NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb and ABC managing director David Anderson (Images: AAP/Private Media)
NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb and ABC managing director David Anderson (Images: AAP/Private Media)

It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me

NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb loves quoting Taylor Swift, and judging from the fact she’s burnt through three of the four chief spinners that have advised the commissioner since 2006 in her two-year stint, a reflection in the terms of the chorus of Swift’s “Anti-Hero” might be appropriate. 

Webb’s newest appointee has already begun with controversy, not least for his resumé. Steve Jackson, described as a “cowboy” by 2GB host Ben Fordham this week, will depart Seven’s Spotlight to join the force, after a more than tumultuous year. Jackson was a finalist for a 2023 Walkley Award for Spotlight’s interview with Bruce Lehrmann, who was accused of raping fellow Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019 (which he denies). The interview was later disqualified after it emerged Spotlight had paid the rent on a home in Sydney’s northern beaches for Lehrmann, without disclosing the payment in the entry. 

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Jackson is a personal acquaintance of Ross Neilson, Police Minister Yasmin Catley’s chief of staff, and that Neilson put Jackson’s name forward for the role, which is on a “temporary basis for six months”, according to the minister’s office. 

It comes after Webb dismissed her previous chief media adviser, former Sunday Mail editor and Sunday Telegraph deputy editor Liz Deegan. Webb came under fire over her handling of the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by serving officer Beau Lamarre-Condon in their Paddington home earlier this month. Deegan had served in the role for just under a year, replacing former Seven and Nine journalist Alexandra Hodgkinson.

Hodgkinson herself was hired a month into Webb’s tenure, replacing Grant Williams, who had served for the majority of previous commissioner Mick Fuller’s term. The last media head to not lose their job under Webb was Strath Gordon, the current head of public affairs and communication for the Australian Olympic Committee. Gordon served for more than a decade as chief spinner for NSW Police, beginning in September 2006. 

Gordon’s tenure as media head may be the reason for Webb’s strange attempt at a light-hearted pop culture reference, with Gordon responsible for the force’s turn to more relatable social media content in the mid-2010s. 

A timeline of staff anger at Aunty

This week, union staff at the ABC registered another vote of no confidence in managing director David Anderson, as around 75 staff voted to pass a motion calling on content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor to resign. A collective statement from staff said they were “outraged by the revelations of how ABC executives have disregarded the independence of the ABC [and] damaged the public’s trust in our capacity to report without fear or favour”, over Oliver-Taylor’s evidence given during the ongoing Antoinette Lattouf Fair Work case against the ABC. 

It’s the latest in a series of ABC staff actions over the Lattouf case, which saw her not complete a week-long fill-in contract in December on ABC Radio Sydney after posting a Human Rights Watch report about Gaza on her Instagram story. 

In January the ABC’s federal politics reporter Nour Haydar left the national broadcaster over its Gaza coverage, joining Guardian Australia’s Full Story team. 

 “Commitment to diversity in the media cannot be skin deep,” Haydar said on her departure.

“Culturally diverse staff should be respected and supported even when they challenge the status quo. Death and destruction on the scale we have seen over recent months has made me reassess my priorities.”

Around 190 ABC staff downed tools in January to demand that Anderson return from holidays and explain Lattouf’s alleged dismissal, while ABC management declined interviews on Radio National. 

Moves 

  • Nine’s national director of news and current affairs Darren Wick has resigned after more than 13 years in the role. It comes after consistent speculation in the News Corp papers over Wick’s whereabouts. 
  • Paramount’s executive vice president and chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has been promoted to president of Network 10, with oversight of both the broadcast and streaming businesses. 
  • Today presenter Brooke Boney will leave the show after five years on the program. After the Paris Olympics, for which Nine is a rights-holder, she will begin studying at the University of Oxford.
  • Seven West executive Bruce McWilliam will depart the company to focus on his media advisory and property portfolio, having worked as an executive at Seven for 21 years.

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