Watercooler: Mick Molloy and the sexual slur case

Former Biggest Loser host blasts Channel 9

Ajay Rochester is not happy with Channel 9 for refusing to ‘stand behind its product’ and support the axed Excess Baggage weight loss show in which she was a contestant. The show was technically moved to its digital channel Go! but that’s industry-speak for ‘doomed’. She blogged:

“Okay, I am currently stuck on the bum’s f@ck end of Australia, Kangaroo Island, beautiful place but NO reception so we just found out that the ratings/channel say that we should move channels. Well, anyone who knows me, and who knows that I turned down $50,000 from Woman Day to say “I lied” about a certain photoshopped bikini shot that I was not responsible for (I can’t photoshop to save my life and last I checked I am not the one pressing the “go to print” button.

Come on channel nine, have some faith. Excess Baggage is a grower not a shower! Don’t flick US (our show) off onto another channel in the first week without standing behind the product you sell.  SHAME ON YOU! This is a GREAT show and has the ability to change people’s lives for the better FOREVER!

She said the show wasn’t about extreme weight loss like its rival, Biggest Loser, and that the contestants were already happier and healthier.

Government has the support to means test private health

A count of the votes sees the Government with the support it needs to bring in a means test for the private health rebate, a 30 per cent rebate introduced by John Howard. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says the measure will save $2.4 billion from the budget bottom-line over the next three years. The rebate will be phased out for singles earning more than $83,000 and stop completely for a single earning $129,000 per year. It will be reduced for couples earning more than $166,000 and end for couples earning more than $258,000. The final vote is expected in the House of Representatives next week.

Mick Molloy says sex slur was only a joke in appeal

Comedian Mick Molloy is appealing a court’s ruling that found he defamed the wife of former Adelaide Crows coach Graham Cornes. Nicole Cornes won $93,000 in damages last year when the South Australian Supreme Court found she was defamed by insinuations she had slept with a former AFL player. Molloy made the comment on Network Ten’s Before The Game football show in 2008. But his lawyers say a joke is a joke and ‘ordinary’ Australians don’t get to ‘intellectualise’ about the meaning implied.

Confusing last names bad for work prospects

That’s the conclusion of researchers out of Melbourne who say people with hard-to-pronounce surnames are often overlooked in the world of business and employment. Lead author Dr Simon Laham, from Melbourne University’s School of Psychological Sciences, said easy-to-pronounce names were generally judged more positively. “The effect is not due merely to the length of a name, or how foreign-sounding or unusual it is, but rather how easy it is to pronounce,” said Dr Laham, who worked with scientists from New York and Belgium. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and compared dozens of apparently very easy and very difficult names to rate the effect they had on job or even classroom prospects. But how bad can it be? We’ve got a Hirschowitz in charge over here. Of course, odd-sounding names surely can’t help much either. Just ask this TV host…

Detention centre contracts quadruple to $1 billion

The cost of running Australia’s detention centres has blown out to $1 billion over four years. The costs of the contract with the private company which manages them – Serco – used to be $280 million. The number of detention centres has increased from 12 to 20 under Labor. While the centres accommodate visa over-stayers and illegal workers, the Government admits they make up a small number compared with asylum seekers. Greens senator Sarah Hansen-Young said asylum seekers should be immediately released from detention into the community. According to the Government’s own figures, the cost of housing asylum seekers in detention is about 32 times greater than housing them in the community while they are processed.

Australia needs to protect migrant women

The Australian Law Reform Commission says Australia needs to develop new immigration laws in order to protect women fleeing family violence in their own countries. Michelle Griffin writes for Fairfax and summarises the report’s recommendations: “The creation of a new temporary visa to allow secondary visa holders, such as the partners of international students, to stay in Australia to seek help or apply for residency. Extending family violence provisions to migrants on prospective spouse visas. Simplifying the evidence of family violence required by immigration tribunals.” Reform of the Migration Act is ”long overdue,” said Fiona McCormack, chief executive of Domestic Violence Victoria. ”This is a human rights issue for Australia; we have a positive obligation to provide protection to women in Australia to live free from violence. Complexity and inconsistency within the immigration system contributes to the extremely difficult situation faced by migrants and refugees experiencing family violence.”