Whoa! Kerry Packer is dead......will it make a difference?

Crikey:


Kerry Packer dies, an era ends


By Anthony Stavrinos

Family and close friends have gathered at the Bellevue Hill home of Australia's richest man Kerry Packer after the media mogul died overnight, aged 68. The cause of the billionaire's death is not yet known, with an autopsy to be conducted, but his condition quickly deteriorated after he became ill on Christmas Day, according to a source close to the family.

The source said Packer's son and heir, James, cut short an overseas trip and returned to Sydney yesterday, several hours before his father's death. It's not known whether one of Mr Packer's last wishes was for his own Nine Network to break the news of his death - but it did, in the final minute of this morning's Today Show.

Packer's wife, Ros Packer, had personally overseen extensive renovations to the family's peninsula home in recent weeks and it's understood that it is from here that the family returned to their Bellevue Hill mansion when Mr Packer began to show signs of deteriorating health.

Tributes to Kerry Packer and his random acts of generosity have been pouring in, including one from PM John Howard and his media rival (and friend) Rupert Murdoch.

"Kerry was both a lifelong friend and a tough competitor. He was the most successful businessman of our generation," Murdoch said in a statement. "As a broadcaster, he had an uncanny knack of knowing what people across the country were thinking and this finely-tuned antennae made him the best broadcaster the country has seen."

Howard was also glowing in his praise for Packer, describing him as "one of the dominant figures, if not the dominant Australian figure of the media scene in this country for more than a generation."

"Of all the impressions he left with me, none was greater, or more indelible than his passionate commitment to the interests of Australia and the interests of the Australian people," Howard told journalists at a Kirribilli doorstop today.

"In all of the many conversations I had with him over the years, he was always concerned about what was right for this country. And the last one-on-one personal discussion we had at his home some two months ago, he was full of ideas for the future of Australia and ways in which this could be made a better country."

The closest the PM got to revealing the other side of Kerry Packer was in this exchange, which he cut short when a journalist raised the issue of Packer's dislike of paying tax:

JOURNALIST: Mr Howard, some people who knew him well have been speaking on radio this morning. Describing him variously as generous, loyal, charismatic, and also that in his own way he could be a tyrant. Have you ever experienced that last of those?

PRIME MINISTER: No. I've certainly, look Kerry was a forceful bloke. I don't think anybody would suggest otherwise and he would not want anybody to have thought otherwise. I found him a person who always spoke his mind, you always knew exactly what he thought about everything, that is how I liked him. That is what Australians liked about him. He certainly had that capacity that came out wonderfully in that parliamentary appearance where he spoke for millions in suggesting that the public wasn't so impressed about certain things happening at that time that they were lining up to donate more tax.

JOURNALIST: He certainly had a fearsome reputation, was that reputation well deserved?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, my experience with him was, is, was, as I described it. I am not here to go into all of the minutiae, different things. He was a very forthright person, he was highly intelligent, he had a great sense of humour, he was a very loyal friend and he was a very generous friend and many people who have worked for him will testify to that.

High-profile broadcaster Alan Jones, former Nine sports presenter Mike Gibson and criminal lawyer, Chris Murphy were among others who paid tribute through talkback radio .

"Kerry had been weak for some time. He died peacefully," Jones told his own radio station 2GB, while on holidays. "He died peacefully, he was with his family, he was at home. I think he was very grateful for that."

"Kerry Packer's influence on Australia has been immense and not just in a public way. He has left an indelible mark in business, sport and community service. He is someone who will truly never be forgotten," PBL's executive director, Sam Chisholm, said in a statement.