Argentina's Che Guevara became a T-shirt. Now WikiLeaks's Julian Assange is a wall. An image of the embattled Australian has appeared in a Stanmore laneway - his stare fixed on a ''no stopping'' sign with either prescient confidence or wishful thinking. While the artist, Sytak Ec Dnd, has cited George Orwell in his tribute, down the road at Sydney Town Hall yesterday Assange's supporters were opting for Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks. Speakers at the protest rally, ahead of Assange's extradition hearing in London today, cited the cases of the two Guantanamo Bay detainees while denouncing the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for her lack of support for their leading leaker. "WikiLeaks and the people who support WikiLeaks are not the villains in this struggle," said Assange's stepfather, Brett Assange.
HOG HEAVEN FOR A PIG PLUGGER
How much would you pay to go pig shooting from a helicopter with the shadow minister for healthier lifestyles? The going rate is about $1000, if a National Party fund-raising auction at the Amora Hotel Jamison, in the Sydney CBD,is anything to go by. But the weekend away with Kevin Humphries, including an aerial tour of the flood-affected areas of NSW, was just one of many prized items on offer at the campaign dinner on Friday night. The federal MP Rob Oakeshott might still have inspired feelings of sour grapes for some in the room, but a thank you bottle of wine signed by him, from happier days - back in 1996 when he won the party a seat in state Parliament - was snapped up. The state director of the NSW party, Ben Franklin, couldn't recall how much someone valued the independent MP's only ongoing contribution to his former party. But Franklin confirmed a dinner with leaders Andrew Stoner and Duncan Gay, at $4000, outpriced a morning surf and breakfast with Stoner and the shadow treasurer, Mike Baird. The auction raised between $10,000 and $15,000 for the party's election war chest, he said. ''It's just another way to raise some money for the state election and to give people an opportunity to kick up the government,'' Franklin said. Especially for whoever won the cowboy boot that, on a previous political occasion, was among gifts to VIPs at US President Ronald Reagan's 1984 Republican convention.
FILTHY FRIDGE FURY
A COUNTDOWN to March is also under way at the offices of ABC 24. The head of continuous news, Gaven Morris, sent out a chilly email to staff warning that next month he will remove their fridge if messy employees do not clean up their act. ''My dilemma is I know many of you aren't filthy, disrespectful children … and the fridge and kitchen allows you to bring meals in for the shifts when shops and the canteen aren't open,'' his missive reads. ''My problem is enough of you are frankly disgusting. The kitchen is often left in an appalling state and the fridge is disgraceful.'' He has demanded staff put their name on all food - and to dob in fridge offenders in an ''off-the-record note''. The email goes on: ''If there are items in there that are mouldy or rotting, the person whose name is on them will be formally disciplined and assigned to clean out the fridge.'' Morris did not respond to a call seeking a kitchen update. But, as with any good news man, his message points out the broader implications of office life without a fridge. ''If you want to live like backpackers, there'll be a Maccas up the street to get your dinner.''
OPERA BUFF BARBIE
SOME newcomers to Sydney's arts scene really are plastic types with no conversation. The Sydney Opera House CEO, Richard Evans, has sent an Opera House version of the Barbie doll to about 30 friends, including Sydney Symphony's managing director, Rory Jeffes, and the ABC managing director, Mark Scott. ''It was certainly a diversion, and it caused some significant amusement in my office,'' Scott told The Diary. Sydney Opera House Barbie wears a sail-inspired bodice and blue skirt, and has earrings, a clutch bag and a ''harbour breeze blowing in her hair''. The toymaker Mattel has also done versions featuring Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. ''I never had a Barbie doll growing up,'' Evans explained. ''So to run a cultural institution, having a Barbie doll modelled after [it] is not something I ever thought would happen in my life … If nothing else happens at the Opera House during my tenure, I will be remembered as the CEO who brought the Opera House to the world of nine-year-old girls.''
TEA AND ANARCHY
SUMMER can be tough for anarchists. Black hoodies are stifling at the beach, swimming between the flags undermines your insurrectionary credentials, and merrily licking an ice-cream doesn't exactly scream ''smash the state''. Luckily, some bright spark has come up with Anarchist Summer School. For three totally radical days from February 18, in locations throughout the inner west, anarcho-summerschoolists can enjoy a curiously well-ordered program, including workshops on anarchist theory and practice, anarcho-feminism and patch-making. There will even be a tea party. ''If you want to help organise summer school, then please contact us!'' the website reads. ''We're pretty friendly.''
And, it seems, with all those cuppas and needlework, not unlike a branch of the CWA - with gasmasks.
STAY IN TOUCH...
...WITH KYLIE'S DISAPPEARANCE
IT SEEMS the production of Australia's most successful musical in Toronto last year was the singing budgie in the mineshaft we all feared. For now comes the news that the smash hit Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Musical, due to open on Broadway in March, has followed the lead of the Canadians and had the many references to pop star Kylie Minogue changed - to Madonna. ''Kylie's not a household name in the States so they needed an equally fabulous gay icon for the show. Madonna was the obvious choice,'' a source told the Daily Mirror in London. Priscilla director Simon Phillips confirmed the report to the arts editor of The Age, Gina McColl. The film on which the musical is based originally referred to Abba, but this was changed to Kylie when the producers couldn't get the band's music rights because of Mamma Mia!, Phillips said. ''Kylie worked brilliantly in Australia and London because she is the darling of everyone.'' But in North America ''they said, 'Who is she?''' Minogue, presumably veering between devastation and indifference at the news, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Also cut from the musical was the line: ''No wonder your father shot through'', which apparently left US audiences astonished. ''Someone said it was a bit strange to make a joke about someone committing suicide.''
...WITH WINE
WE'D hate to think what the professionals are paying. But an amateur wine group has forked out a record €57,000 ($75,925) for a 237-year-old bottle of wine from France's eastern Jura region at a local wine festival auction. ''To sell a bottle for €57,000 is not crazy,'' the wine festival founder, Bernard Badoz, told AFP. Really? Because it sounds like it might be. ''Finally, yellow wine has hit the big leagues.'' The 1773 bottle boasts yellow wine from a Louis XV-era vine and grapes harvested during the reign of Louis XVI. Pierre Chevrier, a Swiss aficionado who bought the bottle on behalf of the group, did not seem too perturbed by the price for the top drop. ''My passion is to open bottles and I am delighted to have bought this bottle of yellow wine, which I will drink,'' he said. Hopefully, slowly.
GOT A TIP? Contact 9282 3427 or diary@smh.com.au.
Matt Buchanan is on leave.
