Activists Monica Smit and Avi Yemini back in court – The Age

TOP CHAIR

Credit:John Shakespeare

Theres a modest Games of Thrones under way for Federal Parliaments own Iron Throne chairing the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.

This was the preserve of franking credits warrior Tim Wilson. The Melbourne MPs adroit use of the post saw him elevated to the giddy heights of Assistant Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Clearly, going after industry super funds really pays off.

So who will get the gig? Committee member Jason For the Beaches Falinski, the MP for the Sydney Northern Beaches seat of Mackellar, is said to reckon he is the leading contender. It is less clear if anyone else thinks that.

Nevertheless, the Our Lady of Good Counsel Primary School Forestville graduate started off strong on Monday, bashing industry super, demanding EISS Super directors apologise for recent events (accusations of lavish spending etc, etc) and ticking them off over perceptions of mis-managing conflicts of interest.

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But hold your horses, Falinski. The Baratheon-esque MPs push for a net zero emissions target doth not a good friend of Prime Minister Scott Morrison make, given the PMs office delights in hurting its enemies and promoting its friends.

Also stepping up to the chair is Perths member for Curtin, Celia Hammond.

But some Liberals feel she doesnt have enough experience.

Well, she was formerly vice-chancellor of the University of Notre Dame no less.

Other Coalition members include Queenslander LNP members Julian Simmonds and keen amateur photographer Andrew Laming. No, we dont think so either.

The appointment will be a captains pick by Morrison, and he might gift the post to someone not on the committee.

Time is running out as the appointment needs to be tabled in Parliament next week.

Biggest news in TV this week was the launch of Channel Sevens 2020 schedule. Media journalists were surprised by the segment hosted by Katie McGrath, Sevens chief people and culture officer, who spruiked the networks commitment to cast diversity. Possibly a reaction to criticism of the networks casting choices on its flagship SAS Australia reality-TV program, where bloggers have criticised the casting of various celebrities who have either been accused of or admitted violence against women.

Seven will have a better story to tell in 2022 when it broadcasts Claremont, the imaginatively titled drama about the 1990s serial killings in Perth. As Sevens blurb states: The disappearance of young women launches a 25-year investigation by the police and one tenacious journalist, all in dogged determination to seek justice.

A sketch of Bradley Edwards, drawn during his sentencing on December 23, 2020.

So who is the tenacious journalist? Seven wont say, but CBD has learnt that it is none other than legendary Perth Channel Seven courts and crime reporter Alison Fan who has been on the tools for Seven since 1971. In the 1990s, she covered the Claremont serial killings and then came back for last years trial which found Bradley Robert Edwards guilty of two counts of murder.

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Fan became famous in 1989 when $1 million worth of gold was sent to her personally after more than a decade of covering the conviction and jailing of the Mickelberg brothers for the Perth Mint Swindle, which was later overturned.

Then there was the time a man on the run from police after a gun siege gave himself up to Fan. She has quite a story to tell.

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Activists Monica Smit and Avi Yemini back in court - The Age