Snobs dredge up anchor’s past after big promotion. Plus, drama at Sky News over Freya’s podcast – and whispers fill the silence after 2Day FM host’s sudden exit: INSIDE MAIL

Changing of the guard 

When it comes to the news business, few can claim to have an industry-defining legacy like 7News Perth duo Susannah Carr and Rick Ardon.

But alas, all good things must come to an end.

After a world-record 40 years together, the household names (in Perth, at least) are now working a pared-back schedule, fronting the 6pm bulletins on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

In the first step in a planned succession move, taking the helm from Sunday to Wednesday are Tim McMillan and Angela Tsun, who, by all accounts, are popular with viewers and expected to do a good job.

Still, it wouldn’t be Australian media without whispers, snark and a leak or two.

Inside Mail’s sources on the west coast have noted newsroom grumbles over legends like Carr and Ardon stepping aside for a pair of young(ish) upstarts.

One particularly catty email highlighted Tsun’s past as a glamour model.

During her days as Foxtel weather girl, Tsun graced the pages of Ralph magazine in lacy black lingerie. The scribe noted she ‘even makes global warming sound hot’.

Her lads’ mag past isn’t a secret, of course. It made headlines when she moved from The Weather Channel to Nine News Perth in 2008. She was also a presenter on the short-lived Ralph TV.

Tsun herself fondly remembered her spread – which featured the headline ‘Fine and sunny’ – in a Facebook post from late 2014, wistfully captioned: ‘This one time…’

Personally, we think posing in underwear for Ralph is far less embarrassing than some of the highlights of other journalists’ CVs. You know who you are...

Seven’s Perth-based PR team was contacted for comment. 

Party time

Journalist-turned-paralegal-turned-singer-turned-podcaster Taylor Auerbach has launched his own political party with a bold manifesto of policies.

For those unfamiliar with Auerbach, the former Spotlight producer’s arrival as a last-minute witness in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial in March 2024 became a cause célèbre as he spilled about the allegedly underhanded methods of Seven’s news‑gathering operation. Seven denied any wrongdoing.

He was last reported to be working for high-profile defamation lawyer Bek Giles, though it is understood they amicably parted ways last year.

‘Sorry, wokies! Time’s up!’ Auerbach wrote on Instagram, announcing his run for office.

‘Australia, welcome back to the world of reality, reason and common sense. Tories Australia is the party for the quiet 99 per cent.

‘We’ve given the one per cent their chance and they screwed it up as expected. But now people are dying.

‘Piss off, hypocritical, do-gooding, left-wing wankers! You’ve had your fun.’

The highlights are almost too voluminous to mention, but here are a few favourites:

• No ‘pro-nouns’ in email signatures for any public servant.
• Australia Post shall operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and on all public holidays.
• All visa applications longer than three months must incur a $25,000 fee. 
• Oh, and no rainbow flags or Palestinian keffiyehs at schools. (Sorry, wokies!)

It’s an ambitious plan, and we wish him luck. Who doesn’t love an underdog?

And if he does one day make it to the halls of power, being an elected representative will certainly be less stressful than the task of being Mr Lehrmann’s ‘babysitter’.

Alan Jones*

Erstwhile king of talkback Alan Jones was always a shoo-in for the Australian Media Hall of Fame – that august gallery of greats run by the Melbourne Press Club.

But his recent fall from grace – courtesy of the investigative work of fellow Hall of Famer Kate McClymont – has prompted the addition of a disclaimer on his otherwise gushing profile on the organisation’s website, penned by radio host Steve Price.

‘Extensive reporting… in 2023 revealed allegations from a number of young men that Jones had sexually assaulted and harassed them,’ it reads.

‘In November 2024, police arrested Jones and laid 26 charges relating to nine alleged victims. Jones denied the allegations. The criminal case is pending at the time of writing.’

It’s unclear if Jones was advised of the change or consulted on it.

Melbourne Press Club President Michael Bachelard told Inside Mail: ‘The statement was added in November 2024, after NSW Police laid criminal charges against Alan Jones.

‘The Melbourne Press Club believes that updating the record was in keeping with good journalistic practice.’

Inside Mail left a voicemail with Jones’s lawyer but didn’t hear back. 

Meanwhile, the former 2GB breakfast host has made it clear he intends to vehemently fight the allegations, which he has described as either ‘baseless’ or a distortion of the truth.

Jones had a trio of legal wins last September when the number of charges was stripped back from 44 to 27, with the most serious charges of aggravated sexual assault removed.

Two complainants are also out, bringing the total from 11 down to nine.

He also won’t face a jury trial anymore, with the matter to be held before a magistrate in the local court instead.

Group chat snub for Nats staffers 

There was no mistaking that Parliament was officially back on Wednesday, with the Coalition wasting no time diving into a fresh bout of internal psychodrama as the entire National Party quit the shadow ministry.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley struck an upbeat note in a public statement, insisting she hoped the Liberals and Nationals would remain united. Behind the scenes, however, their staff were already splintering.

Inside Mail can reveal that several Nationals staffers were abruptly removed from an internal Shadow Cabinet Media WhatsApp group within minutes of their MPs lodging their resignation letters.

Their removal came despite Ley describing the Nationals’ walkout as ‘unnecessary’ and refusing to accept the resignations.

With the Coalition’s future now in flux, one can only imagine the awkwardness ahead should tensions eventually settle – particularly for the Ley staffer who may have to sheepishly invite the Nationals back into the chat.

Shark attack shocker

As a rule of thumb, here at Inside Mail we don’t like to point the finger at honest mistakes that happen in the centre of the breaking-news cyclone.

We’re not Crikey, after all.

But just before midday on Wednesday, Sky News Australia did drop a clanger that really shouldn’t have happened.

A breaking news alert flashed on screen announcing the death of a 12-year-old shark attack victim.

At the time, the boy was still alive, though his family was prepared for the ‘worst possible outcome’, according to a spokesperson.  

The incorrect Sky News report prompted NSW Police to send out a clarification on the boy’s condition to newsrooms across Australia. The email, dated at 12.18pm, reminded media to ‘contact their office… before running any updates’.

Late yesterday, the boy’s family exclusively told the Mail’s Charlotte Karp: ‘He is still asleep, but will not be able to make it because his brain is completely unresponsive.’

A Sky News spokesperson told Inside Mail: ‘The report was immediately identified as an error and promptly corrected on-air.

‘Sky News sincerely apologises for the distress this has caused.’

It’s understood the network conveyed its apology to the boy’s family. 

Freya fires up

You’d be forgiven for thinking Inside Mail has a crush on Gen Z conservative motormouth Freya Leach, given how often she features in this column.

The feeling isn’t mutual, unfortunately. She hates us and wishes we’d stop writing about her. To that we say… be careful what you wish for.

Sources tell us Freya could be at risk of losing her biggest platform – a talking head spot on Sky News – after appearing on a non-network podcast.

The podcast in question? John Anderson Media, hosted by the former Deputy PM.

We clocked the guest appearance last week, noting that Freya’s piping hot take on why Taylor Swift is a bad role model for young women went down like a lead balloon in the comments.

It even drew criticism from Daisy Turnbull, daughter of former PM Malcolm Turnbull.

We’re not sure how many views that podcast got, but hopefully it was worth it, because sources say Sky News management was not best pleased.

Word is she was counselled over the interview.

When contacted for comment on Wednesday, Sky News declined to engage with questions about Freya’s podcast, but confirmed she would appear on The Late Debate that night as scheduled.

Omerta on Jimmy Smith

In the traditionally gossipy world of breakfast radio, a code of silence stands out.

Ever since the news broke in late November that Jimmy Smith – one third of 2Day FM’s Jimmy and Nath with Emma Chow – was stepping down effective immediately for mental health reasons, industry chatterboxes have been abuzz with speculation.

The whispers only intensified when all trace of Smith was wiped from the show’s social media accounts – an odd move when the official messaging is that he quit to prioritise his well-being.

The trio’s podcast episodes also mysteriously disappeared from LiSTNR and Spotify, while Jimmy’s personal Instagram account was nowhere to be found.

Inside Mail put in some phone calls this week and it was like speaking to a brick wall.

Our initial assumption was that contractual obligations had kept insiders tight‑lipped, though senior sources at 2Day FM insist no one has be silenced.

We also heard that Smith’s former co-host Nath Roye was out the other night and when someone asked about the ‘real story’, he blew them off – repeating the company line that Smith was ‘prioritising himself’ and they were still good mates.

To be clear: we’re not suggesting any wrongdoing.

But surely any neutral observer would conclude that something is amiss in the handling of 2Day FM’s latest departure?

If a valued colleague stepped away suddenly because they were struggling with their mental health, why nuke the socials – including one account with 624,000 followers?

There’s an old saying in media: whispers inevitably fill the silence. 

The confusing saga reminded Inside Mail of a story we reported in May – which was curiously not followed up by any other outlets – suggesting tension in the studio. 

Apparently, Smith had made the bold claim that he’d received ‘late-night texts’ from the station’s music director Kiri Martin after the brekky crew had gone out to see Dua Lipa in concert.

Long story short, Martin found out what he’d been saying, denied sending any texts, and allegedly got quite upset about the whole thing. We heard a complaint was made and that Smith apologised.

When we contacted 2Day FM for comment at the time, we were told the story was… half true.

Martin had not sent any texts to Smith after the concert, but Smith had joked that she did; however, we were assured it was all just banter between friends.

It was suggested to us that any robust conversations in the studio that may have been overheard by SCA staff then relayed to Inside Mail had been taken out of context.

Back then, we wrote off the story as a mountain made out of a molehill. After all, we’d be buzzkills to mischaracterise a joke between friends as an HR issue…

A 2Day FM spokesperson declined to comment.

What happens in Davos 

The annual gathering of global powerbrokers, billionaires and the internet’s favourite conspiracy-theory elites has kicked off in Davos for the 2026 World Economic Forum.

Among them this year are some of Australia’s most dramatic headline-makers. 

Mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest took centre stage as a keynote speaker, delivering a stern warning about the escalating realities of climate change, while taking pains to insist he was not ‘woke’.

Inside Mail hears that Twiggy is expected to join Donald Trump in Davos, where the big dog will hold a high‑profile signing ceremony for the so‑called Gaza Board of Peace.

Also roaming the snow‑dusted streets – and likely in the opposite direction of Trump – was former prime minister Kevin Rudd, Australia’s outgoing ambassador to the United States, who found himself ambushed mid‑take by CNN host Richard Quest.

Quest, filming a piece to camera, suddenly spotted Rudd and exclaimed, ‘This is ambassador of Australia to the United States!’

Rudd, visibly startled, offered a dry, ‘I’m alive’, when asked how he was going.

‘Because I’m Australian and diplomatic and that’s not a non sequitur, I won’t be saying anything,’ he added, promptly made a comedic dash for safety.

He isn’t the only ex‑politician in town.

Former Liberal foreign minister and now ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop is also on the ground in Switzerland.

In true J.Bish style, she shared a series of polished snaps, smiling alongside career diplomat and Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Clare Walsh.

Same… but different 

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane delivered something close to a media masterclass on Sunday, spending a full hour on 2GB with Susie Elelman – taking live calls, handling curveballs and keeping the conversation moving like she’s been doing for it her whole career.

Which she has, given her lengthy tenure as a TV host before taking a punt at politics.

Mid‑interview, Elelman tossed in a spicy query, asking how Sloane felt about being compared to embattled Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

‘Who has compared me to Sussan Ley?’ Sloane shot back, partly amused.

Elelman clarified she was referring to commentary grouping Sloane with the trio of new female Liberal leaders who emerged across November and December, all supposedly cut from the same political cloth.

Choosing her words carefully, Sloane said she was flattered by the association.

‘I don’t mind those comparisons.’

But she made one point unmistakably clear: the NSW Liberals are not the Federal Liberals.

Sloane reminded Elelman, and everyone listening, that the NSW Liberal Party room now has genuine gender parity and the largest cohort of millennial MPs compared with the Minns Labor Government.

With the NSW state election just over a year away, Sloane has already acknowledged publicly that the Liberals enter the race as underdogs.

But Inside Mail suspects that putting distance between herself and the turbulence in Canberra, subtly or otherwise, is a smart place to start.