Last week, Nine appointed former Daily Mail and Fox Sports boss Luke McIlveen executive editor of its metropolitan mastheads, replacing Tory Maguire, who was promoted to be head of publishing.
McIlveen’s appointment reportedly raised eyebrows among some staff, with concerns about the potential cultural clash considering his previous jobs with outlets such as The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. Crikey understands some of McIlveen’s tweets have been circulating in Nine’s newsrooms.
Since McIlveen’s appointment, an article has resurfaced that he wrote for The Daily Telegraph in 2004 while he was a federal political reporter for The Australian, in which he defended a relationship between a 33-year-old man and his girlfriend, a seven-month-pregnant 15-year-old.
Three people died in a high-speed car crash in November 2004 on the NSW Central Coast after a 20-year-old P-plater sneaked out of home with his father’s modified Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R. Some accounts claimied it produced more than twice the power it came with from the factory.
Also in the car was the 33-year-old man and his 15-year-old girlfriend. All three people died when the car hit a bump at around 180km/h and flew over 40 metres into a power pole on Chamberlain Road, Wyoming. The highly publicised crash would be followed eventually by the establishment of vehicle power restrictions for provisional licence holders around the country.
On November 26, 2004, The Daily Telegraph published a piece by McIlveen titled “Too quick to judge loss and young love”. McIlveen, a Wyoming native who described himself as familiar with the scene of the crash, wrote:
Ray Hadley cautiously but firmly raised the issue yesterday in his morning segment on Radio 2GB, tapping the mood of consternation surrounding the background to this terrible accident. The tone of the program, as with other talkback calls and water-cooler comment at work, was this: so he was 33 and she was 15? That means the girl must have been having sex at, what, 14? 13?
McIlveen continued: “One fact is irrefutable — under the law governing the age of consent, and under different circumstances, the story of the relationship between [the couple] could have played out very differently. But those who would rush to condemn this dead couple should appraise themselves of a
few facts.”
McIlveen went on to note how “the idea of a teenage girl falling pregnant to a man more than twice her age is deeply shocking to some people”, but said “[the girl’s father] was comfortable with the man his daughter had chosen and that should be more than enough”, going on to describe the “real advantages” of children born to young parents.
“Surely the real issue to emerge from this catastrophe is the access of testosterone-charged, inexperienced drivers to powerful cars. It’s not about young couples in love,” he wrote.
“We should be praising [the girl] for committing to one of life’s biggest challenges at such a young age. While her friends were working out how to talk their way into local nightclubs, [she] was preparing to raise a child.”
McIlveen then cited a 2004 Productivity Commission report that presented a declining fertility rate as a challenge for Australia into the future: “For all the controversy surrounding their relationship, [the man and teenager] were doing their bit to address this problem … The last thing [the community needs] is moralisers lecturing on the rights and wrongs of teenage pregnancy.”
At the time of publication of McIlveen’s article, section 66C of the NSW Crimes Act outlined sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 14 and 16 as an offence that carried the penalty of imprisonment for up to 10 years. This remains the case today.
The print version of the article shows it was accompanied by a cartoon depicting a heavily pregnant schoolgirl.
Crikey put a series of questions to Nine, including whether it was aware of the article before hiring McIlveen and whether it believes the views presented were appropriate for editorial leadership in its newsrooms. Nine declined to comment for this article.
Crikey also put questions to McIlveen, including whether editorial leaders should be judged on their past work. McIlveen did not respond in time for publication.
Crikey also put similar questions to Campbell Reid, editor of The Daily Telegraph when McIlveen’s article was published, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
McIlveen’s tweets, which Crikey understands have been circulating around newsrooms, include a 2013 tweet during that year’s federal election, and a 2014 tweet while editor of the Daily Mail. At the time of writing, both tweets remain live.
In 2014, McIlveen reposted a story on Twitter about model and 2012 Miss Universe Australia Renae Ayris working out in Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay, describing it as “some photos of former Miss World Australia training in a Sydney park yesterday. With some words.”
Another tweet from 2013 refers to Nine’s federal election coverage, which featured Howard-era treasurer Peter Costello.
“Tell you what, Costello could do with a run round the block,” McIlveen wrote on Twitter. Costello has served as the chair of Nine Entertainment Co since 2016, the company that now employs McIlveen.
Speaking to McIlveen’s former associates at previous mastheads paints an equally colourful picture. On learning of his appointment at Nine, one former colleague reacted to this correspondent: “No fucking way. Jesus ever-loving Christ.”
Asked to describe working under McIlveen, they said, “He’s a boy’s boy sort of a fella … was decent at his job, but not a great leader.
“In fact, was a shit leader. Didn’t mind protecting the mates. He’s probably a very good friend of the people he’s close to.
“He’s a good journo and he’s got a good eye for a story … but are there no women in Australia we could hire?”
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