In this edition of On Background, the National Press Club’s upcoming coal love-in, News Corp’s internal staff dash cams, the A-Leagues’ broadcast race heats up and a poster fight at the ABC.

The upcoming programming at the National Press Club (NPC) is not one to miss, if you are a keen observer of the national conversation, or love coal.

On the face of it, the Club is the nation’s pre-eminent forum for journalism and public scrutiny. But behind the scenes, it’s afflicted by the same optics problems that haunt Canberra, lobbying and access for those prepared to pay.

What a lump of coal.Credit: AAP

Hugh Marks, the boss of the ABC, will make his first major public address in the capital next week. That one will be televised, and relevant to all Australians who pay for the national broadcaster.

The week after, deputy opposition leader Ted O’Brien will front up to journos where he will likely field questions on the topic du jour, the Liberal party’s dumping of its net zero policy, their infighting and why they want coal to stay around longer.

But next Tuesday there’s another speaker, no doubt keen to put forward the case for fossil fuels: Michelle Manook, the chief executive of FutureCoal, the world’s only global coal lobbying body. Her session is titled: “Thank You for Not Coaling – when the world insists coal has no future, what would you do?”

London-based West Australian Michelle Manook is FutureCoal’s chief executive.Credit: Jason Alden

Manook, an Australian, is the public face of the organisation, which until 2023 was known as the World Coal Association.

FutureCoal’s list of members is short. In Australia, that includes the Minerals Council of Australia (the kind folk who provided Scott Morrison with his performative lump of coal in 2017, and who also lobby for BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Hancock etc), Whitehaven and Bowen Coking Coal, the Queensland Resources Council and Yancoal. US giant Peabody and Japanese heavy mining manufacturer Komatsu are also members.

Oh, and Russia’s........

© The Sydney Morning Herald