"Backwater" debates major uranium issue

Adelaide is a medium-sized Australian city, although we are all reeling at the moment from neighbouring Premier of Victoria, Steve Brumby’s, off-hand assertion that Adelaide is a “backwater”.

To be quite honest, it can be a bit of a village at times, none more so than when the razor sharp team of Matt Abraham and David Bevan rules the morning airwaves on ABC Radio 891.

With ascerbic wit and not a little arrogance, they grill local politicians on parish pump events, and have won media awards for their irreverent radio journalism.

Last Monday, being a national holiday for settler values (Invasion Day celebrates the beginning of the British unsettlement of indigenous societies), Matt and Dave championed the cause of State Liberal Opposition member Duncan McFettridge, who took a swipe at Tour Down Under, describing it as a second class cycling event.

They then spoke to event organizer Mike Turtur, a former champion cyclist, who rather uncharacteristically for the refined citizenry of our fair city, accused them of being “bread and butter journalists” who, like McFettridge, had no understanding of the sport they were denigrating.

In high dudgeon, Bevan squeaked about the duty of journalists, and how they had to ask the important questions of the day for the benefit of the citizenry.

All well and good, I thought, remembering that a later segment in their morning show was “The Two Chrises”, a regular feature during which Liberal Party Federal MP and classic silver spooner Christopher Pyne, and former Australian Labor Party Federal Minister Chris Schacht (“That bloody multi-millionaire,” said a Labor Party staffer to me only the day before!), face off and discuss issues from the viewpoints of their respective parties.

Now, given that Schacht had been named a Director of Arkaroola Wreckers Inc., aka uranium miner Marathon Resources, I thought that here was an issue Matt and Dave would surely go to town on.

After all, if a bike race could spark such venom and occupy so much of the lads’ morning on air, surely the good ALP heavy’s outing as a key player in plans to wreck SA’s premier tourism and wilderness icon would be compelling listening.

So I started listening.

And I listened.

And I waited and listened.

And I started pacing the room and waiting and listening.

Finally, after 23 minutes of drivel between Matt and Dave on the one hand, and C1 (as Schacht is known) and C2 (Pyne) on the other, the great issue was finally broached.

Now, I’ve done a transcript, and it covers a mere few minutes, because that’s all the time such a topic apparently warrants, but note how the intrepid journalistic duo rip into Schacht, how they nail him for his part in changing his party’s “no new (uranium) mines” policy, how they relentlessly confront him with the fragility of Arkaroola’s arid ecosystem, how they destroy him over the survival of the yellow-footed rock wallaby which has been painstakingly nursed back from extinction…..NOT!

Oh well, look at how Pyne daringly seizes the opportunity to support State Liberal Iaian Evans who is putting up a private member’s Bill to stop mining at Arkaroola, and Federal Liberal heavyweight Nick Minchin who has said that he “could not possibly imagine why anyone would ever want to allow mining there…..NOT!

This is a big city’s radio journalism as it’s best:

M: Chris Schacht, we haven’t discussed uranium today, there’ve been a lot of other things bubbling along, but you...have been a lobbyist, yes, and we’ve mentioned that before…

C1: Slurred it

M: ……for Marathon

C1: Yes, for Marathon Resources…

M:…and you’ve now been moved to Business Class, you’re now on the Board…

C1: They invited me in the last… they invited me and I accepted to join the Board of Marathon Resources on Thursday of last week, so as a director of a publicly listed company I accept all the responsibilities under the law of what a director has to do, the fiduciary responsibility and the governance issues…er…about it, and I…

M: Any you’re a little bit squeamish about, well..um at the moment they’re being looked at, and I know there is an enquiry going on about the apparent burial of core samples in a fairly environmentally fragile area…

C1: Well, I’m not, er…the spokesman for the company on that, there is a, the Chairman is the spokesman for the company on this issue, but I’ve just said on the public record that as a Director of the company I will always do everything I can to ensure the company’s activities are always in accordance with all the regulations, State and Federal and local government, and that’s because that’s what I’m required as a Director to do, and…er…it would be stupid of me to do anything else, because then I would be in breach of the Government’s arrangements, so the fact that the issue is being…er…er…Marathon, that issue is being discussed with the Government, they are putting a number of issues to us which are now being thoroughly and absolutely investigated by the company, and…er…it will be publicly announced from time to time in the debate as a public company, and I noticed someone last week suggested on your program that maybe I should retire from being C1…

C2: I think there are some people who’ve being trying to get you off this program since you got on it…

C1: got onto it,..and someone from…so…

M: There’s been a bit of a campaign being

C1: …a bit of a campaign being run…

M: …a subterranean campaign

C1:…a subterranean campaign…

M: But you’ve got so many friends, you do (gently sarcastic)

C1: I do…

C2:..actually that should be Scachty no friends and Payney no friends

M: or maybe its C1 and C2 no friends (laughter all around), there could be a little book in that

C1: I think there might be jealousy on some parts of people because we’ve lasted for four and a half years on this program…

C2: It’s our fifth year…

C1:…our fifth year

M: Oh, I think there’s sometimes fear of opinion…

C1: And the other thing is, even though Chris is a bit more constrained because he’s a sitting Liberal member, I’m not constrained as much because although I’m a member of the Labor Party and I always want the Labor Party to win, I can from time to time own up and say I think the Labor Party could have done better on that issue and I know that may upset some people in the Labor Party, but I think if you’re automatically a propagandist …

C2: While you are being so non-partisan, could you stop campaigning against me in my seat on election day (general laughter)…that would be really good

C1: Well, that was…well Lea was such an outstanding...

C2: Now I know I’m your only friend…(laughter from Matt)

C1 : …that was…now by the way…

C2: …I’m surprised to know you were campaigning so hard against me

C1:…do you know that you areI think now in the one per cent range of marginal seats…

C2: I know exactly where I am…(Matt laughing)

C1;…er for the next election so..er…

C2: Don’t you worry about that

C1: don’t you worry about that…

C2: I’m keeping a very close eye on that

C1: But thank you for the opportunity to declare that interest

D: Well, that’s just what we do

C1: …and that’s absolutely correct and I again say I support what Rudd has announced

D: Well you’ve now got Nick Minchin on, he’s opposed to you.

C1: Nick Minchin’s campaigning against the Marathon Resources up in the Flinders Ranges which is a bit bemusing in a way, because where Nick has been,

D: So maybe Chris Pyne…

C1:…so maybe Chris Pyne will support me because it’s just a factional brawl that they’re going to have, but I..er..I just want to say I support what Rudd has announced about having a public register of lobbyists, or whatever you want to call it, at the federal level…

M: …and we’re waiting for the one here…

C1: …and I support it at the State level. By the way, I don’t spend much of my time as a lobbyist, but there are a couple of jobs I’ve done…

M: Well, you’re wearing a Volleyball Australia t-shirt

C1:.. not your proper organization…

C2 Aren’t we still waiting for our anti-corruption commission here as well?

C1: By the way, the 25th to the 30th March, don’t forget once of the biggest international sporting events will be at Glenelg Beach, the international volleyball competition……….