Julie Trethowan Packer

1. Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon. The Packer family company owned a controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later merged to form Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). Outside Australia, Packer was best known for.
2. 22, Packer conducted extra-marital affairs with a number of women including the model Carol Lopes—who reportedly committed suicide after being shunned by Packer—publisher and former ConPress employee Ita Buttrose, and Julie Trethowan, his long-time mistress and manager (from 1983) of the Packer-owned Sydney city health and fitness club, the Hyde Park Club.

4. How Howard has churned through 32 Ministers
By Stephen Mayne
The departure of three more ministers and the forthcoming tenth anniversary of the Howard Government poses an interesting question – just how many former Ministers are there and do they out-number the current 30?
Well, we've managed to come up with 32 former Howard ministers as follows:
Richard Alston, John Anderson, Larry Anthony, Brownyn Bishop, John Fahey, Tim Fischer, John Herron, Robert Hill, Jackie Kelly, De-Anne Kelly, David Kemp, David Jull, Ian McDonald, Ian McLachlan, John Moore, Judi Moylan, Jocelyn Newman, Warwick Parer, Kay Patterson, Geoff Prosser, Peter Reith, Bruce Scott, John Sharp, Jim Short, Warwick Smith, Alex Somlyay, Andrew Thompson, Warren Truss, Wilson Tuckey, Danna Vale, Darryl Williams, Michael Wooldridge.
This shows a good deal of turnover at the top, which doesn't really matter if the incoming talent is better than those who depart. The first Hawke ministry was said to be the best in 13 years of Labor due to the presence of people like Peter Walsh, Lionel Bowen, Neal Blewett and Bill Hayden.
The decision to leave Malcolm Turnbull and Andrew Robb out of the Ministry means it has probably gone backwards and is now arguably the weakest Howard team we've seen in ten years, albeit with a competent and entrenched team at the top. Labor had a little bit more continuity overall, although not in the three key posts of Prime Minister, Treasurer and Foreign Ministers where there has been no change for the Howard Government.
The only uninterrupted ministerial survivors from the first Howard Ministry are John Howard, Peter Costello, Philip Ruddock and Alexander Downer, whereas after ten years, the previous Labor administration could claim Kim Beazley, Gareth Evans, John Button, Brian Howe and John Dawkins in the same category.
After ten years in office, Labor had probably not churned through 32 Ministers like John Howard, although we have come up with 30 names after 13 years and we might have missed a couple:
Neal Blewett, Lionel Bowen, John Brown, Robert Brown, John Button, Barry Cohen, John Dawkins, Michael Duffy, Wendy Fatin, Arthur Gietzelt, Don Grimes, Alan Griffiths, Bob Hawke, Clyde Holding, Ben Humphries, Chris Hurford, Barry Jones, Ros Kelly, John Kerin, Peter Morris, Gary Punch, Graham Richardson, Susan Ryan, Gordon Scholes, David Simmons, Peter Staples, Tom Uren, Peter Walsh, Stewart West, Mick Young.
If you fancy checking the numbers, Wikipedia has kindly listed the first Hawke Ministry, third Hawke Ministry, first Keating Ministry and second Keating Ministry along with the first, second, third and fourth Howard ministries.
19. Going over the top for Kerry Packer
By Stephen Mayne
John Howard is leaving no stone unturned in continuing to ingratiate himself with the Packer family, but does anyone else think the extravaganza planned for the Opera House on February 17 is going way over the top? That was certainly the sentiment that came through from calls and SMS messages when 774 ABC Melbourne's Jon Faine had Channel Nine Melbourne's news director Michael Venus in his media hotseat this morning.
Venus straight-batted questions about whether Packer's mistress, Julie Trethowan, should be invited and also said that any complaints about the taxpayer-funded memorial service should be directed at John Howard as it was his idea – he called Ros Packer with the offer shortly after Kerry's death.
Indeed, Crikey understands that NSW Premier Morris Iemma declined to offer a state-funded funeral, clearly sniffing the breeze about a public backlash against a Labor Premier with a budget problem spending public funds on the richest bloke in Australia who openly gloated that he minimised his taxes and had his ultimate private holding companies based in The Bahamas.
None of that stopped John Howard from coming to the rescue and he even confided to The Bulletin that he used to share a meal with Kerry about once every six months, usually at the Big Fella's home.
John Howard is exactly the sort of boring bloke that Kerry Packer would normally despise, but their shared interests have been laid out for all to see – Packer publicly backed John Howard before each of his four election victories and Howard has produced media policies that helped build his $7 billion fortune.
For an intensely private man who was buried at his Hunter Valley property Ellerston with just immediate family present, the excessive nature of the celebration is quite extraordinary and now includes the following:
* a 100-page special tribute edition of The Bulletin which is now the biggest selling edition of the magazine in 25 years
* 20 pages of tribute in the February edition of The Australian Women's Weekly
* a two-hour state-funded memorial service to be broadcast live on Channel Nine on February 17
* a one-hour uninterrupted documentary on Channel Nine around the time of the state funeral
The scale of the broadcasting challenge for the memorial service is such that outgoing Channel Nine boss Sam Chisholm has been ringing around the other networks asking to borrow some cameras on the day.
It sounds like it is being designed to go international, especially to places like England and India where the World Series Cricket revolution raised Kerry Packer's public profile like nothing else could. Indeed, Michael Venus said this morning that orders for The Bulletin's tribute issue are 'flooding in from all over the world'.
There is no doubting the intense public interest in Kerry Packer's life, but John Howard might yet come to regret spending hundreds of thousands of federal funds on this memorial service. Don't be surprised if the Packer family ends up making some sort of federal donation that more than covers the cost.
20. The Weekly's tribute to KP
By Stephen Mayne
When James Packer married Jodhi Meares in October 1999, the entire cover and subsequent 17 pages of the November 1999 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly were devoted to exclusive pictures and coverage of the $10 million extravaganza at the family's $25 million Cairnton compound. The over-the-top coverage began as follows:

Julie Trethowan - was with him for almost 20 years until his death at the age Packer called the manager of the casino over and demanded the croupier be fired. World Series Cricket (WSC) was professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organized by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network.A break.

Glamorous, exotic and breathtaking in its beauty...that's how guests described the marriage on Saturday, October 23, of James Packer and Jodhi Meares. From the twinkling of 250,000 fairy lights and dancing lanterns over the entrance to the heady scent of tiger lilies (the bride's favourite flower) and urns brimming with lilies, roses and orchids of every hue, romance ruled the night.
Not even a Sydney downpour could dampen the mood of the bridal couple and 650 guests, including the Prime Minister, John Howard, and wall-to-wall celebrities who gathered at the Packer family's magnificent Bellevue Hill estate for the party to end all parties.

Fast forward more than six years and The Weekly devoted 20 pages to its Kerry Packer tribute but he did not displace Oprah from the cover, nor the 11 pages of beauty ads which traditionally follow. The Weekly used former 60 Minutes reporter Tracey Curro to produce the obituary to accompany the photos provided by Ros and Gretel Packer for the February edition that went on sale this morning.
Curro, who has been guest presenting on 774 ABC Melbourne in recent months, produced a fairly straight account of Packer's life, which was far less gushing than the three-page tribute that editor Deborah Thomas wrote.
Indeed, Curro produced something that I hadn't seen before in all the forests of coverage: 'A robust young man, he gave up drinking in 1956 after he was involved in a car accident on the Hume Highway near Goulburn, 1956, in which another person died.'
Despite all the pre-publicity, there were no words from Packer's widow Ros who presumably is most upset about recent revelations of Kerry's generosity in gifting more than $10 million in assets to his long-time mistress, Julie Trethowan.
Daughter Gretel essentially provided extended captions to accompany the range of interesting photos from the family albums but she was not interviewed on-the-record by Curro.
This means we still haven't heard from either Ros or James Packer and both are debating whether to co-operate with the Channel Nine documentary. James Packer is expected to speak at the memorial service on February 17, but this is not the same as being subjected to an interview by Graham Davis, a normally aggressive reporter for Sunday, who is doing the interviews for the Nine documentary.
There really is something strangely paradoxical about the Packer empire going so over the top in their tributes to Kerry Packer, while immediate family members decline to co-operate or speak publicly in anything but the most controlled or limited way.
25. David Gonski - the busiest man in Australia
By Stephen Mayne
David Gonski has emerged as the second executor of Kerry Packer's estate, which confirms his status as one of the best-connected men in Australia. He's also arguably the most over-committed man in Australia. How's this for a line-up up responsibilities at the moment:
Chairman, Coca Cola Amatil
Chairman, Australia Council
Chairman, NIDA
President, NSW Art Gallery
Chancellor, University of NSW
Director, ANZ
Director, Investec
Director, ING Group
Director, Westfield
Co-executor, Estate of Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer
Gonski was also Packer's best mate on the Fairfax board until he resigned last year and it was the Gonski-led Westfield faction on the Fairfax board who pushed for Fred Hilmer's appointment as chief executive of the publisher in 1998.

Julie Trethowan Packer Game

He's certainly loyal to his mates, because when Gonski was elected chancellor of the University of NSW in May 2005 he continued to look after Hilmer with his recent appointment as vice-chancellor of UNSW, effective from June this year.
There was only a three month gap between Gonski taking the reins at UNSW and the Hilmer appointment, but the university insists it came 'after an extensive search and selection process'.
There are some interesting parallels between Gonski and ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel, who have both had to deal with conflict of interest claims over the years. Both made a fortune as well-connected lawyers and then investment bankers in the 1980s and early 1990s who then became professional directors and dedicated themselves to public service. Both are Jewish, incredibly bright and closely associated with the Liberal cause.
Gonski is very cosy with the two richest blokes in Sydney and his executor role on the Packer estate demonstrates this point. However, don't expect Graeme Samuel to be executor of the biggest estate in Melbourne, Dick Pratt, given that the ACCC is throwing the book at the packaging billionaire over cartel allegations.
30. Want to be in parliament? Why not try the mayoral route
By Stephen Mayne
The whole Crikey adventure has thrown up a few interesting speaking gigs over the years and the open brief for next Sunday morning is no exception: spend one hour telling 40 new Victorian mayors about the challenges that lie ahead. Hmmm, what to say?
Having established the link between journalism and politics in our comprehensive lists, as preparation for this gig, we may as well do the same for local government. Journalism is one of the fastest ways into politics, especially if you only want to be a staffer, but does being a mayor or councillor make it a lot easier to break into Federal or state parliament?
Here are 11 names to get this list going:
Lyn Allison: councillor in Port Melbourne 1992-94 and now leader of the Democrats
Greg Barber: the first Green mayor in Victoria (City of Yarra) and is a Green certainty for the Victorian Upper House in the Northern Metropolitan region after this year's state election
Michael Caltabiano: elected to the Queensland State Parliament seat of Chatsworth in a by-election last year and before that was a Brisbane City Councillor for the Liberals
Michael Crutchfield: Labor member for South Barwon in Victorian Parliament, former Geelong Mayor and a former union delegate of the United Firefighters Council
Mark Latham: from Mayor of Liverpool to Federal member for Werriwa and Labor's alternative prime minister

Julie Trethowan Packer Socks

Jane Lomax-Smith: former Adelaide Lord Mayor and now Education Minister in the Rann Government
Clover Moore: councillor in Sydney and South Sydney from 1980-87 and then independent member for Bligh from 1988 and also Lord Mayor of Sydney for the past two years
Kate Reynolds: Mount Pleasant councillor and now Democrat member in the South Australian Parliament

Julie Trethowan Packer Hat

Frank Sartor: the former Lord Mayor of Sydney is now Minister for Planning in the Iemma Government
John Thwaites: South Melbourne mayor in 1991-92 and now Victorian deputy premier and Water Minister
Reginald ‘Spot' Turnbull: A former Lord Mayor of Launceston and Australia's first independent senator, plus Tasmanian Treasurer until dismissed from Parliament in 1959

Julie Trethowan Packer Coach

This list will surely finish up close with close to 100 people so send all corrections and additions to smayne@crikey.com.au and we'd also love some free advice on what to tell all these new mayors on a training weekend after last November's local government elections in Victoria.

Copyright © 2020 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

Julie Trethowan Packer Boots

Biography

Kerry Packer
By GERALD STONE

Kerry Packer has been famously described as the King Kong of media magnates. By his own admission that brutish image was not without a grain of truth. “I don’t know another way to manage people than through fear, to scare the shit out of them,” he confided to trusted friends.

Such tactics certainly applied in the first months after the death of his despotic father, Sir Frank, in May 1974. Kerry, at the age of 36, found himself in sole control of a publishing and television empire worth $100 million.

By then he had proved his prowess in the hotly competitive field of women’s magazines, championing the successful launch of Cleo, edited by Ita Buttrose. Television, however, was clearly destined to become the most lucrative of assets and Packer was poorly equipped to take charge of the Nine Network. His older brother Clyde had overseen that side of the business until his father’s constant meddling caused him to break all ties with the family. The last straw was having his star recruit, Mike Willesee, quit on the spot after Sir Frank banned an interview with union leader Bob Hawke.

Kerry would go on to spend torturous nights with little or no sleep as he tried to unravel the mysteries of the visual medium. Memory of his father dubbing him ‘the idiot son’ could hardly have helped his confidence. Others might take relief from a glass of wine or two at dinner but the youngest Packer had been a non-drinker since his teenage years, a decision traceable to his involvement in a fatal car crash. He dosed himself instead with potent prescription drugs.

So it was that his weekly meetings with senior executives from TCN 9 in Sydney and GTV 9 in Melbourne became the stuff of legend. A poor ratings report could trigger volcanic rages with phones ripped out, furniture smashed. He once hurled a cricket ball at the head of a programmer who dared to suggest cancelling a program he was fond of. Luckily, he missed.

Still, within a little more than two years of taking command Packer had come up with his own unique formula for running a successful TV network. An addictive gambler, he was prepared to bet his entire fortune on it.

Up to then, the three commercial stations were secretly bound to a keep-off-the-grass code. The advertising dollars pouring in were more than enough to ensure everyone a tidy profit, so why be overly competitive? Kerry, however, was astute enough to recognise the huge profits to flow from becoming undisputed number one in the ratings. Advertisers would happily pay a sizable premium to gain maximum exposure for their product.

The new strategy was set in motion by his key advisers in a meeting held on Wednesday 27 October 1976. As priority targets, they decided to steal the two biggest names in TV entertainment: Channel 7’s Paul Hogan and Channel 10’s midday talk show host Mike Walsh. Whatever the price, it would offer double value: attracting new audiences while damaging the competition.

Inflated contract fees turned out to be a mere fraction of the fortune spent on sport. Packer personally approached the Australian Cricket Board seeking broadcasting rights for eight times more than the ABC was paying. When conservative Board members rejected the bid, he quickly decided to launch his own version of the game.

World Series Cricket made its debut in 1977, only to be shunned by a sceptical public. The next season, however, brought the spectacle of day-night matches under powerful floodlights, attracting huge crowds. Ultimately, a secret meeting between Packer and Sir Donald Bradman, in February 1979, brought a settlement allowing the Nine Network to dominate coverage for years to come.

As Packer became more self-assured he mellowed considerably in his leadership style, giving all the encouragement he could to the executive producers directly in charge of various areas of programming. “I don’t give a fuck what it takes,” he assured them, “just do it and get it right.”

With that pledge, the technical wizardry of multi-camera coverage changed cricket virtually overnight from a polite game for gentlemen to gladiatorial combat between batsman and bowler — compulsive viewing for a new generation of devotees.

The network’s lavish entertainment specials matched any in the world. In current affairs, 60 Minutes would soon break all ratings records, sealing Packer’s quest to dominate the ad market.

On 20 January 1987 Kerry announced the sale of his Sydney and Melbourne stations to entrepreneur Alan Bond for a fabled billion dollars. That would prove to be somewhat of an exaggeration, given that the actual wording of the contract provided for a sizable loan to Bond as well. Even so, within three years the collapse of the Bond empire allowed Packer to regain control of TCN9 and GTV9, plus Brisbane’s QTQ9, at a fraction of their value.

Julie Trethowan Packers

By then, though, the internet was beginning to bite into TV ad revenues and Packer himself was debilitated by increasingly serious health issues. They included a near-fatal heart attack while playing polo in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 2000, the organ donated by his helicopter pilot, Nick Ross.

This final stage of Packer’s reign was much like a Shakespearean tragedy: a sick and aging monarch feebly trying to impose his will in a rapidly changing world. His son, James, saw the need to introduce cost-cutting measures and begin seeking other more promising investments. The conflict between them inevitably led to factional strife, sackings and resignations. Some of Nine’s most talented managers would go on to lead the Seven Network to top of the ratings.

Apart from his achievements as a media proprietor, Packer was frequently in the news for his strong views and secretive personal life. In the early 1980s he was widely rumoured to be the key suspect in a Royal Commission investigating high-level tax evasion, drug dealing, porn pedalling, even murder. The National Times newspaper, claiming inside leaks from the inquiry, used only the code name Goanna to avoid a massive libel suit. To stop the damaging gossip, legal adviser Malcolm Turnbull urged Packer to issue a strong statement denying all charges. The strategy won him great sympathy but hardly made up for the most stressful chapter in his life, bringing him close to suicide.

Ironically, Turnbull would later claim Packer actually “threatened to kill me” during an aborted bid to buy the Fairfax newspapers. The media baron, Turnbull claimed, “could be pretty scary”.

Packer was always a great admirer of Rupert Murdoch (despite having been beaten up by a band of pro-Murdoch bullyboys during the ’Wild Men’ days of the early 1960s) and he is closest to matching Murdoch in his achievements. While he remained focussed on Australia, he made sure that television news and current affairs in this country reflected the best of international standards. Meanwhile, his personal contribution to the development of cricket brought him international recognition on a level at least equal to Murdoch.

Towards the end of 2005, Packer’s donated kidney began to fail him and he decided against any further treatment. For some weeks he had been living away from his eastern suburbs Sydney home in an apartment shared with his long-time mistress, Julie Trethowan. Despite that, he held his wife Roslyn in high esteem and chose to spend his last moments in their marital home.

On 26 December, surrounded by medical staff, he rapidly slipped away under the heaviest of medication. To the dismay of all around him he suddenly awoke. “Am I still here?” he demanded. “How fucking long is this going to take?” Kerry Packer, in command to the last.

Gerald Stone is a member of the Australian Media Hall of Fame. He is best known as founding Executive Producer of 60 Minutes. He joined Channel Nine just after Kerry Packer took over and the two had a close – if often combative – professional relationship.