Aussies Named In Time's 'Most Influential'

Time Magazine calls them the most influential people in the world : artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. "Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution."

Amongst Nobel prize winners like Aung San Suu Kyi and world leaders Barack Obama,Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, celebrities such as Colin Firth, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Ford and Justin Beiber and a terrorist- Anwar al-Awlaki are two Australians Julian Assange and the emerging star, 22 year old Mia Wasikowska.

Mia, who was born in Canberra got her start in the medical soap All Saints in 2005 and hit the big time when she co-starred with Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's 3D production of Alice In Wonderland.



Glenn Close & Mia Wasikowska
Photo :Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images



Actress Glenn Close says of Wasikowska : "Mia, 21, is a sun, not a satellite. She generates her own energy. She's seductive because she's not compelled to reveal everything. Her shyness has made her an acute observer. At the same time, she loves a good joke, loves to laugh and can suddenly have the boisterous physicality of a teenager."

Julian Assange, listed as a 'muckraker' comes in for some harsh treatment from Germaine Greer :

"Egregious to the last, he is convinced that his prosecution for rape in the Swedish courts was engineered by vengeful U.S. intelligence, unable to grasp the plain fact that his callous treatment made two women angry enough to seek redress."

Read more on The 2011 TIME 100
Here's a trailer for the new production of Jane Eyre in which Mia stars :

The Gadaffi's and Nicole Kidman

Sunday's Sun Herald will publish a story about the Qaddafi family links with Australia and in particular some of the adventures in Oz of the Libyan dictator's two sons Saif al-Islam and his younger brother Al-Saadi.

The pair have visited several times and met with both Labor and Liberal politicians including the former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ( Or Lord Downer of Tikrit as journalist Mike Carlton calls him)

Just as dictators-as long as they are friendly to western interests-are warmly welcomed into the arms of British and American political circles, Australia follows suit.



Saif al-Islam

 The Qaddafi's are reported to have inspected several multi million dollar properties including an office building in Sydney they planned to turn into an embassy after Canberra re-instated diplomatic relations .

 Whilst British and US leaders have been quick to jump on the bandwagon of 'democracy' for the Middle East as repressive regimes seem to be on the slide, Australian diplomats and politicians appear to have been struck dumb offering no support for the Libyan citizens taking their lives in their hands by venturing onto Tripoli streets with one notable exception- former PM Kevin Rudd


According to the Herald Al-Saadi also dined with Nicole Kidman at a Sydney hotel reputedly to discuss film investments (it's one of the downsides of being a movie star-meeting with potential investors ). That information comes from a celebrity security firm. Whether this actually happened remains to be seen but there is an odd link between Kidman and the Qaddafis.



Al-Saadi.

In 2003 Al-Saadi became embroiled in a drama at Port Douglas when a party with several prostitutes went awry. One of his bodyguards pulled a gun and police were called. It was rumoured that two girls were badly beaten and received pay-offs to drop their complaints. Outraged tour operators who went unpaid by the young Qaddafi wrote to then prime Minister John Howard about Qaddafi and his 20 strong entourage . They were ignored. Oil, gas and construction deals in Lybia far outweigh trivial matters like a few bashed working girls.

There is even a claim Al-Saadi walked out of a Kings Cross brothel leaving an unpaid $7000 tab.

Nicole Kidman starred in the Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut along with her then husband Tom Cruise. The movie is about sexual experimentation and after it premiered in Sydney a series of monthly Eyes Wide Shut sex parties began where guests wore masks and indulged in sexual encounters with strangers.



The parties were staged in empty exclusive Eastern Suburbs mansions that were for sale.  One tale that swept the East was how the Qaddafi brothers inspected a harbour side mansion with a price tag of twelve million dollars.  The real estate agent, a glamorous blond invited her prospective clients to one of the raunchy parties that was to be held that weekend and they accepted and arrived at the party with 6 minders who all joined in the night's activities.

She is reported to have said after :

 "they were quiet awful. Rough, rude and fairly unsexy. They never paid the $500 a head donation and it was wham bam with no thank you Mam. Quite frankly I was glad when they left. Mind you, one well know society hostess  ****** was sorry to see them go but she loves rough sex !"