NINE MEDIA COMPANY

The Hon. MARK LATHAM (14:01): I congratulate the Government on the very successful Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC] event held in Sydney last weekend. Why was it successful? Quite simply, it is very popular among young people. My generation loved Ali and Frazier; this generation loves Du Plessis and Strickland. Strong, gutsy combat athletes who are highly paid competing in a sport they love in front of a huge fan base, local and international—who would have problem with that? Let us start with the weird editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Bevan Shields, who said that he felt physically sick to see Dana White and Premier Chris Minns on a podcast together talking UFC. There are some sick things in our society, but consenting adults competing in sport is certainly not one of them. How abnormal and twisted Shields must be. 

For things sickly, he actually needs to look closer to home at his own newspaper. In mid-November one of his reporters filed a well-researched and very important story about the corruption at Racing NSW, but Shields refused to publish it because Peter V'landys gives him so much money for the redundant racing form guide and other purposes such as freebies in the director's room at Royal Randwick. Nine media has also just started negotiations with V'landys to keep the NRL broadcasting rights—another reason Sickly Shields is happy to be part of the corruption protection racket around the man. Make no mistake, V'landys is the modern Sydney equivalent of a gangster, who survives because of political and media protection, as this Parliament has seen in recent times. 

Another thing that should have made Shields sick is the Nine media cultural review into workplace behaviour. By far, the most complained‑about person was Ray Hadley for his bullying, intimidation, abuse and deliberate mental torture of staff. Hadley did not retire willingly; he was made to go as a result of the so‑called cultural review.The Sydney Morning Herald knows this but so far has refused to publish it. It knows of a letter written to 2GB apportioning blame for the suicide of a young man to the thug Ray Hadley. When I condemned those practices in a motion about Hadley—objected to by those opposite—how did The Sydney Morning Herald respond? Alex Smith condemned me, not Hadley, thereby announcing herself as an enabler of this abuse. Most of Hadley's victims, as the cultural review revealed, were young women. Smith tries to parade herself as a feminist, the champion of respect for women in the workplace but, when it comes to Hadley, she is just another enabler. They use the word "grubs" a lot at 2GB but, again, they should look within—inside Nine media at the grubs like Shields and Smith.