The Chaser Report - Watch Out For Peter Costello

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

Dom and Charles cover the story of Peter Costello's big weekend. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gadigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello, and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Hello, Charles. How's your weekend been? I heard you got into a bit of a stoutch. No, I didn't. I didn't get into a stoutch.

Just somebody in front of me just fell over of their own free will. Of their own free will? Of their own free will. I was walking along, happily merry, Minding my own business, I was very, I was very pleasant, I was very happy. Because I saw a video that, like, got to be honest, it made it look a little bit like you dropped a guy, like you, you shoulder charged straight into him. And then, and then...

With a look of glee in your eyes. With a look of glee, yeah, the look of glee. But, no, the glee was because I was minding my own business, you see. See, the look of glee, like, I mean, look, if somebody did drop down in front of me, then I don't think I even noticed. I'm not even sure that I was thinking about that. Like, it would have been that I didn't even notice him there. See, I've heard Charles,

sometimes people just fall over spontaneously. Like, there's an advertising hoarding in the way. Yes, exactly. And you would be thinking at that point, well, that's some classic slapstick. Yes. And that's where the look of glee comes from. Not for having shoulder charged someone to the ground. You know how when you eat a banana and you throw the pill on the ground.

That's right. I do. And then, you know, your mum or something walks a lot. and slips over. Whoops! And everyone just bursts into laughter. Oh, it's the oldest joke in the world. Yeah, yeah.

It reminds me of the time that Barnaby Joyce actually came up on a planter box. Yes. And I mean, that was on the ground. That was just, I mean, we all had gleeful looks on our faces. No, exactly. In unrelated news, Peter Costello has resigned today, Charles, as the chair of nine entertainment.

Right. Yeah, interesting story. Okay, because I think he had a very similar incident over the week. some have said that there were similarities but they're misinformed charles yeah and look i'm in no position i i certainly don't think i should be resigning over my very very innocent walking incident that happened to involve somebody you know falling over in front of me very important to note too if if peter becauseello in a sense took a tumble today yes nobody should have an expression of glee but if they did you wouldn't want to judge them because

that's classic corporate slapstick we'll get into it after this So this is the news. I think it was Thursday evening, Canberra Airport. Peter Costello is interviewed with a bit of a sort of camera in the face style, of the sort used by a current affair by a journalist from the Australian called Leah Mendez. And if you look at the footage, I mean, the Herald's own website, so the nine newspapers website shortly afterwards reported it as appeared to knock over a journalist from the Australian.

And they had that as their front story, front page story. at The Herald, we're obviously like, I know this guy's the boss, but this is a big fucking deal. Yes, and the thing that was interesting was that the reason why Peter Costello was being doorstopped by this journalist was because there have been allegations of a culture of sort of nobleseblege within the upper ranks of Channel 9 that essentially they turned a blind eye to essentially bad behaviour, toxic masculinity. That's what's been alleged, yeah. is what is being alleged, and the whole of the nine executive team is sort of under a bit of pressure.

And so, of course, you know, the person in charge of the whole of nine is now Peter Costello, he's the chair of the whole thing. Well, it was, until this is there. Yeah. And so the one thing that you would want to do as the chair of nine entertainment is to not give off toxic masculinity vibes. I mean, Charles, I don't know, because I'm obviously, I'm a total beta.

I would never dream of confronting anybody ever. Shoulder charging someone, even if you didn't actually touch them. I mean, surely not in dispute, the Peter Cicelo kind of rushes the guy. It's in the footage, right? Yeah, yeah. And the look of glee. Because the thing is, the guy's, is he recording on his phone? Yeah, Liam Mendes.

He had his phone and the guy's face. Because the only thing you see at the end of the video is his look of glee. Because you so, remember how Peter Costello always had that smug. The smug. He always for his smirk. Yeah. Well, this was a moment where his smugness turned into a smile, didn't it? Like, he actually smiled like a chisier cat.

He really enjoyed it. He either enjoyed it or has an awkward, I'm very upset and worried about your welfare face. Because if his first reaction was, oh, I'm so sorry, sir, you seem to have fallen over at what he alleges was an advertising hoarding. We'll see the CCTV, I think, from the airport to clear it all up. And the journal said, you assaulted me straight away to better. So if Peter Castello's demeanour was, as you might imagine, Charles, oh, this poor working journalist from a competing newspaper, but still part of the profession that I'm a senior leader in, I want to help you up, sir.

Please, can I call an ambulance? I mean, I'm worried for your wellbeing. Do we need to give you a concussion test? Yes. That wasn't the vibe I was getting for the video. No, it wasn't the vibe. But I'm sure he's just been misunderstood. Yes, I think what we've got to look for here, because often in these great moments in

history. I'm thinking like the Kennedy assassination and 9-11 right. Right. I think that's a equivalent to. I think that that's where it's bad. Well this is the question, Charles. Is it a single shoulder charger? Yes, exactly. Or was there a second shoulder charger? Was there, or

from a grassy knoll? Was there a banana pill on the ground? And was there a banana pill concealed beneath the advertising hoarding? Yes. That was apparently there. Exactly. Like there's a whole lot of, or did did the guy? Liam Mendez, the Jerno.

Liam Mendez, like, I mean, what are, were there some other possibilities? Could it be early onset osteoporosis? Yeah, his knees could have given way? Yes. Or just through the sheer charisma of pedicesterlo. Yeah, made him weak at the knees. Can we rule that out? Yeah, I know.

Exactly. There's just too many things. Maybe he was going down on, on his knees to sort of beg for a job or. Yeah. So, remember this is the thing. He was, he was questioning Castellel. about this, I think it was Darren Wick is the person from news who has been accused of sexually harassing female co-workers, that's been the allegation.

And apparently there's lots of non-disclosure agreements. And look, I think the whole point is that this has, you know, the allegation going around is that this was clearly something that the upper management of 9 entertainment either completely knew of or at least definitely should have completely known of. Yes. And there's been a sort of protective culture that has, that is ultimately the charge of, you know, the people in charge. Yeah, I mean, this is something that happens in many workplaces.

I certainly think Liam Mendes' own workplace probably has questions to answer. It emerged in the past week or so that a frankly, shockingly high number of ABC employees said that they'd experienced harassment in the way. workplace and bullying. I mean, there's clearly a lot of toxicity in our newsrooms, Charles, but there's so many better ways that Nine could have handled this. They really could have just done a lot better with this situation than they did. Let's talk about how Nine could have fixed this, really, in a moment. The Chaser Report, news you can't trust. Well, I think the first point is,

maybe Peter Costello just didn't go far enough. Like, you take out one journalist, then And everyone else is going to report on it, right? Shoulder charge the entire press gallery. I mean, this is the thing. And they're going to, their shoulders will be all dissecated. They won't be able to report it. If, I mean, who knows what he did? I mean, still are very much into spirit.

But if he had tackled, yes, you would have tackled the next person, the next person, and have them living in fear. Yes. That's how you create a culture of terror. Yes. And frankly, the fact that even nine's newspapers, like the Herald and the age, were almost immediately reporting on this incident. Yes, as their top story on the website.

It shows that they don't fear Costello enough. They don't fear for their job. Yes. They probably realised that this was the guy who had about 100 billion opportunities to knife John Howard and never had the courage to. Well, this is the best case in Costello's defence. Yeah. Is that this is a guy the track record of not confronting people.

Yes. Even when he really wants, you know, their job. He's obviously done a bit of work on himself and realized, you know what? Maybe I can pick on somebody. So you think this is the result of it? Years of therapy. Yes. So after having bottled it repeatedly with John Howard,

he's finally gone, I'm, I'm going to myself first. Yes. I need to express myself, and the way that I'm going to do this is by looming towards this general. That's my option, Charles. But also,

many people would say that there was considerable current city to be had in attacking a journalist from the Australian. I mean, there are plenty of people in the media who would be happy to watch pay-per-view footage of people who work for the Australian being... Yes. In fact, yeah. Push to the ground.

That could be become a, yeah, that's right. That's a whole new channel. That's the whole channel. Yeah. I mean, I would have thought. Nine, go for it. Yeah. Sort of a journalistic UFC.

I'm imagining Charles, something like the scene from Anchorman. Where you get Chris Kenny in an arena. Yes. Peter Costello's in there as well. Yes. I mean, David Marr would be amazing for the sort of intelligentsia. He heavily arm them and just see what goes down. Would you put Sarah Ferguson in there or would it get too vicious?

I think she's the referee. Oh, she's the referee. I think that's probably the best way to go. But I mean, can't you imagine how enjoyable that would be? All the journal is in a sort of Royal Rumble? Antoninus. Antoninus in the mix. Absolutely.

I look, I think this is a killer idea, I think. It could be very popular. Who would be from Channel 10? Did they have any journalists left at Channel 10? I mean, Peter Van Oncelain used to work day. He'd be pretty handy in the ring, yeah. He's the Daily Mail now, isn't he?

Who was Sarah Harris? I was trying to... Who would be... Is there anyone... I don't think... Is Joe Hildebrand still? Joe Hildebrand? There you go.

And he might be somewhere else. He's a binge, yeah. At binge? Can one be at binge? Is that a fox tell? Is there a job where you can be a binge? Anyway, so that's one option. But Charles, the other thing is, I mean, if the whole, they should have stuck to the playbook, Charles.

Do what they do well. Oh, what? Hyde Liam Mender's up in NDAs. If they just got him on a non-disclosure agreement, sign his, right, and they could have got him while he was concussed and get him to sign a form. Yes. And he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. That's what, that's the allegations say that they do with their own team.

Yes, that's the whole, that's the real issue here is, and that's probably why he resigned. That's probably why the board, you know, they obviously had conversations over the weekend. Oh, no, no, no. And they went, Peter, what were you doing? No, NDAs. No, Charles, you've made a terrible mistake, terrible mistake. I've read the statement from nine today.

Oh, yeah. He was always going to retire. Oh, right. He was always going to retire. Oh, right. I mean, a little later in the year was the plan. He's brought it forward. Right.

He's brought it forward to a head of the Olympics, which nine was covering, and therefore he would have been able to go to... The Olympics. I mean, this means that Costello won't get the junker to the Olympics, presumably. Right. But it's just, what's a few months here or there? I imagine he just was, uh, woke up this morning. It's like, you know what?

No, nothing to do with this whole... Yeah. You know, I just, this is the time. This is the time. I was wondering, now I know. Yeah. Yeah. Just had some moral clarity.

Yeah. I certainly, there's nothing. I think of the disclosure, which suggests this was triggered by any... Oh, right. Okay, so these are two completely unrelated. Yeah. It's a bit like Petty Gostillo moving rapidly towards that journalist. Yes.

And the journalist falling over. The two completely unrelated, unrelated events. I imagine what happened, Charles. And I think the chaser might have written about this. He was just going about his ordinary Sunday. Yes. And suddenly he slipped on an advertising hoarding, and there he was retired. It just happened like that.

It snuck up on him. Yeah. I just want to know who's going to stop all these. is rowing advertising hoardings from interrupting people doing their job. That's right. I mean, if Howard was still Prime Minister, we'd have a stop the advertising hoardings election, wouldn't we? Yeah, that's right.

We're living in terror. They're probably coming out here in boats, aren't they? Well, boats made out of advertising hoards. Yeah, they float, wouldn't they? So what does Peter Stiller do now, Charles, in his post-corporate career? He's had an extraordinary career because he was a treasurer of Australia and squanded every opportunity to do anything but you know like had a had a track record where he sort of oh there was the future fund no and then he and then he did the future fund after that so he set

up a future fund while he was treasurer which was only with the money he sold off from chelstra and then and then he's now got he did that for a while he was sort of chair at the future fund wasn't yeah yeah for years and then Greg conbay i think is now the chair isn't it's where you stick your relatively competent ex-colleges yeah yeah and then he got to chair nine entertainment and then For quite some time. Yeah. So he's been in the hallways of power. He has.

Never really. I mean, I can't think of anything he's actually ever done. Except shoulder judge. This is it. Maybe. This is the highlight of his career, I'd say. Do they have a sort of over 65s UFC? A sort of wrestling.

Yeah. Like a Masters. Because I imagine, like, he's been at the top of everything that he's tried to do. Except for Prime Minister, yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, near the top. It'd be near the top of me. So he could be, he could be the chair of the over 65s UFC. I mean, look, the Rock's return to UFC recently, Dwighton Johnson.

So it's never too late. Yeah. Bit of Custello could take on the rock. Yeah. Be extremely in time. Although, I'll tell you what, what if they were advertising hoardings in the ring? Oh, yeah, well, he'd need some. I presume Cicello would have a huge advantage.

Because I've known that people apparently around him often sleep up over things. like that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, is there another cushy corporate job where this all gets forgotten or is he just had enough at this? I probably earned enough as chair of nine to... The truth is that you go where the money is... And I think that's been his career, right?

Sure. And Orcas. Oh, see, this is where the money is dripping off. This is perfect. We talked about this so much, is the amount of money available. And for all the visions, Charles, how much cheaper would it be rather than having all these nuclear submarines, which may never materialise for hundreds of billions of You simply create a series of advertising hoardings in the ocean around Australia.

Yes, and China will just trip up over them. Just an invisible wall just beneath the surface of the water. Without even us having to do anything. Yeah. It would be very entertaining to watch as well. It would be. Yeah. And just basically...

We could make a whole channel out of it. A whole bunch of just a ring of steel in a sense around Australia. I like that. And... Where would we get the steel from? It would be by... We have to buy it from China. China.

Yeah, right. We're using Australian raw materials that then got exported. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think this could be a fantastic way to defend our country. Yes, and have some slapstick as well. Okay, done. And I can think of no better person to oversee their deployment than Peter Costello. Because there's just around him, people like to advertise.

What do you think the hoarding was for, by the way? I hope it was for banana peals. Queensland bananas. Queensland bananas. Yeah, that would be fantastic. I suppose it makes sense that News Corp is losing so much money. They lost $65 million last year. And a huge number of employees.

And that is because they don't seem to be very advertised as supported, are they? Wouldn't it be funny if the hoarding said, buy the Australian. But I think this is, as well, they've just lost a lot of employees, Charles. I don't know if you saw. The massive renuncias. I mean, the senior executives were in town slushing and burning. Rebecca Brooks even came out. Yep.

She's apparently back in the... So if you've got a dead teenage daughter, just make sure that their phone isn't hacked by the time you leave. Yes, but if you need to get into the voicemail just to check if your child's all right, just Rebecca can hook you up. Yes, that's right. But I just imagine that what they're going to do now, I mean, again, Peter Casano could help with this, is for the future redundancy rounds,

they'll just put all the journals into a giant room, fill it with advertising hoardings, make them all walk backwards and see who's left at the end. I love it. Maybe no one. People talk about the hunger games in their situation. What about the hoarding games? Our gear is from road. We're part of the Iconaclass network.

Look around you, by the way. filming backwards. Yes. Not enough blame put on the victim who was charged. And tells, are we at the end of this, do we find ourselves sympathising with someone who works for the Australian? Yeah, I think I'm going to have to immediately resign. But it's completely unrelated to this podcast.

Peter Costello, that's a pretty extraordinary achievement. If he's managed to make people feel sorry for somebody. For an investigative journalist from the Australian. Yeah. That is, that's going to be the achievement he's known. That's probably the point at which you should set. So forget the hoarding stuff. Making anyone feel sympathy for an Australian journalist, that's an unusual day in media.