Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
“Many of you will have uplifting and distinct memories of him, regardless of whether you met him, but especially if you did.”
I had the pleasure of organising an event for the NSW Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee back in late 1990s and George Negus, the sexiest man down under, agreed to give a speech. At only few days notice, George flew down from the Promised Land - The Never Never river - of Bellingen. He informed and entertained so many characters during his journalistic life and to boot generously donated his time to share his stories even when he was forced to face audiences from the bear pit.
As luck would have it I crossed paths with George at Dorrigo and in Brisbane there are these fond larrikin memories as I was fortunate to share an extremely long liquid lunch/dinner with fearless George back in September 2021 … the week of the tragic 9/11.
Hugh Lunn, 🐉 , George Negus (2001)
An icon of journalism.
A legendary broadcaster.
A friend to many
George “balanced courage with empathy; tough when he needed to be, not shy of the truth of the story, and always fair. Now more than ever we need journalists with that level of integrity”
Veteran journalist and broadcaster George Negus has died at the age of 82 following a battle with Alzheimer's disease, his family said in a statement.
The statement said Negus "passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones" and thanked Australian healthcare workers for supporting him "in the best possible way" during his final moments.
"Despite the challenges diseases like Alzheimer's inflict on families, we still shared beautiful times, laughter and happiness together in recent times.
When George Negus finished grilling then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981, he thought he'd be locked up in the Tower of London.
"She demanded that the interview be used without any editing, which we refused to do," Negus told ABC News Breakfast.
In a 60 Minutes interview that would go on to become one of his most famous, Negus asked Thatcher why the British people thought she was "pig-headed" and "inflexible".
"Would you tell me who has stopped you in the street and said that?" Thatcher asked Negus.
"Ordinary Britons," he responded.
"Would you tell me who, and when and where?" she asked.
Veteran journalist George Negus has died, aged 82.
Negus was a founding member of the 60 Minutes reporting team alongside Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and producer Gerald Stone. Negus was also the founding host of the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent.
George Negus, a founding member of the 60 Minutes reporting team, has died, aged 82.CREDIT: SIMON SCHLUTER
In a statement on Tuesday, Negus’ family said he had “passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones after a gracious decline from Alzheimer’s disease, all the while with his trademark smile”.
The Negus family said they had shared “beautiful times, laughter, and happiness together in recent times” despite the renowned journalist’s health issues.
“George told us endlessly that he never imagined having a family, so the part of his life we shared was everything to him, and always his priority. While we know he will be celebrated for his unique contribution to journalism, football, and the environment, he would also want to be remembered for the incredible family man he was,” said his partner, Kirsty Cockburn, and sons, Ned and Serge, on behalf of the Negus family.
“Indeed, we will remember him for those wonderful contributions to the world and the rich life experience he shaped for us.
Founding 60 Minutes presenter and veteran journalist George Negus has died aged 82.
“Many of you will have uplifting and distinct memories of him, regardless of whether you met him, but especially if you did.”
Negus started his journalism career writing for the Australian Financial Review and The Australian before later forming part of the founding 60 Minutes team. In 1992, Negus hosted the first episode of ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, where he worked until
In a tribute posted on social media, 60 Minutes said Negus was an “icon of journalism”, a “legendary broadcaster” and a “friend to many”.
Martin told Nine News television had been created “for someone like George Negus”.
“To see George in a war zone with his moustache bristling and his eyes flashing and the jacket over his shoulder with a war going on behind – that was Negus,” he said.
“It was made for George.”
Leslie, who worked with Negus on 60 Minutes for several years from its launch in 1979, said he was “fearless” during overseas postings.
“He thought he was indestructible,” Leslie said.
George Negus
Leslie said it was an “absolute joy” to form the inaugural 60 Minutes team alongside Negus and Martin despite the pressure for the program to succeed.
“All I say is thank God we had George because we needed that strong character and that spark that the audience very quickly identified with,” Leslie said.
Leslie said the last time he, Negus, Martin and Stone got together before Stone’s passing in 2020, the quartet had a “furious argument about everything”, shared a beer and parted ways with their decades-long relationship strong as ever
Jana Wendt, who also worked alongside Negus on 60 Minutes, said he was the “very image of a foreign correspondent”.
“Our boisterous, irrepressible colleague has left us the gift of his own unforgettable story,” she said.
Longtime 60 Minutes reporter and former Today Show co-host Liz Hayes told Nine News Negus was “larger than life”.
In one of Negus’ most famous interviews, he went head-to-head with then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981, when he told the “Iron Lady” that Britons had labelled her “pig-headed”.
Thatcher peppered Negus with questions, asking who had made the comments, when they were made, and where.
Margaret Thatcher being interviewed by George Negus in 1981.
“I’m sorry, it’s an expression I have never heard. Tell me who has said it to you, when and where,” Thatcher said.
With a grin, Thatcher concluded Negus “obviously cannot say who or where” the comments had come from.
“Isn’t this interesting? Even the tone of voice you’re using is changing from what you used earlier,” she said.
In a 2013 interview, Negus told the ABC thatnot a month had passed without him being asked about the encounter.
“I thought for a moment if I wasn’t careful or got out of the place and out of the country quickly, I’d end up in the Tower of London,” Negus said.
“But it also meant I got seats and tables at restaurants in London for a while that I never thought I’d get.”
Negus was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for his service to the media as a journalist and television presenter, and to conservation and the environment. In 2021, he received a Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.
The Project presenter and co-host of ABC Radio National’s Global Roaming, Hamish Macdonald, said Negus took him under his wing when he joined The Negus Project in 2011 and the pair had developed a close personal bond.
“It was a professional relationship that became a very genuine and important friendship,” Macdonald said.
“At one point, I think I was assigned the task of trying to teach him how to use Twitter which didn’t go down very well, but our friendship survived.”
Macdonald said Negus had maintained his “wonderful cheeriness” even through his health battle.
“I feel sad today but I feel very lucky to have known George Negus and to have learned something from him.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the wave of tributes for Negus on Tuesday afternoon, remembering him as a “giant of Australian journalism”.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist and friend Peter FitzSimons said beneath Negus’ “twinkling eyes and world-class moustache of the blokey larrikin was a great journalist and storyteller with a very strong intellect”.
Football Australia said Negus, a former Soccer Australia board member, was a “friend of football” and a “titan of journalism”.
The Negus family suggested mourners “kick a football, enjoy a hearty bowl of pasta, plan your next adventure to somewhere intriguing, or ask a curious question you think needs answering” to connect with memories of Negus.
“Even better, do all of those things and do them together with people you love,” it said.
“That’s what he would have done.”
George Negus on paying tax
If tax is the price we pay for a civilised society, is tax evasion the
ultimate act of bad citizenship?
We've all heard the adages - in the pub, at the footy, at smart
inner-city dinner parties and laid-back suburban BBQs.
'Avoiding paying tax? Not a crime until you get caught!' 'Death and
taxes, two things in life you can't avoid - well death anyway ...' And the
one with a curiously Shakespearian flavour: 'Tax? To evade or not to evade,
that is the question!'
As we hear it from the experts, for thousands of money-conscious,
wealth-aware Australians, that double-edged sword is an annual dilemma, a
persistent temptation for even normally law-abiding
'digger-cobber-sport-mates'.
Apparently, year-by-year, their pecuniary honesty and personal values
are challenged by tax integrity.
So let's ask the critical question- what is this demon 'tax'? Is this
tiny three-letter conundrum a pain-in-the-butt bug-bear or the very
cornerstone of our daily existence? Is it a patriotic obligation or something
to be avoided, whatever the cost?
You've probably noticed those unapologetically politically-driven 'Tax
is theft!' bumper stickers that turn up every now and then on the back-end of
cars around the country.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, a man of the courts in the US in the early 1900s
had no such concerns and once stated 'I like to pay taxes. With them I buy
civilisation.'
The ATO has no doubts about its veracity. 'We pay tax so the government
can provide services to the community.' They might have a point. Something
like 66% of Federal Government revenue and almost as much, 57% of the total
revenue across the three tiers of government comes from tax.
By definition, paying the correct amount of tax the law demands of us
is, in fact, buying the community services and systems we depend on and that
a civil society expects to enjoy - including health, education and law
enforcement.
Consciously evading tax, therefore, robs the community as a whole - not
just the 'tax man'. Which brings us to a critical point of difference in tax
terminology, evading tax and minimising tax are not one and the same.
Wanting to minimise your tax bill is as human as not wanting to get up
and go to the office on Monday morning! And there are apparently many legal
ways to do this. Not wanting to pay any more tax than the laws of the land
dictates should not and does not make you a tax criminal. That said,
understating your taxable income and over-stating your tax deductions means
not only are you dodgy at arithmetic, but you could also find yourself the
target of the ATO!
So, if tax is the price we pay for government to provide the society we
enjoy, is there a cost for not paying them? There certainly is and that's the
flip-side of the taxpayer's love-hate relationship with the tax-collector.
We're not talking Monopoly here but 'Do not pass Go; do not collect
$200; go directly to jail!' pretty much says it all...
