numbers for the proposal building.

A large eruption of Bali's restless Mount Agung volcano may be imminent, Indonesian officials have said, as they called for 100,000 people to leave the area. So far, 40,000 people have been moved away from the volcano and tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded due to airport closures. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency has strongly urged people to immediately leave the designated exclusion zone, which has been extended to an 8-10km radius of the volcano. The governor of Bali said as many as 150,000 could be called on to leave, and some might be evacuated by force if they refused to do so.

Sport

England's cricketers have been hit with a curfew by team director Andrew Strauss after losing the first Ashes Test. Strauss said his "naive" squad needed to be "smarter" and cannot socialise beyond midnight, following blanket media coverage of Jonny Bairstow's bizarre clash of heads with Australia's Cameron Bancroft in a bar four weeks ago.

Reaction to the first Test has focused on England's mental fragility. Jason Gillespie says the way Australia exploited the Bairstow incident shows the home side know how to get under the vistors' skin, while Vic Marks says England's whole tour is at risk of disintegrating unless they respond better.

Thinking time

Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas
Radio National presenters Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas. Photograph: ABC

Despite being seen as the jewel in the ABC's crown since it was launched in the 1980s, Radio National reaches a mere 4.8% of the population and it is obvious RN is labour-intensive radio. It may not come cheap, but many of its defenders see it as closest to the heart of the ABC's charter. Now RN is under threat. The ABC's managing director, Michelle Guthrie, has announced a restructure of content divisions that break up RN, with responsibility for its programs scattered around the corporation. Amanda Meade explores the philosophy behind the changes at RN and looks at some of the possible consequences.

The latest annual OECD Better Life Index ranks Australia third, just behind Norway and Denmark and just ahead of Sweden and Canada. It's a more expansive and perhaps more accurate measure of wellbeing than simply looking at GDP, and Australia would be justified in feeling just a little smug about its position relative to other OECD nations, writes Greg Jericho. But if you read a little deeper, the picture is more complicated.

The Arias are the biggest, glitziest, certainly most televised music awards in the country, and this year Australia's indie kings Gang of Youths blitzed the nominations, building on their meteoric rise through the ranks. Paul Kelly, AB Original and Amy Shark are also up for a swath of prizes, and hot on the heels of Triple J's decision to move their annual Hottest 100 poll from Australia Day, it promises to be a political night. Follow our live blog from 4pm, where we will be asking celebrities about their favourite birds (among other things).

What's he done now?

Donald Trump must have some time on his hands as he has brainstormed a new sporting trophy – the "FAKE NEWS TROPHY". He also says the tax cut bill will be ready very soon, after "just a few changes, some mathematical". Trump tweeted overnight: "We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!"

Media roundup

The News Corp papers are among many splashing with Prince Harry's engagement to Meghan Markle, with "Hooray Harry" at the Herald Sun, "We're engaged" at the Advertiser and "Meghan suits Harry just fine" at the Mercury. The Fairfax papers continue to explore the growing slew of complaints against Don Burke, with the Sydney Morning Herald saying it has been "inundated" with emails and calls since the story broke yesterday. The ABC has an interesting read about the Northern Territory pushing to transition to renewable energy for 50% of its electricity supply by 2030. The chief minister says work will begin immediately to start transitioning to solar, which supplied only 4% of the Territory's energy generation this year.

Coming up

The Senate will continue to debate the same-sex marriage bill today. Labor's caucus will also meet, despite the Coalition having cancelled the House of Representatives sitting week.

In Sydney an appeal is due to begin to determine whether there is fresh and compelling evidence to retry a man previously cleared of murdering young Indigenous people in Bowraville.

Supporting the Guardian

We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you.

Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396

No comments:

Post a Comment