Economist.com Cities Guide: Sydney Briefing - July 2006Economist.com Cities Guide: Sydney Briefing - July 2006

News this month

Power struggle

A power struggle between John Howard, the prime minister, and Peter Costello, the treasurer (finance minister), rocked the government and overshadowed a meeting of the Australian cabinet in Sydney on July 11th. The unprecedented row followed press reports of a private meeting between the pair in 1994, when Mr Howard said that if he became prime minister (which he did in 1996), he would serve 1½ terms before handing over to Mr Costello. Mr Howard, who turns 67 on July 26th, is now serving his fourth.

Mr Costello, who turns 49 in August, endorsed the account. However, Mr Howard responded by accusing Mr Costello of “indulging in hubris and arrogance”, and denied any “deal”. Yet a colleague who witnessed the private meeting later released a note he had scrawled at the time, which confirmed Mr Costello’s version.

Since the conservative coalition came to power a decade ago, Messrs Howard and Costello have formed one of Australia’s most successful political partnerships. But the recent showdown reflects Mr Costello’s growing desire to lead the Liberal Party, the coalition's senior partner. With an election due next year and the government’s support slipping in recent opinion polls, pressure is rising for Mr Howard to declare whether he will fight his fifth election as leader, or make way for his deputy.

Changing hands

On July 13th Australia's government unveiled sweeping changes to the country’s media-ownership laws. According to the federal minister for communications, Helen Coonan, restrictions on foreign ownership of Australian media companies will be lifted, and laws forbidding a proprietor from owning a newspaper and a broadcasting service in the same city will be abolished. Other proposals include introducing more digital channels and giving pay-television services access to sporting events now restricted to free-to-air stations.

Media proprietors have been calling for deregulation for some time. In June Rupert Murdoch, who controls over two-thirds of Australia’s big city newspapers and is a part-owner of Foxtel, a pay-TV service, said the government should “Tear up everything, and make it an open go for everybody, otherwise leave it alone.” Given that some restrictions will remain, the government is bracing itself for further flak from the Murdoch empire. If approved by parliament, the laws could be enacted in 2007. Many think they will create a bidding war for some of the country’s prized media outlets.

A good day for Mr Jones

Critics have attacked the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for not publishing a biography of Alan Jones, a conservative radio host. Written by Chris Masters, one of the ABC's leading investigative reporters, the book was expected to paint an unflattering portrait of the popular “shock jock”. But on June 29th, the Sydney-based broadcaster said it had decided not to publish the biography “on commercial grounds”.

Observers were quick to point out that the ABC's board is hand-picked by Australia’s coalition government, which supports Mr Jones's conservative bias. A group of leading producers and broadcasters at the ABC submitted a petition claiming the decision “invites the powerful and the wealthy to believe threats can deter the ABC from producing controversial material”. Mr Masters told ABC radio on July 9th that he felt betrayed by the corporation, where he had worked for 40 years. He also pointed out that ABC Books had spent at least A$100,000 ($75,000) on legal fees connected to the biography. Allen & Unwin, another Sydney-based publisher, has since offered to publish the controversial book, which is titled “Jonestown”.

Justice for Hicks

The treatment of David Hicks, an Australian citizen who is imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, has drawn plenty of criticism lately. In June a supreme court judge, John Dowd, wrote a letter to the government, signed by 76 Australian lawyers, demanding that Mr Hicks receive a fair trial. Mr Dowd accused the government of being complicit in America’s treatment of Mr Hicks, and of failing to “fulfil its obligations under international law”. The director of public prosecutions in New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, added fuel to the fire on July 2nd, saying that Mr Hicks’s treatment was an “unprincipled disgrace” and that he should be returned to Australia.

Mr Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in 2001, where he was allegedly fighting alongside the Taliban. In 2004 the American government charged him with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and aiding the enemy (Mr Hicks denies the charges). Australia's prime minister, John Howard, has rejected calls for Mr Hicks’s repatriation, arguing he could not be tried under Australian law. Such calls have increased since America's Supreme Court recently declared the military commissions, under which Mr Hicks was to have been tried, invalid. The ruling embarrassed Mr Howard, but left him unmoved: “It is now the responsibility of the American government to fix quickly on an alternative method of trying him,” he said on June 30th.

Wine glut

There has never been a better time to throw a party in Sydney: a glut of Australian wine has sent prices plummeting. At Kemenys Food and Liquor, one of Sydney’s best independent vintners, even leading labels are being heavily discounted if bought by the case. The wine industry’s problems stem from an overplanting of grapes after a decade-long boom in which Australia’s wine consumption grew by almost 40% and wine exports almost quadrupled. Winemakers are now stuck with about 900m litres of unwanted plonk. Mark McKenzie, executive director of Wine Grape Growers Australia, an industry body, told the Australian newspaper that should things not improve, “there could be up to 40% of growers who will be in financial difficulties within the next couple of vintages.” The government recently turned down a A$60m rescue package requested by the industry.

Catch if you can

July 2006

Opera Australia's Winter Celebration

Australia's leading opera company marks its 50th birthday with a full winter season at the Sydney Opera House. The most enticing offerings include a new production of Leo Delibes' “Lakme” (pictured), in collaboration with Canada's L'Opera de Montreal, and a revival of Puccini's “Turandot”, directed and choreographed by Graeme Murphy, artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company. “La clemenza di Tito”, Mozart's final opera, will also be performed in a nod to the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

On July 23rd Opera Australia is hosting an open day at the Opera Centre, its headquarters in Surry Hills, where opera-lovers can explore the company's history and work. Then on October 11th there will be a 50th birthday concert and gala at the Opera House, attended by Dame Joan Sutherland, Australia’s most famous diva, and her husband, Richard Bonynge (who is conducting “Lakme”). Tickets are available at premium prices (up to A$850, including dinner) to help raise funds for the company. To help woo buyers, Opera Australia promises a “big surprise” for the night, leading many to speculate whether Dame Joan (who turns 80 this year) will grace the stage again.

Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. Tel: +61 (0)2 9250 7777. Opera Australia, tel: +61 (0)2 9318 8200. See the Sydney Opera House and Opera Australia websites.

More from the Sydney cultural calendar