Behind the carefully managed rise of Mia Freedman's son – and the media mates backing him… Plus, who's getting what in Albo's $67M newsroom handout: INSIDE MAIL

Lose the show, keep the star 

Seven might be proudly proclaiming that it is the new home of I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, but the talk of the industry is what happened to Robert Irwin.

Speculation was rife that Seven planned to have Irwin host the show after the network secured his services as the face of the 2026 Logie Awards. But then Channel 10 turned around and announced him as host of its revived Australian Ninja Warrior.

Sources at Seven believe negotiations with Irwin dragged on too long and the 22-year-old decided to part ways with I'm a Celebrity, stay at Ten and add another show to his résumé.

It's a win for Ten, which didn't get the show – Nine and Seven had much better offers – but got to keep the star.

The reason Nine and Seven were keen on the ITV franchise is because TV networks are relying on 'heritage' brands more and more to draw in viewers.

Heritage brands are old shows that are known to audiences, which makes the marketing much easier. 

Viewers know what Ninja Warrior is and it's expected that fans will take a look at the new version on Ten. The same goes for I'm a Celeb. The show was still doing okay on the ratings front – it was just too expensive for Channel 10.

With I'm a Celebrity now at Seven, Inside Mail hears screen tests are taking place – which is interesting when many would have expected Dr Chris Brown (above, with former Seven West Media CEO James Warburton) to easily slot into the role. Seven will be weighing up whether to renew his million-dollar contract and whether new (cheaper) talent is the way to go 

Now all eyes will turn to see who Seven puts in as hosts.

Inside Mail hears screen tests are currently taking place, which is interesting when many would have expected Dr Chris Brown to easily slot into the role.

But Brown hasn't brought ratings success to Seven – in fact none of the shows he has fronted for the network have been hits. Seven will be weighing up whether to renew his million-dollar contract and whether new (cheaper) talent is the way to go.

Hold the front page

One of our pet hates at Inside Mail is the tinfoil-hat brigade whingeing that the 'mainstream media' won't cover a story – only for a quick Google search to reveal it has, in fact, been covered quite extensively.

But it turns out that, for once, the cries of 'the press won't report this!' may actually be justified.

We're talking about the News Media Assistance Program, an Australian Government grant scheme designed to financially support newsrooms.

The initiative, administered by Anika Wells' Communications and Sport Ministry, is worth $67million and aims to 'keep journalists employed and produce news that informs and educates'.

The News Media Assistance Program, an Australian Government grant scheme designed to financially support newsrooms, has been rolled out to the tune of $67million – but the outlets benefiting from Labor's largesse aren't shouting it from the rooftops. (Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells on June 30)

The rationale is simple: tech companies that pay minimal tax in Australia are siphoning profits from news publishers while decimating referral traffic, so the Labor Government is stepping in to help fill the gap.

Announced quietly in a November 2025 press release, the initiative is a spiritual successor to the $12million News Media Relief Program, which helped fund more than 1,000 journalists across hundreds of regional and First Nations outlets nationwide.

This time, however, the recipients of Labor's largesse are hardly fringe operators. A pro-One Nation news website published a breakdown of who received what – and the results are eye-opening.

(Spoiler: The Mail got nothing. We'll explain why in a moment.)

Nine received $16,126,110 across two grants, subsidising roughly 375 journalists. Seven received $11,329,890, while ACM collected $6,224,933.

Crikey parent company Private Media received $737,022. Youth outlet The Daily Aus got $549,120, while Mamamia received $268,125.

Man of Many, a website that sometimes seems to exist only in the imagination of Mumbrella founder Tim Burrowes, also received funding.

We are not suggesting for a second that any of these organisations were undeserving recipients. Journalism is important, expensive and increasingly difficult to sustain. The business models that once supported it have been aggressively disrupted by foreign companies. Accepting a government handout is not a crime.

The issue is that newsrooms receiving taxpayer funding are not exactly rushing to tell readers they are, at least in part, government-funded when reporting on government matters.

We all know they probably should be.

A source within the Communications Ministry confirmed that it's up to the news organisations to disclose how they are funded, adding that smaller outlets tend to be more proactive in their disclosures than larger ones.

The most upfront about receiving a grant, we are told, was a small LGBT website. 

As for why The Mail is not getting any of the cash, it has nothing to do with Nicholas Comino's political reporting. We are excluded from the scheme because we have a British parent company – the same reason Guardian Australia misses out.

Likewise, Sky News Australia (soon to be rebranded as News24) and News Corp's newspapers are ineligible because their ultimate headquarters are in New York.

That is not a complaint about missing out on free money. But it may help explain why you're reading about these grants here and not in many of the outlets receiving them.

Mia's mates

Inside Mail was amused to see Mia Freedman's media mates rush to the defence of her son Luca Lavigne after he was appointed CEO at 28 of the company his mother founded.

By some accounts, Lavigne is comfortable with whatever label critics attach to him and simply wants to get on with the job, which makes the spectacle of senior journalists charging to his defence all the more puzzling.

For those who missed it, the Sydney Morning Herald's CBD column noted on Wednesday how discussion of Lavigne's appointment on the Facebook page of the Chat 10 Looks 3 podcast was shut down by Leigh Sales because she and Annabel Crabb are friends of the Freedman family.

For what it's worth, we are told Lavigne's record as chief operating officer – overseeing Mamamia's evolution from something of a clickbait factory into a subscription-first business – speaks for itself and that, inside the bunker, he is regarded as the right person for the job.

What intrigues us more is the way members of the 'Friends of Mia' club instinctively go into bat for Freedman – and, increasingly, her family – whenever even the mildest controversy blows through.

Over the years, there has been a clear and observable pattern.

One journalism and television veteran, who howled at the flattering treatment Freedman received in the Binge series Strife, loosely based on the founding of Mamamia, told us this week: 'Over the years, every time there's a Mia yarn, there's a rush to her defence, like "nothing to see here".'

Inside Mail is amused by the way members of the 'Friends of Mia' club instinctively go into bat for Freedman – and, increasingly, her family – whenever even the mildest controversy blows through. (Pictured from left: Lisa Wilkinson, Mia Freedman, Leigh Sales and Julia Baird)

Inside Mail understands the appointment of Lavigne (left) as CEO, replacing outgoing chief Natalie Harvey (right), was carefully stage-managed, with him getting ahead of criticism by openly acknowledging his privileged position as the boss's son

'You saw it with the legal stoush over the Vaucluse mansion, and with the office romance between Luca and [now wife] Jessie Stephens, who admitted the relationship "probably was unprofessional" when it began.

'With the creation of the Freedman media dynasty, she's always been controlling the narrative whenever it threatens to turn against her.'

To her credit, she's good at it. And, of course, there's nothing suspicious about having friends in the industry – particularly when they're willing to speak up on your behalf. 

But even with that support network in her back pocket, Inside Mail understands Lavigne's appointment as CEO was carefully stage-managed, with Mumbrella selected as a neutral platform for the announcement while he deftly got ahead of criticism by openly acknowledging his privileged position as the boss's son.

Staff were informed before Mumbrella published the news – but, we are told, not much earlier, in an effort to minimise leaks. 

When the inevitable barbs about the promotion followed (surprisingly, not from us), Sales dived into the debate, arguing that 'a million male-run family businesses end up with sons or daughters running them and it passes barely remarked'.

We're not convinced that's true, but it's close enough to deadline that we'll let it slide.

Of course, the most fortuitous piece of media Freedman received wasn't reactive at all, but entirely coincidental.

In April last year, News.com.au gossip columnist Annette Sharp sparked a flurry of critical coverage – and no shortage of internal angst – by reporting that Lavigne was earning $300,000 a year as chief operating officer, a claim later denied by Mamamia and subsequently retracted.

By month's end, however, Freedman and her daughter-in-law Jessie were warmly discussing 'the family business of Mamamia' in an interview with Sarrah Le Marquand for Stellar, News Corp's Sunday magazine insert.

While it may have looked like an adroit piece of reputation management, the Stellar interview was already in the can before Sharp's story set the cat among the pigeons.

What's that old saying? Today's bad news is tomorrow's fish-and-chip paper.

Albo's heart goes padam padam

When Kylie Minogue walks onto the MCG in September, there will be one spectator praying the television cameras point anywhere else but at him.

Anthony Albanese  – who would attend the opening of an envelope if it involves sport and a photo opportunity – can safely be expected to attend the AFL Grand Final. 

That presents an intriguing question: will his wife Jodie accompany him?

Only weeks ago, the recently married PM was asked to choose between Kylie, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore in a juvenile game of 'shag, marry, date'.

Albo initially remembered that he had a wife. Then the politician – who has spent 30 years adroitly dodging questions – decided to answer it anyway.

'Kylie, clearly,' he responded, before agreeing he would choose her for 'all of the above'. Classy stuff.

Kylie Minogue is almost certain to come face to face with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the AFL Grand Final

The PM will be hoping the TV cameras won't focus on him as Kylie belts out her greatest hits. Above, drinking a Balter with wife Jodie Haydon at the cricket

He later apologised 'unequivocally', in a short written statement, having belatedly discovered that publicly announcing which Australian woman he would like to have sex with was beneath the office he occupies.

Now imagine the upcoming AFL Grand Final broadcast.

Will Seven cut to Albo during Can't Get You Out of My Head? Or perhaps during I Should Be So Lucky? Will the PM applaud enthusiastically, stare solemnly at his shoes or deploy that pained statesmanlike expression he wears while being booed?

And what about poor Kylie. Performing before 100,000 people is daunting enough without knowing one of them is the PM who recently broadcast his sexual ambitions – involving you. Maybe she'll call in sick that day.

Heart on her sleeve 

When Nine and Fairfax announced their merger in 2018, a senior media executive offered one of Inside Mail's columnists a brutal assessment: 'Two dinosaurs mating won't prevent their extinction'. Ouch!

Eight years later, the fossil record is becoming difficult to ignore.

Nine is cutting another 30 editorial positions, principally from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. It's the latest in a succession of cuts across publishing, television, digital operations and head office since the two dinosaurs consummated their corporate marriage.

Management insists this isn't simply cost-cutting; it's an 'evolution', apparently, forced by the 'extreme state of disruption' caused by AI.

Curiously, the Australian Financial Review has been spared because it's supposedly 'more evolved' than its sister publications.

That's one way of putting it. Another would be that the AFR has perfected a lucrative sideline in sponsored summits, corporate partnerships and commercial events dressed up as important news gatherings.

Nine's publishing supremo Tory Maguire is known to be a big fan of the AFR, which was saved from the company's cuts this week – so much so, that she sometimes wears Financial Review-branded apparel around the media giant's headquarters, making her favourite child quite clear

Powerful companies pay to become 'partners', their executives appear on stage beneath sponsor logos, and the newspaper then reports on proceedings it helped package and sell.

It's certainly a viable business model. Whether it represents the evolutionary summit of independent journalism is another matter entirely.

Inside Mail also has another hot tip about why the AFR was saved from bloodletting.

Nine's publishing supremo Tory Maguire is known to be a big fan of the AFR – and its pricey paywall – with staff saying she sometimes wears Financial Review-branded apparel around the media giant's headquarters, making her favourite child quite clear.

The bigger picture, of course, is that AI poses a genuine threat to the media. We all know that. But Nine has found a convenient new explanation for every round of redundancies while the same people continue losing their jobs.

The merger did not create a nimble new media animal, as was promised at the time. It created a larger dinosaur, now shedding journalists to stay alive while the AFR sells tickets to conferences about disruption. How very ironic.

Labor's mental health slur 

Labor MP Julian Hill has devised an innovative way to improve the tone of Australian politics: tell opponents to seek psychiatric help.

Former PM Tony Abbott criticised the Australian Electoral Commission's decision to rename the South Australian electorate of Grey after Indigenous leader Lowitja O'Donoghue.

Abbott described the change as another front in the culture wars. Hill responded by suggesting Abbott 'go to a psychologist'.

One can agree or disagree with Abbott's view, and here at Inside Mail we disagree, given that there aren't exactly a plethora of electorates named after Indigenous leaders. 

But either way, treating psychology as a partisan insult is especially grubby coming from a government that endlessly lectures us all about mental health, stigma, respectful discourse and the toxicity of political debate.

There's also an inconvenient democratic wrinkle Julian didn't mention (or perhaps didn't know). Of the 310 public submissions received by the AEC, 235 supported retaining the name Grey. The commission nevertheless concluded that the arguments for changing it were more persuasive.

If a Liberal MP had told a Labor MP to 'go to a psychologist' we'd still be hearing about it. But when the ALP's Julian Hill does it… crickets

Apparently consultation now involves asking the public what it thinks before explaining why its answer doesn't matter.

Had a Liberal MP suggested that a Labor critic needed psychological treatment, the outrage industry would already be shouting from the rooftops.  

Celebrity no-show at Albo's house party 

'There's no greater backyard for a game of cricket,' Nova's Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli enthused before Tuesday's celebrity match at Kirribilli House.

Quite. Most backyards aren't Commonwealth-owned, heritage listed and available as a money-can't-buy promotional set for a commercial radio network.

Albo happily donned a Nova cap and branded cricket kit, cuddled his dog Toto and posed before a sponsor wall plastered with Nova, Milo and M.J. Bale logos.

If only he supported business that generously with his tax and economic policy settings!

The cause was unimpeachable. Full Stop Australia and youth mental health charity Batyr received $10,000 apiece courtesy of the event, and every cent was welcome. But the charities weren't the only beneficiaries. 

Nova and its sponsors secured a celebrity cast, a spectacular harbourfront backdrop and a willing PM to star in its content feast. Albo received another carefully packaged chance to play the sports-loving celebrity PM, a role for which he always manages to find time.

Inside Mail understands Dr Chris Brown was also expected to attend, but failed to appear. Perhaps the Bondi Vet could smell an overgroomed photo opportunity.

Dirty protest 

It's a s*** time to work in the magazine business.

But at least there aren't any dirty protests at Park St these days. It was a different story, however, during the ACP Magazines era many moons ago.

The female bathroom on Level 12 was the site of an office pooper who decided that laying a brick on the floor was far more in vogue than using the toilet bowl.

Being a delicate environment with a 90 per cent female workforce, management were keen not to hurt anybody's feelings.

During a town hall meeting to address the daily dose of splattered mess, managers carefully enquired as to whether anyone on staff had a 'medical issue and needed help with the facilities'.

No one was buying it. After returning to their desks, staff immediately began speculating who hated the company enough to smear faeces on the walls.

As for who the culprit was, that's a detail lost to history.

You can quota me on that

Inside Mail has previously reported that NSW Labor is yet to preselect candidates in several key seats ahead of the 2027 state election. Now, we can shed light on the delay.

Labor's rules require women to make up half of the party's candidates in winnable seats. But the rise of One Nation has complicated Labor's electoral calculations and blurred the definition of what constitutes a 'winnable' seat.

With One Nation polling above 20 per cent in some surveys, Labor strategists are reassessing battlegrounds across the state, making it harder for head office to determine where gender quota requirements apply.

Party sources say the uncertainty has slowed the preselection process. Labor has so far endorsed just two candidates in marginal Liberal-held electorates, both women.

The delay also reflects the political reality facing Premier Chris Minns.

Labor failed to win a majority at the last election and remains vulnerable if it loses ground in any of its existing seats.

Any losses will need to be offset by gains elsewhere if the government hopes to secure another term.

While polling continues to favour Labor, the growing One Nation vote and the unpredictable flow of preferences under NSW's optional preferential voting system have injected a significant degree of uncertainty into the contest.

Against that backdrop, Labor appears to be prioritising defence over expansion.

Last weekend, ministers and MPs fanned out across the Central Coast and Hunter in a political blitz, targeting regions widely viewed as among the most exposed to a One Nation surge.

Other areas of concern for Labor include seats like Camden, Penrith and South Coast.

'We're not biased', says ABC. Case closed!   

ABC chair Kim Williams has finally settled the long-running argument about whether the national broadcaster is biased: it isn't.

In a rare Sky News interview, Williams strongly rejected suggestions that the ABC suffers from an institutional green-left worldview. He said he had no idea how most ABC employees voted and described the organisation as a 'force for impartiality and objective journalism'.

Case closed, apparently!

Except institutional bias isn't established by secretly inspecting how journalists fill out their ballot papers. It reveals itself through story selection, framing, language, panel composition, which controversies receive relentless attention and which are quietly ignored.

Williams' own performance illustrated the problem. He apologised for publicly describing Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu as 'aberrant', conceding that the remark had been inappropriate, while continuing to defend his underlying historical assessment. Self-awareness, anyone?

To be fair, the ABC has made some welcome changes under Williams and managing director Hugh Marks, including removing programs that had become predictable ideological echo chambers, and replacing News Director Justin Stevens. 

But asserting impartiality is not the same as demonstrating it.

Empty chairs at empty tables 

Pauline Hanson's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Great Britain last week may have generated headlines back home, but she arguably could have delivered it via Zoom and achieved much the same result.

The conference, held in London, has been widely described as a damp squib, with several speakers addressing rooms that were, at best, half full.

Among the most vocal critics was London-based ABC podcast host and The Nightly columnist Latika Bourke, who posted multiple videos of sparsely populated conference rooms, drawing attention to rows of empty chairs.

Bourke reserved some of her sharpest commentary for Hanson's appearance, remarking that the One Nation leader received a 'resounding applause from those who are here'.

Ouch.

Despite the patchy attendance, former British prime minister and CPAC Great Britain chair Liz Truss has vowed to bring the event back next year.

Columnist Latika Bourke shared videos of sparsely crowded rooms during the event 

Pauline Hanson (centre) helped auction prizes alongside Aussie Barclay McGain (right) 

Bourke and Hanson were not the only Aussies in attendance. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie also made the trip to London for the conference.

Hanson delivered the keynote address at the Sir Winston Churchill Gala Dinner, the weekend's marquee social event.

During the evening, Hanson also took to the stage to help auction off prizes alongside CPAC Australia general manager Barclay McGain. 

According to McGain's Facebook post, one of the auction items on offer was tea and scones with former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The auction raised the equivalent of $38,239 for the organisation.

For Hanson, the event delivered the sort of publicity money can't buy.

For Truss, however, the sparse crowds and empty seats may provide reason to rethink plans for another CPAC Great Britain.

No laughing matter 

A Sportsbet-style meme posted by WA Labor has triggered a backlash online, with critics accusing the party of making light of gambling while federal Labor remains under pressure over gambling reform.

The meme, shared on WA Labor's Facebook page ahead of the Secret Harbour by-election, recreates a Sportsbet betting slip to take aim at One Nation and its growing list of headline-grabbing controversies.

The four 'legs' of the mock multi reference a string of One Nation dramas, including former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce's infamous encounter with a dog during an interview with ABC's 7.30 and Pauline Hanson's defence of a staffer with a criminal conviction.

But not everyone found the joke funny.

WA Labor shared a meme (pictured) to social media mocking a Sportsbet betting slip 

Cheney (left) condemned the post, saying that gambling was in the Labor Party's 'DNA' 

Independent WA Teal MP Kate Cheney, one of the country's strongest advocates for gambling reform, blasted the post and said it highlighted Labor's uneasy relationship with gambling advertising.

Cheney has been a vocal critic of Labor's refusal to fully implement the recommendations from the late Labor MP Peta Murphy's landmark gambling inquiry, which called for a complete ban on gambling advertising.

Flanked by crossbench colleagues dressed in mock gambling logos during the last sitting week, Cheney and other MPs launched an attack on Anthony Albanese, alleging the PM is single-handedly blocking tougher action on gambling reform.

The group said the government had ignored the landmark Murphy Review's recommendations, arguing there is broad support within Labor for stronger restrictions on gambling advertising. 

According to the crossbench, the Prime Minister is the main barrier preventing the review's recommendations from being fully adopted.

While the Albanese government has introduced some reforms, it has stopped short of adopting the review's headline recommendation.

'This is another sign of how deeply gambling is embedded in the ALP DNA,' Cheney told Inside Mail when asked about the meme. 

'With so many Australians disappointed with Labor's feeble gambling reform package, turning to gambling memes shows Albo still can't read the room.'