And here’s the Press Gallery letter

PRESS GALLERY COMMITTEE

David Alexander
Media Advisor
Treasurer

CC Ray Gavin,
Acting Director, Liaison
TREASURY

Dear David,

I am writing on behalf of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery Committee to express our concern at the exclusion of Crikey.com from the 2005/2006 Budget lockup.

Crikey is an organisation accredited to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and two of its staff have Press Gallery passes. As such, the Press Gallery believes Crikey journalists should be entitled to the same rights and access as other Gallery members when it comes to media events, including the Budget lockup and Treasurer Peter Costello’s budget-day media conference.

James Grubel
Gallery Secretary
May 4, 2005

Hi,
Received the following in the CPA (Certified Practising Accountants) newsletter today. Looks like they are more mainstream than you guys.

CPA Australia’s 2005-06 Federal Budget coverage

Treasurer the Hon Peter Costello, MP will deliver the 2005-06 budget at 7.30 pm AEST on 10 May 2005. CPA Australia will have teams in Canberra and Melbourne working to provide the latest budget night news on our website. Further commentary will also be available on the website following the budget.

Our analyst, Paul Drum, will attend the industry ‘lock-up’ in Canberra to scan the budget papers for any announcements that affect members, their clients and the accounting profession

Stick it up them