Bad news for Alexander Downers and those who support him.

It’s the biggest story in media, David Speers jumping from Skynews and moving to The ABC.

He’ll host the Insiders Show which will move its production from the palatial ABC Melbourne studios to the press gallery in Canberra.

This is where the biggest story of this move comes to life:

What is the future of Outside Insiders, hosted by Bill Thompson?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfFPjcsMAZkAOCUXCJXo0Kg/videos

Bill has tirelessly held leftist journalists to account for their opinions and their ability to ignore the biggest political stories each Sunday ... waiting outside the ABC Melbourne studios.

Millions have enjoyed his videos and the awkward smugness of the Canberra elite as they’ve dashed from the studio into waiting hire cars, only to be stopped by Bill for a chat.

What about the countless times they’ve shifted uneasily as he’s mentioned the Bill Shorten rape accusations, and the near vomitous glares from Laura Tingle when challenged by a regular person on her lack of logic.

What will the ABC do for Bill?

Back to you, David!

I want to see Jim Molan returned to the Senate.

Yesterday the AEC commenced to post results for its Senate count.

That count for the Liberal/National Senate group, including Jim currently stands at:

The count shows Jim with 787 first preference votes - however the Liberal & Nationals ballot papers include 1.09M "Unapportioned" (sic) votes, which according to the AEC Glossary are:

That means no one can yet say with certainty what the result of the Liberal/National group will be.  It also means our Senate voting system is far from simple!

The Liberal/National group currently shows a total of 1.38M votes, or about 39% of 1st preference votes cast in NSW.  By the AEC's arcane reckoning, that translates to 2.7 "quotas" for a senate seat, out of the 6 seats available.  No doubt that will change as further preferences are allocated.

One thing is certain - 6 Senators for NSW will be elected!

Good luck Jim, may the counting gods be with you!

It's from NSW Police so it must be true!

Two brothers have been seriously injured by a Marlin in a bizarre boating incident off Wooli, north of Coffs Harbour.

The men, aged 46 and 48, were travelling with a third man, aged 46, in a five metre rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) in the Solitary Islands Marine Park around midday today (Thursday 23 May 2019) when a large Marlin breached the water.

The fish, which they estimated weighed between 80 and 100 kilograms, crashed into the brothers on board the vessel, which had been travelling at 21 knots or 40km/h.

The Marlin’s sharp snout sliced open the younger brother’s lower right arm, causing an open fracture.

The older brother suffered a deep cut to his right shoulder.

The third man was not harmed and the fish scrambled off the boat and back into the water.

Police from the Coffs/Clarence Police District and the Marine Area Command were notified as the younger brother was airlifted by Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Coffs Harbour Base Hospital.

The other injured man was taken by road to the same hospital.

Their injuries are not considered life threatening.

ENDS

I doubt I'll get a better chance to give my mate Damian Colette a plug!

Damo owns a charter boat operating out of Cairns - Saltaire.  If this fishy story whets your appetite, you can contact Damo here https://www.facebook.com/damian.colette

And this is a typical day at the office for my very fortunate mate!

Happy families!  Emma Walters "seeking to heal" with John Setka.

Emma's engaged a PR firm to tell us about the "deeply private affairs" of the Setka/Walters family.

And what better metaphor for their relationship than to use Boss Man PR company - that gender and function again - Boss, Man.

What a shocking result for Australia.

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/SenateStateFirstPrefs-24310-NSW.htm

We lose Jim - and in return we get this.

ENDS

UPDATE

The AEC reports that 72% of Senate 1st preference votes have been counted.

I may be wrong, but I very much dislike the proportion of 677 : 1.378M Molan to LNP group.

I'm glad that there are people much more optimistic than me among us!

Patience Michael, the Senate counting will take weeks.

The word is Jim's received the most first preference votes in the history of the Senate....hopefully it's enough.

— ClockUponTheWall (@ClockUponWall) May 23, 2019

Reader Antony wrote to ABC News last week as other media including 2GB were reporting on news about the SHORTEN rape and drug-distribution allegations.

He received a reply from the ABC which is both encouraging and very concerning!

That reply comes to us courtesy of Zoe Walker of the ABC's Darwin office.

The fact that the ABC is aware of the extent of the allegations (courtesy of our reader Antony - now confirmed by Zoe) is encouraging.

The fact that the ABC has declined to report on the developments is profoundly disturbing.

Here are a few of the newsworthy changed circumstances:

• Former National Crime Authority chief Peter Faris QC says there's a prima facie case of rape against Shorten
• Faris QC says police should re-open their files and the OPP should bring Shorten before a court to answer the case
• The complainant, Kathy Sherriff and Faris QC have delivered new evidence to Victoria Police
• Victoria's laws about single complainant sexual offence cases have changed since 2014 when Victoria Police declined to prosecute Shorten
• The Pell verdict of GUILTY on the evidence of a single complainant means the "no reasonable prospect of conviction" opinion about SHORTEN is no longer reliable.

All of this is new and in my judgement newsworthy.  

That the ABC knows about this stuff but declines to report it is newsworthy too - for all the wrong reasons.

#JusticeForKathy

The bulk of the payment - for lost potential earnings - was the result of an agreement between lawyers for the defamee and defamer(s).

Tread warily before trusting #MeToo hype!

Here's part of the SMH report:

Geoffrey Rush holds the record for the largest defamation payout to a single person in Australia after The Daily Telegraph agreed to pay the actor almost $2 million for lost earnings, on top of an $850,000 payout, for a series of reports accusing him of "inappropriate behaviour" towards a female actor.

On Thursday, the Federal Court heard that lawyers for Mr Rush and Nationwide News, the publisher of the Telegraph, had agreed the Oscar winner should receive $1.98 million in damages for past and future economic loss resulting from the reports.

Bill - click here for details - but hurry, 6 days left, just enough time to handover to Albo!