Gerry Harvey backs his big talk with a fair share of optimism

Did Thomson follow Harvey’s advice?

“Well, I don’t have a boat,” Thomson told us. “The bank owns the house and I’d be in trouble if I didn’t have a car.”

Strenuous effort

Laura Bonner is much too late for a night on the couch watching television. The Irishwoman has been hard at work promoting her drinks brand Muff Liquor – named after the village of Muff in County Donegal, so behave – and has promoted some of her high-profile investors, most notably our own Oscar winner and CBD regular Russell Crowe.

As it turns out, Crowe is just one of many famous figures who put their hard-earned money into the brand.

The Hollywood heavyweight is the lead investor in an outfit called Muff Liquor Men (MLM) – along with ballads of the banal Ed SheeranBoyzone frontman Ronan Keating, British comedian and ABC panel show regular Jimmy Carrand talent agent in Dublin Noel Kelly – who owns 35 percent of the company.

And the Muff Liquor crew has had a pretty good time these past few days. They were out together on Thursday after attending Carr’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival show and were partying again Friday night after Sheeran’s record-breaking performance in front of an inexplicable 106,000 fans at the MCG.

Another big night on Saturday, when Sheeran, Crowe and Bonner joined Snoop Dogg backstage at the Rod Laver Arena after the opening show of the rap royal’s local tour, where some of the company’s merchandise had broken.

“Seeing those three legends drinking my vodka and gin was a really surreal moment,” Bonner told CBD.

As a smaller group headed back to Crowe’s Melbourne pad, a bottle of poitin, Ireland’s traditional, not-quite-legal grain liqueur, was cracked open just for the record.

CBD has made it clear that it expects an invite next time, though we’re not sure we can keep up with the pace.

Union hack

At 11 a.m., ABC union members voted overwhelmingly not to proceed with Tuesday’s stoppage work as originally planned, opting instead to consider a revised wage proposal from management.

National broadcaster staff continued a social media campaign that should, sadly, puncture any romantic ideas about working at Aunty, with anecdotes of severe underpayment and a terrifying lack of job security filling the timelines.

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Of course, many of Aunty’s more forward-thinking fans weren’t exactly thrilled when we pointed out how much the executives earn, but we digress.

It all followed what was, by all accounts, a rather camaraderie atmosphere at Monday afternoon’s pivotal Zoom meeting for members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance at the ABC. While a few noted the presence of a prankster, who put their screen name on “Sophia Elsworth“, after The Australian media reporter known for her critical coverage of national broadcasting.

We asked Elsworth if she was indeed the rogue zoomer, but unfortunately got no answer.

hold court

The duel between politicians and the press in Canberra’s parliament building on Wednesday morning will fall a little short with some key players due to clashes in the International Women’s Day diary.

National front bench Bridget McKenzie is an enthusiastic player and co-chair of the Friends of Netball, but she has a lot to do, with the unveiling of the historic sculptures of Dame Enid Lyons And Lady Dorothy Tangney and an International Women’s Day breakfast both compete for her attention.

Minister of Elderly Care Anika Wells and Minister of Regional Development Kristy McBain would also be poll starters, but they too must attend the unveiling across the road at Old Parliament House.

Let’s hope they don’t miss a netball masterclass in the courts of parliament with Diamond Madison Browne and Fijian coach Kate Carpenter both of whom were on their way to the capital.

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