Site lead Sean McDonell, who also manages Google Australia’s relationships with retail groups and utilities providers, said that Sydney will remain the company’s headquarters, despite the difficulty it has had finding a suitable second site in NSW.

Google previously decided against a move to a power station in Sydney’s Bays district, and was blocked by the state government from building a new site at Carriageworks. It was most recently eyeing office towers at Central Station in Sydney’s CBD.

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Ahead of a series of nationwide rallies organised by ABC Friends, starting this Sunday, to protest the government’s $84 million ABC budget cuts, news executive Gaven Morris told staff they could support the ABC, but not enter a partisan political debate.

“Ultimately we’re journalists and production professionals,” Morris, director of news, analysis and investigations, told staff in a memo. “Our personal views should always be very separate to the work we do on behalf of all Australians.”

Morris banned staff from using ABC platforms or their personal social media to “engage in any campaigning or partisan commentary about the current ABC debate”. But he did not ban staff from attending rallies and some presenters, including Phillip Adams and Jon Faine, have been given permission to speak.

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DD McNicoll in The Australian:

Harry Maurice Miller spent his 84 years turning tall tales into piles of money and fame.

During his career he called himself an agent and a promoter, but his real claim to fame was charming the socks off everyone he came across – be they a penniless punk rocker, a disaster survivor or British royalty.

When he arrived in Sydney from his native Auckland in the early 1960s he found Sydney already had a well known Harry Miller, a boxing promoter, so he adopted the style Harry M Miller.

In time Miller became so well known in the Harbour City that he was universally referred to simply as Harry M.

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Andrew Hornery in The Sydney Morning Herald:

Showbiz impresario, media fixer, lovable rogue and friend and foe of the rich and famous, Harry M. Miller was many things to many people.

His orbit was filled with bold print names: Kerry and Clyde Packer, Ita Buttrose, Deborah Hutton, Maggie Tabberer, Marcia Hines, Stuart Diver, Lindy Chamberlain, Gai Waterhouse and Judy Moran.

Charismatic, sharp-witted and just a little devious, he set up Pan Pacific Productions in the 1960s and brought the likes of Garland, Sammy Davis Jr, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Chubby Checker, Louis Armstrong, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and The Rolling Stones to Australia.

He also brought the rock arena spectacular to Australia. It was Miller who “discovered” a 16-year-old and six months pregnant African American girl from Boston named Marcia Hines, whom he would transform into a bona fide Australian showbiz star with the musical Hair.

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Natalie Whiting

She will take over the key posting from Eric Tlozek, who after three years in the role has been appointed one of the ABC’s Middle East correspondents, based in Jerusalem.

Whiting currently reports for 7.30 and ABC News in Tasmania, based in Hobart. She has extensively covered regional and outback Australia, from Orange and Broken Hill, to Ceduna, Wilcannia, Maralinga and the APY Lands.

Whiting said she was excited about moving to Port Moresby and working with the ABC’s local team there.

“Papua New Guinea is Australia’s nearest neighbour and our two countries have a long history and close ties,” she said.

“It’s such an important country to be reporting on and for, and I look forward to taking on that responsibility.

“Mostly, I’m excited to meet people and to tell their stories – and to be back living in an area where rugby league is the sport of choice.”

ABC News has operated a bureau in Papua New Guinea for more than four decades and is now the only foreign news organisation with a permanent office there.

The former newsreader turned best-selling author, who was a recipient of an Order of Australia in 2018 for her journalistic and charitable services, was listed for her efforts in campaigning to change media misogyny and gender imbalance in workplaces.

Spicer’s collections of stories of sexism and abuse from “more than 1,000 women” after issuing a Twitter plea for Australian women to speak up triggered a national debate on protecting women in the workplace.

“The highlights of my career have been the documentaries I’ve produced and presented for not-for-profit organisations in the developing world,” the Curl Curl resident said.

In her 30-year career, Spicer has reported and presented for programs on ABC TV, Network Ten, Channel 9 and Sky News. She has also written for Traveller Magazine’s Sunday edition, was a columnist with Wendy Harmer’s The Hoopla and travel writer and ambassador for Holiday with Kids magazine.

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The Manly Daily will publish the top 5 people tomorrow.

Colin Fassnidge and Dan Hong at last year’s Good Food Guide Awards

The 2019 Good Food Guide Awards presented by Vittoria and Citi will reveal the best restaurants, bars and chefs from across Australia when they take place on Monday October 8, 2018.

Meanwhile, The Good Food Guide 2019 will be published by lifestyle publishers Simon & Schuster Australia, marking the start of a three-year publishing partnership with Fairfax.

Simon & Schuster Australia MD Dan Ruffino said, “We are delighted to reunite Australia’s leading food book publisher, Julie Gibbs, with the Good Food Guide team to produce Australia’s most loved and indispensable book of the best places to eat and drink across Australia.

“Julie will act as publisher of the Guide for Simon & Schuster Australia, bringing with her five years’ experience publishing The Good Food Guide for both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. It’s a publication she greatly respects and she is excited to once again be helping to bring it to life.”

The national Good Food Guide, launched last year, independently reviews restaurants, cafés, bars and cheap eats across every Australia state and territory, making it the most trusted source of information about where to find the best – and hatted – venues in every capital city and beyond.

Last year’s national rollout of the Good Food Guide Awards was supported by a gala launch event in Sydney which was attended by more than 750 of the restaurant industry’s luminaries.

Good Food Guide editor, Myffy Rigby, said: “This is the second year that The Good Food Guide has encompassed all of Australia, and I couldn’t be prouder to shine a light on outstanding hatted restaurants nationwide – from exceptional restaurants in rural South Australia, through to beachside dining in Western Australia, and hidden gems in the backstreets of Tasmania.

“Every year, we go in hungry and leave more excited than ever to share these restaurants and dining destinations with our readers.”

Industry experts and TV executives say that the reality dating show’s multiplatform, digital-first format will change the game for commercial networks, with almost as many people tuning in on digital devices as watching live in their lounge room.

Filled with contestants flaunting fake tans, plucked eyebrows and perfect hair (and that was just the boys), Love Island Australia was a perve-fest of six-packs, bikinis and boob jobs.

With the first season now wrapped up and the king and queen of Love Island Australia crowned last night, Nine is already championing the multiplatform success of the show as “unprecedented in the Australian TV landscape”.

Nine programming chief Hamish Turner said that the show’s performance has been unlike anything ever seen on free-to-air TV.

“The results have been fantastic and have provided us with a bit of a blueprint for what the future has in store,” he said.

“The performance of Love Island is unprecedented in the Australian TV landscape and that’s because it is a fully integrated, cross-platform venture and I don’t think anyone has done it properly before.”

Turner said that Love Island has been credited with redefining the measure of TV success in a multiplatform world.

“Editorially, we are really happy with the show – creatively it delivered in spades and digitally it out­performed where our projections were.”

More than 200,000 people also downloaded the Love Island Australia app to be able to vote on the show.

Turner said Nine was already talking about season two.

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The surprise verdict left favourites to win Eden Dally and Erin Barnett visibly shocked, with the runners-up left standing awkwardly on the stage while Tayla and Grant hugged each other.

Eden and Erin, who have been accused of staging their relationship to win the show, couldn’t hide their disappointment as they missed out on $50,000.

The finale also capped off a tense few days between the winning couple and Erin and Eden, with the two male contestants coming to blows on more than one occasion.

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Love Island winners Tayla Damir and Grant Crapp are now looking to move in together – before most likely planning a wedding, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.

After being crowned season one winners of the controversial reality dating show, the couple say that they will move from Perth and Canberra respectively to set up a home together in Sydney.

“We’ve spoken about it (marriage) and obviously we would never have gotten into the relationship if we didn’t think that it was possible,” Damir said.

The couple beat out rival couples Eden Dally and Erin Barnett and Josh Moss and Amelia Marni to secure the $50,000 prize money – but said they weren’t driven by the cash.

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Jon Lung and Brian Louden

Brian Louden and Jon Lung will separate fact from fiction in spectacular style when the new series premieres in Australia on Tuesday July 31 at 8.30pm.

Brian and Jon earned the title of MythBusters by displaying killer build skills and science smarts in MythBusters: The Search. The series saw 10 talented hopefuls compete for the chance to continue the explosive legacy left behind after Jamie and Adam hung up their lab coats in 2016.

MythBusters is produced by Beyond Productions for Discovery.

Courtney Act

Dubbed the world’s first Dragazine show, where “everyone is welcome”, the hour-long The Courtney Act Show will see the glamorous and fabulous pop culture icon author her own show featuring an array of celebrity guests, studio items and music numbers.

The channel is claiming Courtney’s skill and sass will redefine late night television entertainment.

In a release, Courtney Act said, “This is my show and I say come on in, all you heroic misfits, those of you who are a bit chipped around the edges… I want to welcome you all. You bring the open minds and I’ll bring the open bar and we’ll meet in the middle for a gay old time!”

The Courtney Act Show was commissioned for Channel 4 by Sarah Lazenby, commissioning editor for Entertainment, and Steve Handley, commissioning editor for entertainment.

It is a Monkey Kingdom production and the executive producers are Ollie Brack and David Granger.

Glenn McGrath (credit: Sebastian Reategui)

• Summer of cricket details: Where to watch and who’s commentating

McGrath, the world’s highest Test wicket taker among fast bowlers with 564, was renowned for his impeccable line, length and bounce that regularly knocked over some of the best batsman of all time.

Glenn McGrath commented: “I am excited to join the Channel 7 team and represent the fast bowlers’ brigade in the commentary box. It’s going to be a great summer of cricket and I am proud to join Ricky, Flem and Slats in this new era for the game.”

Channel 7 head of cricket Dave Barham said: “Glenn is one of this country’s greatest ever sportsmen and we are rapt he is joining Seven. He will provide commentary across all our Test Matches this summer, four matches against India and two against Sri Lanka. No one speaks with more authority about fast bowling than Glenn and fans will be treated to his unique insights and vast knowledge all summer on Seven.”

The McGrath signing follows the recent announcement that Australia’s highest ever run-scorer and former captain, Ricky Ponting, will call Test matches and BBL on Seven, alongside Damien Fleming and Michael Slater.

Seven’s six-year agreement with Cricket Australia runs from 2018 through to 2024, includes domestic free-to-air broadcast rights to all the Test Matches as well as 43 of the 59 BBL matches each season.

Colombia’s Carlos Bacca in action during Round Of 16 Colombia v England, 2018 FIFA World Cup (credit: Marco Iacobucci EPP / Shutterstock)

• SBS announces FIFA World Cup Quarter Final broadcast schedule

The broadcaster detailed its Round Of 16 ratings in a release, which reads in part:

The first match was the most-watched fixture from the Round with 468,000 Australians  (Avg TTL Ppl – 411,000 Metro + 57,000 Regional) tuning in on SBS as the 2018 tournament’s youngest squad France were victorious over Argentina and their superstar Lionel Messi.

France v Argentina reached a total of 733,829 (Metro + Reg Reach) Australians across the country and achieved a Metro FTA share of 52.7% with Ppl 25-54. The peak minute was as half time begun with scores level (1-1) and 573,611 (Metro + Reg) watching, before the second half delivered an impressive five goals in 45 minutes, two from Les Bleus’ young gun Kylian Mbappé.

On the final morning of Round Of 16, England defeated Colombia, breaking their World Cup shoot-out curse, with 417,016 Australians (Metro + Reg Peak Minute) watching at 6.48am as Eric Dier sealed the win for the Three Lions.

To date, SBS’s coverage of Russia 2018, including 49 live matches, 19 match replays, pre- and post-match analysis and daily highlights program, FIFA World Cup Today, has reached 8.4 million Australians (Metro + Reg).

SBS’s coverage of the Premier League kicks off on August 11.

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Top photo: Colombia’s Carlos Bacca in action during Round Of 16 Colombia v England, 2018 FIFA World Cup (credit: Marco Iacobucci EPP / Shutterstock)

Barrett, who was in the commentary box when Hall made the comments about Leigh Montagna’s wife, has explained his role in the saga.

There was general laughter after the comment, which cost Hall his job at Triple M and a clothing sponsor this week.

“It wasn’t joke laughter, it wasn’t haha laughter… it was not humorous laughter, it was stupid laughter, it was spontaneous laughter, it was an awkward laughter, it was a nervous laughter, but it was not, as I’ve heard it described, uproarious laughter,” Barrett said on his Sounding Board podcast with Crocmedia owner Craig Hutchison today.

Hutchison responded that a “lot of people would find that a bit hard to believe what you’ve just said”.

Barrett said he took responsibility for his part in the conversation but rejected claims that Triple M had a problem with its behaviour following previous gaffes.

“It may sound really hollow in saying it, I would say, but we have fixed ourselves up – we had until the madness of that conversation going off the cliff last Friday night,” he said.

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The Sounding Board podcast criticised Herald Sun reporter Stephen Drill who also covered the Barry Hall incident earlier this week.