of Bob Hawke, Australia's Prime Minister at the time - although Hawke was reported to have been irked by Gillies' portrayal, and made disparaging remarks about it to him when they met, even though Hawke claimed he had never seen the show. The Gillies Report was followed by sequels The Gillies Republic (1986) and Gillies and Company (1992). Cook, Scott and Kelso would go on to make a similar program for the ABC called The Dingo Principle (1987). Harmer went on to host the landmark ABC-TV live sketch comedy series The Big Gig, and Peter Moon became a leading cast member of the popular and long-running TV sketch comedy series Fast Forward. The "Goanna" Sketch One of the series' most celebrated sketches was its famous send-up of media magnate Kerry Packer, who was reported to have been "furious" about it. At the time, Packer was in the news because he had been investigated by the Costigan Commission for his suspected involvement in organised crime, drug dealing and tax evasion rackets, and the claims caused a sensation in the Australian media. Packer, who was codenamed "Squirrel" in the Commission's evidence, could only be referred to in the media by the nickname "Goanna" (coined by The National Times), due to Australia's draconian libel and defamation laws. This led to a number of satires on the matter, including the Gillies Report sketch and a satirical T-shirt marketed by a Queensland independent satirical magazine The Cane Toad Times, which conflated the Costigan allegations with the Lacoste shirt brand, renaming the brand as "Lacostigan" and replacing Lacoste's alligator emblem with a goanna, in reference to Packer. The Gillies Report sketch also parodied Packer's self-serving appearance to defend himself on his own network's current-affairs programme. It opens with Patrick Cook, in barrister's wig and gown, putting questions to 'Packer' (Gillies), about the allegations. He at first responds amiably, but gradually becomes enraged by the interrogation and the hostile reaction of the audience, and finally smashes up his desk, revealing that he has a long lizard-like tail. As the cast perform a satirical quasi-operatic song about the case, Packer - now transformed into "The Goanna" - is pursued through the TV station by the mob but, parodying King Kong, he escapes by scaling the transmitter tower of Packer's Sydney TV station TCN-9 where, now grown to gigantic size, he catches and crushes a news helicopter from a