Scott started as an office boy in 2008. We shaped him, moulded him and quarantined his income. Then he upped and left us to go and work for ABC TV’s Hungry Beast.
1. Who is your favourite newmatilda.com writer?
Pobjie in full flight is a pretty special read.
2. What’s your favourite newmatilda.com article?
The Spying Game by Warren Reed.
And for me these two from Mustafa Qadri typify the kind of stories that would have gone unwritten in Australia without newmatilda.com: Not so Covert Operations and The Dark Side of Liberation.
3. Will newmatilda.com‘s demise make any difference to anything? (In 40 words or less. Yes, we know this is the limitless internet, but time’s tickin’…)
Newmatilda.com didn’t think foreign stuff was too difficult to commission, or that Australians don’t care about world affairs. Newmatilda.com persisted with covering stories under immense pressure that most would have surrendered to. Without an outlet that has both these qualities I think online journalism in Australia is a little weaker.
50 words. Hack it.
4. How many people do you reckon work at newmatilda.com office on an average day? (The winner gets a jar of jelly beans.)
As one of the few newmatilda.com contributors to have spent any length of time in the office with the team, I know the correct answer to this. The answer is one, the rest are Marni Cordell’s paranoid fantasies, played by Paul Bettany and Ed Harris.
5. What was the newmatilda.com headline you always wanted to read but never happened?
Pobjie Not Ironic After All: Murders 13 Immigrants.
6. Where will you go for commentary when newmatilda.com stops publishing?
I suspect the Clare Hotel on Broadway will start providing similar content.
7. Do you subscribe to any online content? What? Why, or why not?
Yes, unlike those Haight-Ashbury "free love" blowhards I’m from a generation that gives back, works hard and understands the value of good content. (This question guilted me into subscribing to Mother Jones and The New Yorker.)
8. What campaigning tactic do you want to see in this year’s federal election?
Political assassination, propaganda and militant youth brigades. Politics would retake the public imagination.
9. If you could pick one public figure to deliver live commentary on Election Night, who would it be?
Ray Warren, the cellist of Australia’s heart strings.
10. Name your favourite lovable loon and rate their threat to public safety.
Ian Chappell is an absolutely lovely man, and a complete lunatic in the commentary box. God Bless him.
11. Do you have any secret political crushes you’d like to share with our readers?
Daisy Turnbull, she’s got her father’s head on her mother’s shoulders and she writes like a dream. Me like-y, so if anyone out there knows her, introduce me.
12. What do you see as the most important issue in the upcoming federal election campaign?
Whether or not the ALP manages to find the footage of Tony Abbott saying "The experts have recommended a whole lot of things, including the potential creation of human-animal hybrids" on Insiders back in 2006.
13. What subject should be compulsory in primary schools?
Sewing. When the gold runs out and our population’s average age reaches 84, our kids will have to compete in a globalised marketplace and right now 6-year-olds in Vietnam are sewing at a 10th grade level.
14. What annoys you about journalists?
How god damn morally courageous and roguish they all are. I just want one of them to shave the stubble, buy a suit that fits and listen to authority.
15. Who should run for public office in Australia? Which one?
Richie Benaud should run for Governor-General and Peter Cundall for Prime Minister. My ideal Australia would oppose underarm bowling, enjoy a well brewed cuppa tea and a fresh scone but wouldn’t be afraid of getting its hands dirty.
Peter Cundall once ran in a primary where he didn’t even vote for himself. That’s the kind of Prime Minister Australia deserves.
16. What politician and journalist combination would you like to see stuck in a lift recording a long interview?
I’d put Liam Bartlett in an elevator with Wilson Tuckey until they ran out of air.
17. What’s the one question you’d like both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott to answer?
Who hurt you so much that you feel you need to do this to us?
18. Is the Australian media getting better, worse, or staying the same?
Wire services are an amazing resource of immense quality and depth, but they have to produce their stories to strict style guides and the recent reliance on them has stripped away the personality of our outlets. You can read the same story in every paper. Wire journalists can’t bring perspective, they don’t have time for context, they can’t be pithy and they can’t afford to have an ego about their writing. Hitting up newspaper archives can be pretty illuminating.
19. What question would you like to ask us?
I know it’s cruel to ask which one of us you love the most, but you’ve strung us all along for years and we have to know: If newmatilda.com had to choose the one writer she’d settle down and have a monogamous relationship with, who would it be?
I totally don’t mind if it’s not me, all I’m saying is that as a 6-year-old, our 15 year age gap is probably the easiest to swallow.
20. Have you got any job searching tips? What works for you?
Get a shot of Andrew Denton leaving Ken’s Karate Club in Kensington.
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