Clive Palmer wanted to build on his youth, but did he need a license to do so?

There were no building permits or registered building permits with the council in relation to the property, he added.

Not that a municipal permit is of course required for every renovation.

Loading

Regular readers will remember that Palmer was born in the tough Melbourne suburb of Footscray and grew up in Williamstown Bay in the family’s four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the 1950s. When he was about nine, his parents moved the family north, prompted by concerns about the impact of nearby industrial pollution on the young asthmatic Clive.

Although Palmer does not appear to have personally inspected his renovations, he did visit his old family home in 2013, during his first national election campaign (the only time he actually won a seat for himself).

Palmer showed up to visit the suburban home and there was a surprise knock on the door. Unfortunately, no one answered.

A spokesperson for Palmer was unable to provide further information at the time of publication.

To be fair, Palmer owns more than 100 properties, plus his Palmer Coolum Resort, formerly the Hyatt Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast, which is undergoing a slow $150 million renovation. So that’s understandable, we think.

Watching the spectators

Since then Media view host Paul Barry announced his impending retirement, the question of who would step up to deliver the public broadcaster’s solemn Monday evening sermons on the state of journalism is the hottest question in the news world.

Now that we’re nearing the end of the year and the ABC announcements are just around the corner, Auntie still hasn’t secured a new host for the high-profile role.

The show’s executive producer, Tim Lathamwill also be leaving by the end of the year, and CBD hears that ABC top brass wanted to fill that role before settling on a host, just to make sure the chemistry and atmosphere were right.

That role has now been filled, with an investigative journalist Mario Christodoulou, currently with radio program Background informationgetting the nod.

As for hosting duties, CBD hears that ABC investigative journalist and former foreign correspondent Linton Besser solidifies itself as a frontrunner for the performance.

Former Sky News presenter Janine Perrett, who came on for Barry earlier this year and was considered favorite will now become a more distant shot.

But it’s still a mystery because the new ABC chair Kim Williams who has done a huge amount at the public broadcaster since taking the top job in March, no doubt has his own strong views on the matter.

Klan’s Copyright Conflict

We don’t expect many punters, even our dear readers, to feel sorry for journalists. Even as a former News Corp writer turned independent investigative journalist Anthony Klan believes that journalists can get a better deal if others use their work.

Klan, who founded his one-man news site The Klaxon, is running for a seat on the board of the Copyright Agency, the nonprofit government corporation appointed by the government to manage royalty payments to creators, including journalists, on behalf of media monitoring companies, libraries and the like that might use their services to create content.

The Byron Bay Klan pitch takes on a bit of an activist shareholder vibe – arguing that royalties paid to journalists and artists from this process are not what they used to be and could be higher.

“Several years ago, it was not unusual to receive payments of thousands of dollars per year,” Klan wrote in his candidacy statement. “Now many of us would be lucky to receive $50.”

This is true, at least anecdotally. Your humble columnists are still waiting for their thousand dollar novelty checks.

Klan walks on a field “to get the funds flowing again.”

According to the Copyright Agency’s most recent annual report, the organization distributed $143 million to its nearly 40,000 members in fiscal year 2023, including $8.58 million to people who work at newspapers. The report also notes that hundreds of members involved in “media publications” have been paid out.

Klan left The Australian ahead of the 2019 election, later accusing Murdoch’s newspaper of enriching his stories which he thought would have been stopped Scott Morrison miracle victory and being in the pocket of mining lobbyists. Klan is running for one of three writer-director spots on the 11-member board, and voting will close in mid-November.

Start the day with a summary of the most important and interesting stories, analyzes and insights of the day. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.