Bella of the ball?

She's meant to be getting the gossip, not making headlines - but the host of Seven multichannel 7Bravo, Bella Varelis, found herself at the centre of the story last week.

Her unhinged response to a minor red carpet hiccup has quickly become the talk of the town, with influencers, PRs and reporters all having a good cackle at her expense.

Let's spill the tea.

Last Tuesday, Varelis was on assignment at The Devil Wears Prada 2 premiere at Sydney's State Theatre. Daily Mail senior lifestyle writer Elise Wilson happened to also be attending as a guest of Mecca Max.

When it was Wilson's time for a photo on the red carpet, an impatient Varelis stomped up with her microphone, clearly convinced it was her moment.  

The resulting awkwardness - Varelis glaring off at a producer and trying to muscle in, while Wilson ignored her completely - was captured on camera by another guest.

The clip later surfaced as a reel on Wilson's Instagram, alongside a fitting soundbite from the original film: 'And Emily...? That's all.'

The video quickly racked up thousands of views, drawing comments from media insiders who appeared all too familiar with Varelis' temper.

To say Varelis wasn't impressed by the light mockery would be a Miranda Priestly-level understatement.

As the clip gained traction, the pint-sized presenter fired off a string of imperious Instagram DMs to Wilson, even veering into a rather limp legal threat.

Varelis began: 'Hey! I'd appreciate if you take that video down.

'Not only were we trying to film the introduction which was incredibly hard to do because you wouldn't get the hint, but the audio you've used is immensely belittling and targeted.

'I'm actually surprised at the lack of awareness you had when we were trying to record an introduction for linear TV and all you cared about was your media wall photo and posting that for an ego boost. Not OK!'

Wilson said she simply used her allotted 15 seconds to take a photo, which photographer Esteban La Tessa captured in one shot, before heading inside.

But Varelis wasn't backing down. You can read the full exchange below, but here's a highlight reel of her histrionics:

'Bullying...' 'An attempt to shame and discredit me...' 'Disgusting behaviour...' 'Trying to gain clout...' 'Pathetic...' 'Take it down...' 'Posted without my consent...' 'Harm to my reputation...' 'Harassment and defamation...' 'Remove it immediately...' 'Taken out of context...' 'I'll escalate through legal channels.'

Only a 'cease and desist' short of the full influencer meltdown. 

Wilson didn't lose sleep, taking a few swipes on her Stories over the following week, including this gem: 'Between dodging defamation threats this week (turns out not everyone appreciates my sense of humour, which, frankly, is the real crime), I carved out time to treat my new hair to OUAI's three-minute miracle worker.' #SPON

Varelis' management and Seven publicity were contacted for comment.

P.S. It wasn't the only recent setback for Varelis, who was MIA for 7Bravo's Met Gala coverage, despite having a role last year alongside celebrity stylist Elliot Garnaut.

To make matters worse, when The Morning Show needed a fashionista to join Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies on the couch, instead of using Varelis, who's on the payroll, they drafted in PR guru Dani Lombard, a.k.a. Fashion Critical. 

That'll sting worse than getting dumped by Locky on The Bachelor! 

P.P.S. Wilson isn't the only journalist to have a run-in with Varelis.

When a reporter clocked her at the Logies but decided not to interview her, Varelis, sensing the disinterest, asked: 'Don't you want to know who I'm dating now?'

The answer was no. 

Palaszczuk 're-evaluates' romance

Annastacia Palaszczuk has halted her national book tour after her boyfriend, prominent surgeon Dr Reza Adib, was charged over rape allegations.

The shock development has reportedly left the former Queensland premier reeling, with insiders saying she has been blindsided and 'devastated'.

Well-placed sources tell Inside Mail that a shell-shocked Ms Palaszczuk is now 're-evaluating the relationship', as she leans on close family and friends for support during this time. 

The police raid on Dr Adib's apartment took her completely by surprise, coming just 24 hours after she was promoting her memoir at events in Sydney.

Despite the unfolding crisis, Ms Palaszczuk initially pressed ahead with scheduled appearances, continuing public engagements in the immediate aftermath.

The following day, Dr Adib, 65, was formally charged with three counts of rape, one count of sexual assault and two counts of deprivation of liberty.

Police allege the offences relate to an incident involving a woman in her 30s at his Burleigh Heads residence on March 30.

Ms Palaszczuk has not been implicated in the charges and there is no suggestion she has done anything wrong.

In the days after the charges were laid, several of her weekend appearances were scrapped. However, her publicist Max Markson initially indicated the broader tour would continue.

That stance has since changed, with disruptions mounting across the schedule.

A free author talk in Maryborough, organised by Fraser Coast Libraries, has now been postponed, with organisers advising attendees to 'keep an eye on the website for future updates'.

A separate event at the Australian National University in Canberra, scheduled for next week, was also cancelled on Tuesday.

Pauline for PM?

One Nation polling ahead of the Coalition was once the sort of sentence written for satire. Now it's motivating Pauline Hanson to pursue a pathway to the prime ministership.

About to turn 72 years of age, Hanson's mooted move from the Senate to the lower house changes the psychology of the moment. She no longer wants merely to haunt the major parties from the red chamber. That should terrify the Liberals and Nationals.

For years, the Coalition has treated One Nation as something to manage: preference it, mimic it, denounce it, flirt with it, then pretend none of that happened when trying to win inner-city seats.

Labor might enjoy the spectacle, but it shouldn't confuse conservative fragmentation with civic renewal. Anti-major party politics is not a boutique right-wing problem. It is the national mood wearing different hats. Greens support in the mid-teens speaks to that.

Still, there is something darkly impressive about Hanson's durability. First elected (to the lower house, by the way) back in 1996, she has outlasted Liberal resets, National Party sermons and countless declarations of her enduring demise.

Now she is eyeing a return to the House and doesn't plan to sit on the backbench.

David the watchdog 

Inside Mail couldn't help but laugh this week when David Sharaz emerged as a valiant campaigner for media transparency in the form of an independent watchdog.

Sharaz had been a mouthpiece for left-wing political activist group GetUp! for all of four months by the time he embarked on a crusade against the Australian Press Council.

The ACP investigates complaints about media reports and decides whether the coverage is fair, while ensuring any decision aligns with its core value: freedom of speech.

Doesn't sound too bad, so why does Sharaz want to burn it to the ground and start again? Because he reckons it's a 'sham' largely funded by his former employers at News Corp.

Oh, and because he doesn't like the way his wife Brittany Higgins has been treated by Murdoch's mastheads - not that the pair have ever been shy about engaging with the media themselves. 

Perhaps it would be easier to take his role in the campaign seriously if he hadn't defamed Higgins' former boss Linda Reynolds on social media, in a bold move that led to him filing for bankruptcy.

Part of the press council campaign is about forcing media organisations to give subjects the right of reply, which is ironic because he seemingly paid zero attention to Reynolds' point of view before he accused her of bullying. (For the record, we offered Sharaz a right of reply for this column, which he declined.)

But that's not all. He spent years acting as Higgins' personal PR agent and spinning conspiracies about political cover-ups that were so outrageous they landed in court.

Operating as a self-styled spin doctor, Sharaz pitched Higgins' rape story to news outlets, strategised the coverage, drip-fed exclusives and backgrounded senators for maximum political damage.

He then blew up at reporters - off the record, of course - who dared publish narratives about the saga that he didn't agree with.

Sharaz isn't wrong about News Corp being the biggest backer of the Press Council - but that's because they are one of the biggest publishers in Australian media. That also doesn't mean its mastheads are favoured.

In an example used by Sharaz himself, The Australian published four op-eds about an unfavourable press council decision. Sharaz seems to think a new press council should have the power to stop those op-eds from being published.

Is it a coincidence those op-eds were about the Higgins saga? Probably.

• The Daily Mail is a member of the Australian Press Council 

Nine's play for Gen Z

Channel Nine is looking to cast influencers in a string of its TV shows in the hope of attracting younger viewers. 

Adrian Swift, Nine's Head of Content, Production and Development, outlined his plans in a series of panel discussions at Screen Forever, which was held last week on the Gold Coast.

Nine is keen to capitalise on influencers and their many followers by casting popular Instagram personalities on shows like Travel Guides.

Tammy Hembrow has 17 million followers on Insta and has been cast in the upcoming series SHARK!

'If half her audience comes to the show, it's the biggest success ever online,' Swift proclaimed.

But as previously revealed by Inside Mail, the show will be lucky to hook regular TV viewers, let alone YouTube watchers.

According to insiders, the show is dull, despite PR spin describing it as 'increasingly intense challenges, from cage dives to open water swims with minimal protection'.

Despite the scepticism, Swift was on the hustings, trying to spruik the show to anyone who would listen: 'We completely rebuilt that show from the English show that was very much more a nature documentary, and I'm really proud of what that looks like.'

Nine would be wise to change the format as the UK version was a flop.

But can a show like SHARK! be saved with the inclusion of influencers? The network certainly seems to think turning to these online stars will change the fortunes of TV networks.

The short answer is no.

The followers of these Instagram stars are more likely to watch highlight clips on their feeds than they are to tune into an actual free-to-air TV show. 

So while it's great exposure for influencers, it's not so great for the network. 

Let's be real, if influencers brought ratings, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! would be the number one show in Australia.

It's not. Married at First Sight is Australia's number one show… and its cast consists of unknown contestants who are trying to be influencers.

There could be an exception to the rule, though. A new reality show for Stan, Turned On, follows the lives of people who make their money on OnlyFans.

It's a compelling concept and could be a breakout hit for the streamer.

But that's not because they are using influencers; it's because the concept is strong.

Anyone working in breakfast television who has booked influencers on their show will tell you they don't bring rating spikes. It's strange that Nine sees this as their big new hope when most TV producers know it just doesn't work.

'Out of my depth'

After the wall-to-wall coverage of the alleged murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was taken from her home near Alice Springs on Anzac Day, it was no surprise that 170 people tuned in for accused killer Jefferson Lewis' first court appearance.

After a five-day search, the little girl's body was found on Thursday, April 30, while Lewis remained at large. He was found later that night as a group of young boys set upon him on the edge of the Charles Creek camp. Lewis was taken to hospital, sparking unrest from angry locals over his accused crimes before he was taken into police custody and charged on Sunday.

Ahead of his first appearance on Tuesday, via video link at Alice Springs Local Court, members of the press were provided with a Teams link for 9.30am ACST due to a 'large amount of interest'.

However, upon logging on, attendees were welcomed with an open Word document which read: 'There will be no broadcast due to technical difficulties'. A sliver of the court calendar could be seen peeking below the Word window, which they had neglected to make full screen.

Huffing could be heard over the audio from a court administrator, who murmured, 'I'm out of my depth', before telling a colleague that he would end the Teams meeting and take his laptop down to the courtroom.

Sherele Moody, defamation watch

A former News Corp journalist has been accused of defaming a star reporter for The Australian with an inflammatory social media post.

Sherele Moody, who spent a long career at Murdoch's papers before dedicating herself to femicide activism, accused Liam Mendes of 'inflaming racist stereotypes about Aboriginal people', 'poverty-shaming' and 'manipulating' the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby.

Her basis for these claims was a video Mendes had recorded inside the home where the girl and her mother were staying overnight when she was abducted.

Moody called the clip 'appalling', asked Mendes how he would feel if 'this was your daughter', and urged her followers not to watch it.

What she neglected to mention - and Mendes pointed out in the comments section - was that the journalist had captured the footage with the permission of the child's grandfather, who, Mendes says, wanted the story told and was happy with the article.

Speaking of the conditions in the home, Mendes wrote in response: 'There's no point sugarcoating this poor little girl's living conditions.

'The country needs to see it so that change can occur. They [the family] believe now is the best time, when everyone is talking about her.

'Stop patronising the family by claiming they were 'manipulated'. It's not true.'

Mendes' reply - which he wrote after Moody's broadside because he wasn't contacted beforehand - remained pinned to the post for several hours before Moody turned off the comments entirely.

Perhaps she didn't like anyone challenging her narrative.

Mendes later put it on his own Instagram Story, saying that Moody's slur was 'false (and defamatory)' but vowing that he wouldn't 'stop working to tell the stories that people want told, and that deserve to be told'.

While it's unlikely that a journalist like Mendes would sue Moody over this, Inside Mail notes that some have received damages for less (see Harrison Boon v Abbie Chatfield).

It's a sobering reminder that just because you think you're on the right side of history doesn't mean you can smear people without any evidence.

Moody's representatives at Tall Poppy Management were contacted for comment. 

RBA puts heat on Chalmers

There are bad days in politics, and then there are days when the Governor of the Reserve Bank effectively wanders into the national debate carrying a baseball bat marked 'fiscal policy'.

Michele Bullock's rate rise did what the Coalition has mostly failed to do: land a clean hit on Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Treasurer can call so-called spending restraint whatever he likes (spoiler alert: there isn't much restraint happening), but the RBA has now delivered its own translation: demand is still too hot, inflation is too high and rising, and monetary policy is being left to do the hard work because Dr Jim can't do his job properly.

Chalmers' genius has always been to sound like a man about to make a difficult decision, right before finding another reason not to. This time he's been called out by a senior bureaucrat with the sort of economic credibility Dr Jim (whose PhD is in politics, by the way) can only dream of.

Band-Aid for a bullet wound

And just when you thought there was the smallest chance Labor might cut back on inflation and interest rate stoking handouts, think again! Dr Jim is considering a one-off tax offset of up to $300 in next week's budget, which is a bold answer to an RBA Governor calling out too much spending by governments.

This is modern budget trickery at its finest. First, government spending helps keep demand elevated. Then rates rise and rise and rise. Then the government offers voters a small cheque to help them cope with the consequences of the conditions the government helped create. Everyone gets to feel generous except the person paying their mortgage, or renters whose landlords simply pass on higher interest costs.

The offset will no doubt be presented as targeted, responsible, temporary and values-driven. Blah, blah, blah. That is Canberra speak for please enjoy this minor cash-based distraction from the larger fiscal problem we keep making worse.

The Coalition called it a 'band aid on a bullet wound', which is unusually vivid for an opposition still trying to locate its own pulse. Still, even stopped clocks can be right from time to time.

Labor's 'no promises' promise

Labor appears set to revisit negative gearing, capital gains taxes and perhaps even trusts, which means we are about to enter that sacred Canberra ritual: the solemn explanation of why an election promise not to do something was never technically a promise at all.

The government's position seems to be that the housing crisis is severe, investor tax concessions are distortionary, young buyers are being locked out, and none of this should be confused with Labor's previous reassurances that it wasn't planning to do anything meaningful about it. That was then. This is now.

And what about the Treasurer's wording for the broken promises: we had to do it to build trust. We bet if Jim Chalmers played cricket in his youth he was a front-foot batsman, even to the dreaded bouncer.

There is, of course, a serious policy debate to be had here, if we had serious politicians. Property tax settings do matter, so does housing supply, and trust tax arrangements are tantamount to legal tax evasion.

In Australia, reform is never dead, it just waits until after an election to reveal itself as broken promises. Which inevitably distracts from the worthiness or otherwise of what gets proposed. But whose fault is that? Politicians for saying one thing before doing the opposite? Or voters for disliking being lied to in the first place.

Coalition face threat in Farrer 

This weekend's pre-budget special isn't another authorised leak - it's a by-election in regional NSW. The Farrer by-election caused by the retirement of former Liberal leader Sussan Ley should have been a routine opposition opportunity at renewal. Labor isn't even fielding a candidate!

In normal political physics, that would leave the Coalition free to collect the protest vote and declare that it's building momentum.

Instead, the seat has become a live experiment in whether or not the conservative side of politics still knows where its voters have gone. One Nation is threatening to turn the by-election into a hostage note from regional Australia. 

For Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan, this isn't just about retaining one seat. It's about if the Coalition can still claim to be the natural home of voters who dislike Labor.

The Coalition used to fear losing elections to Labor. Now it has to worry about losing the anti-Labor vote to someone (almost anyone) else.

Group chat drama 

Tensions erupted in the Canberra press gallery last week, as veteran journalist Samantha Maiden voiced her frustration in a government media chat amid confusion over a crucial royal commission release.

With less than an hour before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was due to respond to the interim report into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, staffers urged reporters to be ready - despite the report itself not yet being publicly available.

'How is anyone meant to ask meaningful questions if we still don't have the report?' wrote Maiden.

The uncertainty only deepened when a government website flagged 14 recommendations, but failed to link to the document.

'Apparently there's 14 recommendations according to the website (that doesn't link to report),' Maiden posted.

'Can you tell us what they are please?'

Minutes later, she posted a string of messages replying to herself, this time sharing an update from the Royal Commission that only added to the confusion.

'Oh my God, I've just got this from the RC,' she wrote, before sharing advice that the report would not be made public until it was formally tabled in Parliament, at a time that had not been confirmed.

'Rightio,' Maiden replied, once again to herself. 

The report was eventually released just minutes later, leaving journalists with barely 20 minutes to read it before the PM took to the podium.

Lefty carnage a gift for LNP

Chaos on the Left has spiralled into full-blown political theatre ahead of Queensland's Stafford by-election, with Labor, the Greens and a cast of fringe candidates now openly tearing strips off each other in a bitter and increasingly public feud.

What should have been a relatively straightforward contest has instead descended into a messy stoush, sparked by the Greens' decision to run an 'open ticket', effectively washing their hands of where their preferences end up.

That move has sent Labor figures into a spin. 

Senior frontbencher Mark Bailey, a heavyweight within Labor's Left faction, unleashed a furious online spray, accusing the Greens of quietly doing the LNP a favour.

'If the Greens party effectively endorse the Crisafulli LNP Government by not directing preferences away from them, they will only embolden the Crisafulli Government to push through more of their ideological policies in Queensland,' he said.

But the drama didn't stop there.

Enter Socialist independent Liam Parry, a political agitator who shot to prominence after becoming the first person charged under the Crisafulli Government's new laws banning the controversial chant 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'.

Parry has now waded straight into the Greens' mess, blasting the party for what he sees as a cowardly cop-out.

'It's really terrible that the Greens aren't recommending preferences in this election,' he said.

'Preferences matter, especially if you're a bigger party like the Greens.'

Meanwhile, Inside Mail understands the LNP is quietly delighted by the chaos unfolding on the Left, with candidate Fiona Hammond, a former local councillor, enjoying the rare luxury of largely watching the carnage from the sidelines, especially with One Nation not standing. 

While the by-election might seem minor on paper, it's shaping as a crucial test for embattled Opposition Leader Steven Miles, who has struggled to translate Labor's federal momentum into traction at the state level.

And the stakes are rising fast. Sources say Miles' internal critics are already circling, with a poor showing expected to trigger fresh leadership murmurs.

In a twist that says it all about the current political mood, some LNP figures have even joked they wouldn't want a thumping win, with more than a few quietly happy to see Miles remain exactly where he is.

Greens' rift over Latham

The NSW Greens have descended into fresh internal chaos after a bruising Upper House clash - over Mark Latham of all people.

The drama kicked off late Tuesday when Labor moved last-minute amendments to a motion condemning Latham, toughening the language to include tribunal findings that he engaged in 'unlawful homosexual vilification and sexual harassment' of independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, causing him 'significant humiliation and harassment'.

The revised motion also sought to formally rebuke Latham for abusing parliamentary privilege and behaviour bringing the House into disrepute.

The context is serious.

On April 30, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered Latham to pay $100,000 in damages to Greenwich, the maximum penalty, following a long-running dispute tied to a 2023 social media post, which we cannot publish for legal reasons.

In classic Macquarie Street trap-setting fashion, the Greens somehow managed to walk straight into it, and trip over themselves in the process.

In a move that raised eyebrows, Greens MPs declined to back key parts of Labor's amendments, arguing procedural fairness must come first while Latham's appeal is underway.

Greens MLC Sue Higginson seemed to anticipate the fallout in real time, warning that the Greens would be attacked for the move.

'If anyone wants to try to smash us… and say "the Greens don't care"… that's not fair,' she said while outlining their opposition to the motion, noting that Latham was set to appeal the decision.

Unsurprisingly, criticism came anyway.

In a sign the script hadn't exactly been workshopped, Newtown MP Jenny Leong broke ranks, saying the vote by the Greens was 'clearly not okay' and adding that she felt 'sick' about the impact.

The Greens 'absolutely oppose everything Mark Latham stands for,' she said.

Behind the scenes, MPs scrambled to clarify the party's position.

Greens MLC Amanda Cohn insisted they did support acknowledging the tribunal findings and condemning Latham's conduct, but stopped short of backing elements not supported by the Privileges Committee.

Inside Mail's verdict? A political stitch-up that the Greens' purity politics fell victim to.

KK calls in the lawyers 

The problem with us at Inside Mail is that we're just too nice. When people tell us we've got it all wrong and everything's fine, we tend to believe them.

Cast your mind back to January, when we broke the story that Cosmopolitan Australia had closed amid rumours of unpaid freelancer invoices.

At the time, Katarina Kroslakova, the enigmatic entrepreneur behind the magazine's publisher KK Press, drafted in an external PR company to handle our enquiries.

We were assured that, yes, Cosmo had closed (they couldn't exactly deny it), but KK Press's other titles were quite profitable and there were no redundancies.

You'll never guess which company fell into voluntary liquidation a month later!

Yep, KK Press had collapsed, with reports indicating about 30 creditors, including the ATO.

AdNews reports that another creditor was The New York Times Company, likely linked to a licensing arrangement, as KK Press also produced a local edition of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

A source familiar with the company’s demise tells Inside Mail that all employee entitlements were paid in full.

Now, with KK Press dead and buried, we understand it's business as usual for Kroslakova's other, entirely separate business, Primary Ideas.

Primary Ideas is her custom publishing house that makes magazines for high-end brands like Winning and Maserati. KK Press, on the other hand, handled licensed titles like Cosmo and T.

Writing on LinkedIn, Kroslakova tried to look on the bright side.

'KK Press is closing on a high,' she wrote.

'In just seven months, Cosmopolitan Australia became the most widely read women’s lifestyle magazine. T Australia achieved 25 per cent year-on-year readership growth, a remarkable achievement in a highly competitive market.'

That's one way of looking at it.

After we contacted Ms Kroslakova on Wednesday with a series of questions about the liquidation, we received a strongly worded response – not from KK herself, but from Melbourne lawyers acting on her behalf.

They raised concerns about the tone of our email and any potential implications.

In light of this, we are happy to clarify that we fully recognise companies fail all the time, and we make no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Kroslakova.

See. Aren't we nice?

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