Koalas F**k For Oprah, Wikileak's Chic and John Lennon

The Oprah jet & Gayle & Oprah on Hamilton Island

 * If you haven't noticed, Oprah Winfrey arrived by private jet in Cairns in Northern Queensland today. She didn't alight as the plane was cleared by Customs but flew onto Hamilton Island where she and her great friend Gayle King visited a zoo where they were confronted by 2 mating Koalas !.

According to Oprah as she cuddled one Koala "oh it feels just like the ones in the stores back home". Shops that sell Koalas in the USA? .

** Overheard by our spy in  Parliament House in Canberra in the Member's Bar : 2 Labor politicians  were discussing the Wikileaks cables and the ones where US diplomats describe former PM Kevin Rudd as a "control freak".

One, a well known cabinet minster said to the other " no, it's very disappointing. I haven't even been mentioned. It's like the kiss of death, I feel like a complete nobody !"

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John Waters

*** It's 30 Years since John Lennon was gunned down in New York City. Rolling Stone Magazine is to publish the very last interview with the great song writer recorded by Jonathan Cott on the 5th December 1980. You can hear much of the material on the magazine's website.

Cott recorded nine hours of interviews with Lennon but had forgotten all about them and most of the material has never been heard before.

**** Local actor John Waters is to tour his brilliant and successful one-man show  Lennon in Word and Music: Looking Through a Glass Onion. Water's sings just about every song Lennon wrote and talks through the show about Lennon's life. It's a superb show-the Shuttle first saw it it in 1998 and now Waters has the blessing of Yoko Ono.

Today Waters  was at the  Hard Rock’s Sydney Rock Shop, Harbourside, Darling Harbour to launch the Imagine There’s No Hunger in co-operation with Yoko's Why Hunger campaign.

The campaign was launched by Hard Rock International in November at the Hollywood Cafe and featured performances by Ringo Starr, Dave Stewart, Booker T, Joe Walsh and many more.

Waters is one of Australia's hardest working stage and film actors. Born in the UK he became fascinated by the entertainment industry while watching his father work in his  own movie studio very near Thames TV . His first break-as a child in the first Titanic film A Night To Remember.

Check out dates for Looking Through A Glass Onion at the website.

A video of John Waters in Looking Through A Glass Onion

Arise Gina Rinehart -Media Baroness

What is happening with Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart ?. 

2 years ago she was content with quietly cruising the Mediterranean after a protracted legal  battle with her ex-mother-in-law Rose Hancock Porteus, the Filipino maid who married Gina's dad, the late West Australian mining magnate Lang Hancock when he was 70. Gina, who was left a $4.5 billion fortune by her father claimed there had been skulduggery over her father's death although it came to nought.

Now she has embarked on media buying frenzy and looks set to join her Perth friend the billionaire Kerry Stokes who moved east and swept up the Seven TV Network along with Pacific Magazines which he purchased from Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury.

Today Gina bought just under 5% of Fairfax Media, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne along with several chains of suburban newspapers. Fairfax are the only serious rivals to the News Ltd empire. 

2 months ago, as the young tycoons Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer banded together to purchase 17% of the Ten TV Network, 4 weeks later Reinhardt  stumped down a few million for a 10% stake in Ten.

Just 6 months ago the normally reclusive Gina clambered aboard a pick-up truck in a Perth park opposite the Hyatt Hotel  to protest then PM Kevin Rudd's proposed 40 % mining tax. Reinhardt was joined by fellow miner and billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. She helpfully handed out printed placards to the arriving protesters-all mining workers. 

Has this new public profile sparked of a deisre to become a player and power broker in the media world ?

Has PM Julia Gillard Gone Bonkers ?

Whether you vote for Labor or the Coalition parties in Australia (both right of centre parties), the latest announcements by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Federal Attorney General Robert McClelland should ring alarm bells and raise questions not only about their fitness to lead but whether these 2 lawyers really understand  the law.

The number of trained lawyers in the Australian Parliament is estimated to be around 60% of the elected representatives. Government is about making and producing law. But if those making the law do not understand it, where do we stand ?.

The case of Julian Assange goes beyond the usual rhetoric and daily news cycle that we are all subject to and which our politicians hopelessly play to.

Assange-whatever anyone thinks of him , is no different to the dozens of journalists from the New York Times. De Spiegel and Australia's New Ltd publications who have published the Wikileak's material. Indeed, most of the world's newspapers and media outlets published before Wilkileaks did.

In a country that usually stands up for the underdog and the so-called 'fair go', for Gillard to publicly and ignorantly announce that Assange has committed 'illegal' acts ( of which she now refuses to reveal what she thinks those acts are) and for McClelland, who time and time again has proven himself to be the Labor Party's greatest disappointment after the Howard years of lawlessness with his "business a usual" attitude, to call for an Australian Federal Police investigation into 'illegal' acts (not one of which he can think of)  really is beyond the pale.

(Does anyone remember how during the Howard years the Australian Wheat Board paid over $200M in bribes to Saddam Hussein -money undoubtedly used to purchase weapons to kill Australian and Allied soldiers and how former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer professed ignorance of dozens of emails informing him of these illegal bribes for which not one single person has been charged ?)

Numerous media pundits and US politicians have called for Assange's assassination.

The Wilkileaks cables reveal that US Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, a recent guest in Australia, called for US diplomats to illegally steal UN Officials (including Australian diplomats) credit card details. These are admissions of a conspiracy to commit the crimes of theft and  murder.

Of course we all know that Gillard and McClelland are gutlessly parroting the US line. And that is what is so depressing. Is it any wonder that former Prime Minister Paul Keating once refered to us as the "arse end of the world".

In about 1 hour The Australian newspaper will publish a special editorial penned by Julian Assange. The following letter has been sent to  Prime Minister Gillard and appeared tonight on the ABC TV website.

 Dear Prime Minister,

We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.

Noam Chomsky

Jeffrey T Kuhner- "Kill Him!"

Julian Burnside QC

“We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times.

William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?”

“Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg.

“The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site.

Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”.

And so on and so forth.

Such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen the normalisation of extrajudicial measures once unthinkable, from ‘extraordinary rendition’ (kidnapping) to ‘enhanced interrogation’ (torture).

In that context, we now have grave concerns for Mr Assange’s wellbeing.

Irrespective of the political controversies surrounding WikiLeaks, Mr Assange remains entitled to conduct his affairs in safety, and to receive procedural fairness in any legal proceedings against him.

As is well known, Mr Assange is an Australian citizen.

We therefore call upon you to condemn, on behalf of the Australian Government, calls for physical harm to be inflicted upon Mr Assange, and to state publicly that you will ensure Mr Assange receives the rights and protections to which he is entitled, irrespective of whether the unlawful threats against him come from individuals or states.

                                                                                             .....continued at The Real News

The Oprah Bandwagon Arrives

They're streaming in from all over the country. The 7000 who have won tickets to attend the 2 Oprah Winfrey shows to be filmed at the Sydney Oprah House. Later today another few hundred arrive from the USA in a Qantas 747 piloted by movie star John Travolta.

On Wednesday Oprah herself and her personal staff arrive  in Cairns in QLD on Oprah's own jet.

When she finally arrives in Sydney on the 10th, a cavalcade of limos will speed her and the entourage to the Four Seasons Hotel near Circular Quay in an extraordinary move that is reminiscent of a US presidential visit. Accompanying Oprah is her great friend Gayle King who is also editor-at-large of O Magazine. Oprah and Gayle will share adjoining hotel suites.

Not only will police give Oprah an escort, traffic will be stopped along the motorway to ensure her trip, normally a 20 minute drive gets the US chat show host to her hotel in 10 minutes.

A dozen local security personnel (armed with pistols) have been hired to supplement Winfrey's own security guards and local and Federal police will be on hand. All locals who have been hired to work with Oprah have been required to sign confidentiality agreements. If anyone is found to disclose personal information and it's proved to have come from them, they are required to pay back twice what they are paid to work for her.

And the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be adorned with a giant O sign during her stay .Welcome to the Oprah roadshow.

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The historic Sydney Barrack's  Mint last night hosted the after party for the film  premier of Love and Other Drugs with the stars of the film  Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway on hand. They were a pretty friendly couple, chatting to guests and circulating at ease for about 15 minutes.

Naturally both love Sydney (when has any visiting celeb said differently ?...Eminen the only one who hated the place).

# actor Ryan Kwanten has returned to the USA after winning the GQ Magazine Man of The Year Award. Kwanten's star continues to rise in the States with the success of the vampire series True Blood. Oddly no Australian TV outlet has yet picked up the popular cult series.

And actor Firass Dirani who portrayed the 'colourful' Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim in the hugely successful series Underbelly 3 won the Actor of The Year Award. Dirani has just finished filming The Killer Elite with Robert de Niro.

Vale Mr Squiggle

Norman Hetherington the creator of the famous Mr Squiggle character on ABC TV has died in Brisbane at age 89.  Mr Squiggle was a pencil nosed marionette who lives on the moon, as one does. 

He squiggled drawings sent in by viewers with his nose. He first appeared on television in 1959 and the show ran until 1999 making it the longest ever local TV show.
Long before Jim Henson, Hetherington created a series of puppets -the first Mr Squiggle being operated from below like Henson's puppets later were.

Norman Hetherington began life as a cartoonist and illustrator appearing in The Bulletin alongside artists like Norman Lindsay. Not every kid loved Mr Squiggle-some were terrified of him, especially when he roared off in his rocket ship back to the moon !

Gianni Versace Death Was A Mafia Hit

A new book written by a powerful Mafia godfather claims Gianni Versace, shot dead on the steps of his Miami villa was gunned down by the Mafia over debts.

 Giuseppe Di Bella, a former member of the Calabrian Mafia known as the 'Ndrangheta, says in his book "Metastasis" (Italian for 'a spreading cancer') a hit was ordered on Versace who Di Bella claims was laundering money for the mob. 

He says: ‘There were rivers of money from drugs, extortion, protection rackets, loan sharking, mountains of money and it had to be made clean. Bars, restaurants, property and luxury goods were used but also clean businesses like that of Versace.'

The Ndrangheta clan were lesser known than other Mafia groups but are said to have been extremely powerful and intricately linked with the South American drug cartels and ran operations to launder billions of dollars in drug money. Di Bella says the Versace empire was used by the 'Ndrangheta to launder funds to the tune of $200M a year .

He also claimed the ’Ndrangheta plotted to steal Versace’s ashes on New Year’s Eve in 1997 but it was never carried out.

The Versace family are denying the claims but  the anti-Mafia department in Rome said it had opened a case to investigate the claims.

In his international best-seller Gomorrah, journalist Roberto Saviano who now lives under 24-hour police  protection documented the violence of the Naples and Calabrian ’Ndrangheta, which he said  is considered by many experts to be the wealthiest and most feared of the Italian Mafia.

   

It is characterised by secretive blood ties and a vast global network with an estimated annual turnover of more than $70 billion. Its international branches are in many western countries including Germany and Australia.

Will Jackie Weaver win an Academy Award ?

The small independent film Animal Kingdom is already a runaway success and looks like winning some Oscars if the latest awards from the prestige National Board of Review in the USA are anything to go by. These awards are a good indication of how voting will go in the Academy Awards.

The movie has won best Independent Film and a star of the film, Jackie Weaver (right)  has won Best Supporting Actress in her role as the matriach of a blue collar crime family in the locally made drama that has already won a swag of AFI Awards.

The Social Network, the drama based on facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has picked up the Best Film with director David Fincher picking up the  gong for direction and Jesse Eisenberg getting Best Actor for his role as Zuckerberg.

And the documentary about Social Shuttle favourite Joan Rivers has come in amongst the top five !

Seeking Out Desperate Housewives !

There is an old maxim amongst Sydneysider socialites-"do not cross the bridge, do not go north", in reference to the leafier suburbs over the Harbour Bridge and along the North Shore where lay endless suburbs of impressive million dollar McMansions but little in the way of entertainment.

Sharon Sargeant joins the Desperate Housewives

With that in mind, the Shuttle sent one of it's more naive operatives into the far reaches of the mysterious southern suburbs of which we know little, in the search of Desperate Housewives.

 Our man in the field found them-at a charming little inlet nestled by the Georges River in Como and at of all places, a Thai restaurant.

100 locals and some from further afield had gathered to see (as our mole reports) a fab show of entertainment by 2 multi-Mo Award ( they're the gongs for live entertainment) winning performers, Krissy Stanley and Lizzie Taylor.

These 2 sing up a perfect storm with an endless patter of wit and anecdotes. Our chap was particularly taken with their impressions of Elaine Page and Susan Boyle complete with coughing fit as seen on Oprah Winfrey ( a report soon on the extraordinary security arrangements for Oprah's Oz tour-bigger then George W. Bush and Bill Clinton).

But there was more. An amazing medley from Ms Taylor as Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey and Cher had the crowd leaping to their feet to roar approval. Apparently the best impressions they have ever seen.

If you aren't as adventurous as our office boy doubling as a seasoned hack, in  early 2011 the Desperate Housewives are bringing their show to ritzy Double Bay which is in desperate need of their talents, having lost most of it's nightlife now that the Ritz Carlton Hotel has closed.

We'll bring you dates and all the info as it comes to hand.

Bono, A Love Match and Son of Christian the Lion

They've been spotted around town arm in arm several times now and it's official- they are an item.

Glen Marie Frost and John Rendall of Christian the Lion fame. Glen-Marie is one of the most powerful PRs in the country and a political fixer.

 Rendall recently found fame when old footage of he and his partner Anthony Ace Bourke being greeted by a lion in Africa received 50M hits on youtube after someone put schmaltzy music to it. Before that he was-as the Londoner's Diary on the UK Evening Standard newspaper called him, "an Australian socialite" living in London.

Both have been married twice before. Glen Marie to 2 high flying businessmen .Rendall was once married to top London PR Liz Brewer. Aussie viewers will have seen her in the local Ladette's To Lady where she introduces the rough and ready local gels to the cream of London society- a retired Major, a used car dealer, some young Hooray Henrys from a minor public school and Lady Colin Campbell, an aristocrat with a startling deep voice.



At Nic Cerrone's- Kerrie Ann Kennerley and John Rendall .



Our new lovers were at the diamonds launch at top jeweller Nic Cerrone's lavish boutique in Martin Place last Thursday. And again today at the Black & White Committee's charity lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel where Rendall treated the guests to a (thankfully) short slide show on Christian.



 Carmela & Nic Cerrone



John has just returned from Kenya where he hosted a safari. He says on the last day he and the group were trekking in the George Adamson Wildlife Reserve when they found an abandoned lion cub on the spot where Christan lived out his last days.
John's having the lion cub DNA tested to see if it is related to Christian!.

                                         

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Singer Bono flicked a switch last night to bathe the Sydney Opera House in red lights for the launch of World AIDs Day. Accompanying him were NSW premier Kristina Keneally and Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Bono quipped that he felt like the "third member of Charlie's Angels".



Julia Gillard, Kristina Keneally, Bono



He leads the charge over the next 2 months that will see an influx Down Under of celebrities . Oprah Winfrey arrives on the 10th of December for at least 2 weeks accompanied by John Travolta. Nicole Kidman and hubby fly in to appear on Oprah's show with Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman.

Golfer Greg Norman is in town to play golf and threw a bash last night at the Astral Bar at Star City while in Melbourne Jay Z & Beyonce went ten-pin bowling.



George Michael arrives soon for summer. Actor John Malkovich arrives at the end of December to appear at the Sydney Festival and expatriate True Blood star Ryan Kwanten flew in yesterday to attend the GQ Man of The Year Awards.



Germaine Greer's Bra, Alice Springs and the Paparazzo

iIt was one of the tales told at the memorial service for the late photographer Peter Carrette who died suddenly last Sunday of a heart attack.

At least 400 gathered at the Bondi Pavilion on a sunny Friday-Carrette loved Bondi-to mourn the loss of the "grandfather" of the paparazzi.

Carrette , Germaine Greer and actor Jack Thompson were in Alice Springs to do a story about the local Aboriginals and had decided to camp overnight by a river. Peter awoke in the morning to find Germaine washing her bra and smalls in the river. He took some snaps that later ended up in a magazine. She never spoke to him again.

Singer Normie Rowe, broadcaster Holga Brockmann, actors Michael Caton and Jack Thompson-all got up to speak movingly as they recalled their good friend.
Holga spoke of Carrette's bold move in getting into Grenada in a hired smuggler's boat to greet  the invading US Army ahead of the world's media waiting in Barbados for official US Army transport.



TV host Mike Munro

 General Norman Schwarzkopf, leading the US troops assumed Carrette was the official army photographer and gave him carte blanch, earning Peter 2 Time Magazine front covers and the best world wide coverage of the war.

Caton spoke of the time Carrette was captured by Nicaraguan guerrillas and forced to photograph executions-"to show the outside world" how determined they were. 



Glen A.Baker & Normie Rowe

 Jack Thompson, unable to hold back flowing tears spoke of Carrette's devotion to the  Krousar Thmey Orphanage that he and Peter set up in Cambodia which has grown to a dozen homes and which both have almost raised a million dollars to keep going.

His 85 year old mother Gladys, unable to travel from her home in Epping in the UK had Thompson read out Peter's favourite poem that he had learnt by heart as a child-Rudyard Kipling's 'If' and Pete's daughter Madison sang the 'happy birthday' song she wrote for him when she was 12 years old.

It was a send-off Peter Carrette would have loved-good friends, celebrities, the media, a few curious gatecrashers followed by  lots of drinking later at the Bondi  RSL Club !

You can donate to the First Cambodian Foundation ( Krousar Thmey)  assisting deprived children here !

Vale The Bumbling Leslie Nielsen

The Canadian born actor Leslie Nielsen died today at age 84. The Social Shuttle worked twice with the actor when he visited Sydney and Melbourne on promotional trips. In 1998 and 2001.

Our photograph shows Nielsen with Meatloaf at a party thrown by Pepsi Cola at the Sydney Intercontinental Hotel.

When we took our snap Nielsen wheeled around with his arm in the air to illustrate a point to Meatloaf  and clipped a passing waiter with a tray of drinks. The waiter's tray flew in the air and the drinks and glasses crashed to the floor.

As the waiter temporarily tried to steady the tray he lost his balance and slipped, went down and landed on his backside.

Nielsen , now wide-eyed turned to look at the fallen waiter, bent down to help but then straightened up as 2 guests went to the waiter's aid. As Nielsen stood up he threw his arms in the air in a sort of "well I don't what happened ?" gesture and clipped another waiter with a tray of hourves dourves which went flying.

Nielsen grabbed Meatloaf's arm and said "let's got to the bar !".

He was a charming man and always a gentleman. His wife Barbaree was a joy to be around. Later we found out he slipped both waiters $100 each.

Quentin Crisp Lives!...in time for the Equal Love March !

Victor Zammit (left) is an Australian lawyer who is also a Spiritualist who attends regular seances and publishes a website AfterLife Evidence with news direct from the other side.

Zammit gets into regular biffo  with the sceptic magician James Randi. Both offer million dollar prizes-Randi's for  anyone who can produce definitive proof of an afterlife while Victor offers likewise for anyone who can prove there is no afterlife. No-one has yet claimed either prize.

Now Zammit has published an extraordinary story-a tale of a seance he recently attended where the Stately Homo Quentin Crisp speaks during the seance with some comforting words for gays & lesbians (and presumably trans genders) just in time for today's Equal Love march and demonstration in Sydney to support Same Sex Marriage.

In Quentin's own words:

"One of the reasons that I come through is to prove that even homosexuals live beyond death... It proves that the Catholics are speaking out from where the sun doesn't shine. Why, pray, would you not live beyond death because you're homosexual. There's lots of ignoramuses ..."

Quentin sounds slightly odd in this recording from the seance. But so would you if you passed away in Chorley-cum-Hardy in Manchester and woke in a suburban Sydney living room to find yourself chatting via a gentleman with a taped mouth and roped to a chair ..listen for yourself :

Perhaps pop impresario Simon Napier-Bell can put these words to music as he did with this 2008 recording (9 years after Crisp died)- Quentin's disco song Velvet Summer Nights:

The Strange Case of Monte's Roller



The Rolls in happier days



It was one of only three imported into  Australia. A 1972 Rolls Royce Corniche with coach work by the exclusive British firm Mulliner Park Ward. Purchased new by the noted private investigator Frank Monte when he topped the world record for tracking down errant spouses when the majority of gumshoe work involved divorce cases. With it's sleek blue lines and dark windows it was an impressive sight around the streets of Sydney.



Monte sold it on for a more nimble Ferrari which he shipped to the USA when he set up office in New York.

That was also a rare sight around the boulevards of the Big Apple, so much so that he was once bailed up by actor Nicholas Cage who offered to buy it from him on the spot.

But back to that Rolls Royce. It's been sitting in the Cross Street car park in smart Double Bay for well over 6 months, covered in dust and unregistered. A sad end for a car that can still command a price of up to $80,000.

In it's present state it's become the subject of local gossip. No-one knows who owns it and it can't be moved by the car park owner without the owner's permission. Monte himself is not interested in it's fate. He's shopping around for a more sedate BMW.

exclusive: HRH Prince William's Praise For Ian Thorpe

To one of Sydney's best restaurants, Bennelong at the Opera House. A black tie dinner to celebrate one of the world's greatest sportsmen, swimmer Ian Thorpe's tenth year of charity work.

Michelle Catelam,Mark Jason, Christa Billich

Ian's Fountain For Youth does superb work for disadvantaged Indigenous and Torres Straight Islander children. Naturally his good pal Cathy Freeman was on hand to celebrate with Thorpie along with NSW's highly popular Governor Marie Bashir and the Thorpedo's mentor , broadcaster Alan Jones.

Alan Jones, Geoff & Belinda Griff

But the surprise for the evening-a video taped message of congratulations and best wishes from the newly engaged Royal, HRH Prince William. ( or Prince Williams as the TV monitor display read !).



the only way to welcome guests !



Thorpie not only loves his charity work with Aboriginal kids, he gets things done. Visit the website and donate if you can. In his words :

"Visiting Aboriginal people, in their homes, their communities, on their land, has allowed me to listen and given me some idea of the problems that Aboriginal people face.

I listened to the concerns of mothers and fathers for the betterment of their children. This unwavering strength, in the face of social injustice. Within these communities I witness poverty, despair and pain…. but I also see hope….hope from those men and woman who want more for their children."

exclusive : Police Called In After Paparazzo Death



Peter Carrette



Michael Caton

Following our story about the sudden death of well known paparazzo Peter Carrette, the Shuttle hears that police have now been called in to investigate.

Carrette, one of Australia's most experienced and well liked snappers was found slumped over his computer work station on Monday morning. It is believed he died on Sunday evening.

Jack Thompson

Carrette's body was removed on Monday afternoon with a number of paparazzi forming a guard of honour as his coffin was carried from his beachfront flat in Bondi Beach. Later that evening several of those photographers noticed flickering lights coming from the window of that flat and what appeared to be a figure moving about the rooms.

Police were called and attended but no-one was found in the apartment. Carrette had tens of thousands of dollars worth of expensive camera equipment and police are now investigating to see if anything is missing.

On Friday a memorial service is being held for Carrette at the Bondi Pavilion. Two of his best pals, actors Jack Thompson and Michael Caton are expected to give eulogies.

Mrs Lachlan Murdoch Sacks The Firm !

It was gaffe that was seen by a relatively small audience by Foxtel's cable TV standards- around 180,000 viewers on the night.

Sarah Murdoch, the gorgeous supermodel wife of Lachlan Murdoch  (son of Rupert Murdoch) announced the wrong winner of the Australia's Next Top Model contest. Youngster Amanda Ware won the title-Mrs Murdoch announced the winner as Kelsey Martinovich who was actually the runner-up.

Kelsey received a $25,000 consolation prize while the clip of Sarah's mistake went viral around the world.

When the Shuttle revealed the story on the 29th October we speculated that "at least the boss can't fire her". Particularly as husband Lachlan Murdoch and dad-in-law Rupert own a controlling swag of shares in the Foxtel network.

Sarah did one better. She sacked the production company Granada Media Australia who produced Australia's Next Top Model and hired a new firm Shine TV which happens to be owned by Sarah's sister-in-law Elisabeth Murdoch. Keeping it in the family, as one does.

Meanwhile Sarah's husband Lachlan and his partner James Packer who have purchased 17% of the Ten Network have hit a stumbling block with a new player in the game.



Bob Brown



Australia's richest woman , the billionaire Gina Rinehart has snapped up 10% of Ten which may put the mockers on Lachlan & Jame's ambitions to control the network.

And Bob Brown, leader of The Australian Greens has announced a whole raft of policies to diversify Australia's media and  says he will introduce legislation into Parliament to keep all sports broadcast on free-to-air television.

Rupert Murdoch, currently attempting to wrestle control of the UK network BSkyB also wants more sports broadcasts for the Foxtel Network and is currently lobbying the Labor Government to make that happen.

The Greens  hold 9 seats in the Senate- the balance of power-and Labor will have to do some  heavy horse trading if they want to get any of their own policies past them in the Upper House.



Elisabeth Murdoch & Matthew Freud

 Rupert described the party as "those bloody Greens" in a speech in October and his newspaper The Australian in a bizarre editorial threatened to "destroy the Greens".

Perhaps it's time to call on the assistance of his son-in-law Matthew Freud, (currently in Oz with wife Elisabeth) who has been described as 'Britain's most powerful public relations expert".

Marianne Faithful's Nemesis Photographer Dies

One of Australia's most popular photographers Peter Carrette has died of a heart attack.

 Regarded as the gentleman of the paparazzi, London born Carrette first came to prominence when he photographed Marianne Faithful in a drug coma in her hospital bed in 1969.

Faithful had travelled to Australia with Mick Jagger who was to star in a film about Ned Kelly. She had over-dosed after it was claimed she had discovered Jagger in bed with another woman.

Carrette borrowed a white doctor's coat and stethoscope and sneaked into Faithful's room, took the photo that was flashed around the world as one of the first examples of intrusive photography. Earlier this year when Faithful was in town for an arts festival, she told the Shuttle she'd still like to give the snapper a "quick boot in the backside". However she conceded she had forgiven him.

After studying photography in London, Carrette travelled to Sydney and snared a job as Sir Frank Packer's copy boy when the media mogul owned the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Once established, he worked for various publications photographing news stories. He gatecrashed the US invasion of Grenada by hiring a smuggler's boat while the world's media waited for official transport in Barbados, worked in New York for 6 years and  photographed  for Vogue in Paris for 2.

More recently he and another photographer squirted the actor Heath Ledger with water pistols at a Sydney film premiere-again in an action where the film of a startled Ledger was flashed around the world. Briefly banned by film companies from red carpet premieres, Carrette later made peace with Ledger shortly before he died in New York.

Carrette also supported an orphanage in Cambodia by donating the fees received from his exclusive candid photos of celebrities often taken around the beach at Bondi.

 For the past few years Carrette had been running his own studio and photo distribution service from a Bondi flat where he had lived for the past 20 years. The flat is owned by his good friend , the actor Jack Thompson.

Carrette was concentrating on studio portraits and had just completed a series of studio shots of Danni Minogue when he died suddenly on Sunday evening from heart failure while working at his computer.

Oprah's Tour- Bigger Than Ben Hur



Lachlan & Sarah Murdoch



Not content with recording several shows at the Sydney Opera House  and taking the country by storm, Oprah Winfrey and her 300 American pals being bussed into town by John Travolta will also be the honoured guests at a concert to re-launch the Star City Casino on December 15th which will headline a number of international acts.

Jon Bon Jovi, U2 and Bob Geldorf will perform in a private concert for 1500 invited guests that will include Winfrey, Cate Blanchett, Nicolle Kidman and Keith Urban, Hugh Jackman, Lachlan Murdoch and wife Sarah and James and Ercia Packer.

When Star City originally opened around 15 years ago the opening act was Diana Ross. Now with a an $800 million dollar re-fit, the venue plans to be the premier gambling saloon in the Southern Hemisphere.

Oprah Winfrey Does The Crocodile Rock

As the Social Shuttle exclusively reported on the 10th October, Oprah Winfrey in the Greatest Journey Ever Taken will be holidaying on Hamilton Island and has booked the penthouse for 2 days.

  Oprah treats her entire staff from the show to an annual all expenses paid vacation but doesn't always join them, or if she does, often stays in a different hotel. Hamilton also has it's own zoo with lot's of local animals which Oprah is sure to visit.

Now news has reached us of another adventure for the 300 lucky Americans who will be flown to Sydney courtesy of a (fully functioning ) Qantas jet with Hollywood star John Travolta at the joystick.

Step forward little Bindi Irwin and her Australia Zoo.  Bindi has won the hearts of  American TV viewers and looks like being an even bigger star than her dad, the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. She regularly hosts shows at the zoo along with her little brother Bob who was once dangled as baby by his dad over a pit of snapping crocodiles.

Some of the American troupe will be visiting and filming at the Zoo in Beerwaq Queensland and Bindi will be interviewed by Oprah on her Opera House show along with possibly her  mother and little brother,

One of Oprah's former favourites who will not be featured is the gardening guru Jamie Durie. While Durie who appeared on many Oprah shows and Winfrey remain friends-the Shuttle was at a James Durie furniture launch when the great woman phoned through to congratulate him-he hosts a US version of his Outdoor Room on the HGTV cable station, a direct competitor to Oprah's new OWN network that begins in 2011.