{"id":202430,"date":"2025-10-10T07:45:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/202430\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T07:45:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:45:19","slug":"university-of-melbourne-publishes-media-guide-about-being-more-positive-about-possums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/202430\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Melbourne publishes media guide about being more positive about possums"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the release of this guide, the announcement that chemistry professor Richard Robson has won the Nobel Prize in chemistry<\/a>, and the university securing a top ranking in the Times Higher Education<\/a> rankings, coming in at 37th globally \u2013 it has been quite the week for the University of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Another Murdoch property play? <\/p>\n

Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch are not ones to quietly brag about their property purchases, preferring to instead keep such things undisclosed behind the names of associates and trusts \u2013 at least until curious property watchers, like your nosy columnists, lose interest.<\/p>\n

Given that, and in the absence of any official comment from their quarter, it remains unknown if they were the recent $21 million buyers of the 1930s mansion, Fernlee, in Bellevue Hill<\/a>, a harbourside suburb of Sydney.<\/p>\n

\"Lachlan<\/p>\n

Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch. Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

But if you were to lay bets, the odds look good. After all, the commanding hillside residence is perched in prime position directly in front of the Murdochs\u2019 Le Manoir estate, where News Corp\u2019s royal couple host a who\u2019s who of Australian business, media and political elite at their annual Christmas bash.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also flanked by a couple of other houses that the Murdochs have quietly picked up over the years given their potential to offer a bird\u2019s-eye view back into Le Manoir.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

The family trophy home has been taking shape since 2009 when the former French consulate was picked up for what was then an auction record of $23 million. An $11.6 million renovation followed from 2011-14, and they\u2019ve added a couple of the neighbouring houses for $2.63 million and $4.4 million apiece.<\/p>\n

What we do know is that the long-held home of the late Hong Kong medicos Robert and Katherine Yiu was sold for a tad more than $21 million to an \u201cexpat living overseas\u201d in August. A whole $7 million over the original price guide, thanks to a fairly aggressive bidding war at a private auction.<\/p>\n

Further, it was purchased in the name of a trust, and the sale contract signed by a lawyer. The same trust through which the Murdochs bought a $38.5 million boat shed at the foot of Wunulla Road in Point Piper, where CBD recently reported<\/a> the couple are planning to build a new driveway.<\/p>\n

Anyway, while all eyes pointed to the Murdochs, their representatives were a polite, but firm, \u201cno comment\u201d.<\/p>\n

But if it walks like a duck … <\/p>\n

Back in town<\/p>\n

SPOTTED: Former federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer back in Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday, sitting alone on a couch but getting a friendly wave from teal independent Allegra Spender.<\/p>\n

Archer, who earned the ire of some of her more conservative colleagues thanks to a penchant for crossing the floor (most recently to vote against the Albanese government\u2019s teenage social media ban<\/a> which had been supported by the opposition), lost her Tasmanian seat of Bass in the May massacre.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two of the Coalition\u2019s only pro-Voice MPs, Julian Leeser and Bridget Archer in 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Among the loudest voices accusing Archer of disloyalty was fellow Tasmanian Liberal Gavin Pearce, who threatened<\/a> to withhold his own preselection for the neighbouring seat of Braddon unless she was pushed out.<\/p>\n

He ultimately decided not to recontest the last federal election. But the pair has now been happily reunited at the Tasmanian cabinet table, drafted by Premier Jeremy Rockliff to run at the state\u2019s recent snap election. Archer is now health minister while Pearce holds the primary industries and water portfolios. Despite all the muttering about disloyalty, she\u2019s had a softer landing than most vanquished Liberals.<\/p>\n

As for Archer\u2019s Canberra return, we hear she was in town for meetings with federal ministers related to her portfolio. Reunion!<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the release of this guide, the announcement that chemistry professor Richard Robson has won the Nobel Prize…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-202430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}