Media
KERR’S CURSE: Cocaine fuels Gallery try-hard’s paranoid pain
The Australian’s courageous choice of political correspondent in Christian Kerr may have backfired according to well-placed sources familiar with his situation.
The appointment had many puzzled when the national broadsheet hired the former Liberal turned lefty Crikey writer in 2008. Christian Kerr had previously admitted to a cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol addiction problem.
BIG SHOES TO FILL
He had big shoes to fill in replacing their Gallery colour writer Matt Price and is struggling to make the same contacts or quality observations that Pricey once did.
As a smug, inner-city type whose conservatism has been checked by a strong lust for latte, his views were considered by many more at home at the declining newspaper of the left The Age than The Australian.
But his overtures to the Spencer St Soviet were rejected in a surprisingly sensible staffing stand. Coffees with the paper’s lycra-clad deputy editor (and now editor) Paul Ramadge resulted in nothing more than mutual pleasantries. And while Kerr assiduously courted the then Daily Tele editor, David Penberthy, there was no job offer from the News Ltd tabloid either.
BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
His output on the national broadsheet has been haphazard and muted, a pale shadow of his early Crikey days when, as Hilary Bray, his colourful rants amused and appalled the political cognoscenti in equal measure.
Although Kerr made his name as Hilary, privately he loathed having to hide his light under a nom de plume. He enjoyed the license the Bray brand gave him to publish the most appalling defamations – and quite a few accurate and cutting representations of the political circus – but longed for stardom in his own right.
The Australian has given him that chance. But coming out of the closet has not been easy for Christian.
He has not had a problem ditching his past to assume the mantle of “respectable” meeja commentator; recently asserting that only mainstream media in Australia was any good and that only subsidised newspapers like The Australian ever broke stories.
This despite stealing dozens of stories from VEXNEWS and its predecessor publication in recent years, and looting other blogs for stories he then claims as his own, as this email demonstrates from last year demonstrates:
From: Greg Miskelly <Miskelly.Greg-at-abc.net.au>
Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Subject: PARLIAMENTARY MEMO
To: landeryou- at- gmail.com
G’day Andrew,
Media Watch are interested in the story you broke about the Parliamentary Memo on Tuesday, and Christian Kerr re-broke today:
We have a different angle to look at, perhaps we could discuss sometime tomorrow – my contacts are below.
kind regards,
Greg Miskelly
Supervising Producer
Media Watch
They didn’t do the story on Kerr’s plagiarism but the fact they noticed one of many “re-breaking” of stories incidents shows that Kerr’s modus operandi is well known.
Even considering his serial plagiarism, Kerr’s work isn’t in the same league as his more credible colleagues at the national broadsheet so it didn’t earn him the attention such stupid claims normally would have.
Many of the blogs and news sites that would normally have protested deemed his attack “trolling”, internet code for someone who annoys/insults others to gain attention and relevance so ignored the provocation, refusing to link to his mindless article.
PARANOIA PONCE
Kerr is reputedly very paranoid about references to him in the online media and according to a well-placed Gallery source, is forever vanity-searching his own name and scans his former employer’s loss-making daily email for any mention of his name.
It’s not the usual sensitivity of a Gallery drama queen either.
Some say it’s the highly paranoid behaviour that can be associated with long-term cocaine abuse.
Drug experts say:
When a person uses large amounts of cocaine numerous times in a binging type of way, they will most likely develop a sense of paranoia. Paranoia can be a frightening experience. Many times the person hears talking, footsteps, and other noises that are not really there. This causes the person to lose their sense of reality, leaving them trapped in a world full of voices and whispers. This can last for hours. They may look out of their window over and over a million times just to see if there are any suspicious people outside. They may be extremely quiet because they need to listen. They actually will hear people, but they are not really there…Violence can result and problems will almost always arise.
Symptoms associated with the illegal drug include many that Kerr currently presents with according to witnesses:
• agitation, excitability, irritability, nervousness, or restlessness
• confusion or hallucinations (seeing and hearing things that are not really there)
• difficulty passing urine or urinary incontinence
• dilated (enlarged) pupils
• dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting spells
• fast or irregular heartbeat
• headache
• increased sweating
• mood swings or other mental changes
• nasal pain (when used in the nose)
• nausea, vomiting
• nervous tics or rapid speech
• numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or arms
• seizures (convulsions)
• stomach pain
• anal tremor
• troubled breathing (hyperventilation)
• unusual muscle weakness
• loss of taste or sense of smell
• sneezing, sniffling, or stuffy nose (when used in the nose)
RATS TAKING COCAINE CAN SUFFER GREATLY
Other concerning long-term effects that cocaine testing on rats indicate include diminished brain size and capacity, deficits in executive function and decreased motor performance, a prematurely aging brain and a long-term difficulty in learning new tasks.
Kerr confessed to his ecstasy, alcohol and cocaine addiction to The Age in 2004 with insiders saying that cocaine had made him delusional, “very hard to work with” and paranoid. Betrayed lovers – of both genders – say he was a relentless cheater whose addictions defeated whatever good was left in the slightly balding Adelaide wannabe toff.
Since those dark days, he settled down, with an older grey-haired woman, and is expected to be more measured and disciplined in his approach. While his personal life might have calmed down, the discipline hasn’t followed, and the talk of it is reaching fever-pitch in gossipy circles of the Club Fed Gallery who find it hard to believe he got any job at all, let alone replacing a man of Matt Price’s stature.
He has rubbed up many of his colleagues in Canberra the wrong way since his arrival with some attributing his pushy, territorial and unnecessarily competitive behaviour with journalists to years of working in isolation and his addictions. It has stood as a stark contrast with the relaxed ways of his predecessor who seemed so very comfortable in his skin.
He insists he is “on the wagon” when friends ask him, yet some suspect his red-eyes betray him. We can only hope he’s
Kerr has been a regular attendee at Canberra Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since his move up north and is believed to profess a strong faith in God now. If sincere, that’s commendable but if you talk the talk without walking the walk, you might just end up a complete mess, who can only besmirch the fine brand of one of the nation’s best newspapers.
Discussion
25 comments for “KERR’S CURSE: Cocaine fuels Gallery try-hard’s paranoid pain”
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Bullshit. Kerr is well and truly off the wagon.
I’ve never been a fan of Kerr or his alter ego Hillary Bray’s work. He is certainly no Matt Price or even a colourful diversion like Vex News.
Admittedly he is a knob for both his rampant drug use and making this public knowledge, but somehow this piece seems somewhat ungenerous and to be a crossing the line.
Whoa Andrew.
Pretty heavy call.
You really want to be on solid ground to assert that someone who appears to be trying to do a reasonable job is drug dysfunctional.
You and your correspondents may not agree with KC. And equally you may have bitter issues with me, if you had a chance to dig in to my life. ( eep )
But I hope you are standing on granite footings to make assertions about anyone like this ?
Pretty harsh if someone is trying to pull back from the edge of addiction.
Perhaps more comment required ?
We don’t have any issue with his right to recover from addiction. We can only encourage it.
But if he’s going to make personal attacks, particularly those that suggest a deep personal paranoia and self-loathing, he’s probably going to be analysed by those he’s attacking.
Are we unsubtle, harsh and unfair in the way we approach things?
Sometimes we can be a bit tough but if Kerr wants to act all Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, he’d better be able to endure the heat.
Consider his barely description of VEXNEWS and blogs generally:
‘And we have no political bloggers who break stories.’
Ahem. He steals our stories often enough.
Or this:
‘And there is one final type of political blog: the online shit-sheet, the internet equivalent of the anonymous lies, smears and distortions that get peddled in the parties, particularly the ALP and particularly at pre-selection time.’
Every element of that is wrong. We’re not really a blog any more than The Australian’s website is, but we’re happy to be referred to that way if it makes him feel better.
We’re not anonymous, our publisher’s name is well-known and he is frequently the subject of legal threats from people who don’t like our brand of truth.
Those – like Kerr – know that VEXNEWS breaks more political stories than most, in a style some might not like but clearly many do.
So many that our web host is complaining about the huge increase in traffic.
So we don’t take Kerr’s criticism that seriously but if he can dish it out, he can take it too.
The fact that some of our regular patriot readers wince at the article above, wince at its frankness because it’s all true and mostly on the public record already, comforts us this evening that our response was perfectly proportional, even down to the lookalike photo of Kerr hacking into his favourite white powder. LOL.
How old are you? 14?
I neither know nor have any strong opinions about Christian Kerr. I don’t know you either, but I could, after reading the massive bile splatter above, come up with a doctored picture, some spurious graphs and a few hundred words’ worth of vindictive, incomprehensible dross that would prove, without doubt, that you are suffering from the chronic side effects of being a complete and utter fuckwit.
Andrew, Kerr is fair game. Good on you for giving him a serve. He deserves it.
Kerr has dished out much worse than this and the difference is the spineless maggot did it anonymously for a long time.
Thanks VexNews for sticking it to him.
Kerr is scum. That a reputable organisation such as News Limited, the producer of the Heart of the Nation, is very sad. “Australian” readers deserve better.
Kerr is a grub. He’s spoken vile words about others, bout time he copped his punishment.
Kerr is a joke.
Rat Dog Riva and Coke Head Kerr have a lot in common: they are both tools.
Wayne Swan must resign.
Malcolm Turnbull must resign.
Christian Kerr must resign.
Where did you obtain that photograph from? If that’s not actually Christian going snorty I’d be amazed. Is this Mossad supplied?
Joe Hockey must resign – he too is LINO filth.
Considering Kerr was at one time a contributor to this august organ (or perhaps its predecessor) I can only assume there has been a titanic falling out.
I have a few things in common with Chrissy Kerr.
First, we are both from Adelaide.
Second, we are both called Chrissy.
Fiona K. is right. Vile, spurious drivel has once again hit the front-page at Vex – and we shouldn’t be at all surprised. Using personal medical histories in order to pass corrupted judgement on political opponents within the media is unethical, reprehensible and absolutely devoid of any skerrick of journalistic integrity. Also, for your fawning “patriots” to resort to the universally childish retort of “he did it first so he deserved it!” is quite honestly embarrassing. Is that the sentiment and attitude that feeds your oh-so-noble cause?
Poor old conservative Australia… always espousing the wholesomeness of family values, but still unable to grasp the most simple of childhood lessons, that two wrongs do not, in any way, make a right.
Grow up, stop flinging your food about at those imagined threats to freedom, and join the rest of us at the adults table of political discourse. We’re sick and tired of waiting for you.
Joe Hockey can’t even read BIS reports. He can eat, but he can’t read. He must resign. Where’s Mike Bailey?
Where’s Bin?
Where’s my stalker? And my second wife?
Alex is wrong. Christian Kerr is a public figure who writes snootily about others in the most scathing and judgmental way. That’s not a furphy, that’s actually quite central to the value of this story.
When Rush Limbaugh took illegal painkillers in the United States, was it fair for that to be reported on?
True that Limbaugh is much higher profile and more successful than a burned out coke fiend turned Gallery hack but the principle is the same.
Kerr is a conservative who thinks he’s better and bigger than he is.
The Australian should never have hired him. He’s a joke.
Often times it seems like the approach taken here is deliberately over the top to prove a point. And the point is well made.
Christian Kerr is a skunk, a skunk as a Liberal staffer, a skunk as an anonymous Crikey slagger, a skunk at the Australian.
Hopefully Hartigan will clear out a lot of the deadwood from the Gallery as he appeared to promise today at NPC.
A young, inquisitive and enthusiastic reporter would cost much less than Kerr and do twice the job. Bring them on.
Dump – I’m not adverse to The Australian hiring new, cheaper and more productive talent – my issue is with the journalistic conduct of Vex in approaching this goal. Medical histories – including those related to substance-abuse – should not be raised with the intent of implying professional misconduct, especially when such claims are politically and personally motivated, as is so blatantly the case in this scenario.
Kerr may well be a skunk. He may also be a poor choice as The Australian’s presence in the gallery. But to stoop as low as low as past personal addictions and scurrilous insinuations completely negates any credibility the argument would have otherwise possessed. The potency of the criticism is irrevocably weakened when coupled with such tabloid grime.
You can defend the merits of Vex’s action with all the comparisons and justifications you like, but it will never be enough to satisfy the most basic tenets of journalistic ethics and responsibility.
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