‘My stuff-up’: Alan Kohler pulls out of political event

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In this week’s On Background, an ABC veteran’s political event goes up in flames, Kayo forgets its ad-free policy, a looming payday for big media, and Rebel Wilson’s gripes with Foxtel’s billionaire owner.

Alan Kohler’s teal U-turn

The ABC’s nightly finance presenter, Alan Kohler, was an unlikely headline speaker at a ticketed event in Melbourne, helping search for teal candidates in the federal seat of Jagajaga.

According to the flyer which landed on On Background’s desk, tickets to the event titled “Alan Kohler: Home Truths on the Housing Crisis” were selling for $35 a pop, though if you’re a renter, you could score one for a reduced price of $20. Who are Voices of Jagajaga? They’re a part of the Community Independents Project, a political support network often linked with the urban teal movement in Australian politics.

Flyers for the event in the inner north-eastern suburb of Ivanhoe in Melbourne say the organisation aims at holding leaders accountable and to bridge the gap between people and politicians, local views and government policies and actions. But it also promotes the group’s active search to find candidates to run in the Victorian state election this year in both Eltham and Ivanhoe.

This was apparently all news to Kohler when asked about the organisers of the event on Thursday, and whether he had informed the ABC about his involvement in a political event.

“I thought it was a housing event,” the veteran journo said after promptly informing the ABC.

Kohler told On Background he kiboshed the appearance and the ABC agreed with his decision. “I understand my obligations as an ABC staffer. Anyway, the whole thing is my stuff-up,” he said. “I was stupid. I should’ve realised it was a political event.”

Voices of Jagajaga, for their part, declined to comment but said it was meeting to decide whether to postpone the event.

For the unlikely few who have not heard of Kohler, he is arguably Australia’s most experienced business journalist. He has worked for the ABC for nearly three decades and has at different times been a columnist for The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Age and The Sydney Morning........

© Brisbane Times