With Alan Carpenter becoming the latest former journalist to achieve
the rank of Premier, we’re updating our comprehensive list of media
types who made it into our Parliaments over the years. We’re also
building three other lists – journalists who made it into local
government, journalists who failed in a tilt at any public office and
politicians who worked in the media after leaving office. This is
unique, albeit relatively trivial, research and we want to get it right
so send all additions and corrections to smayne @ crikey.com.au.

Tony Abbott: was a journalist with The Bulletin and The Australian
before becoming press secretary and political adviser to the Leader of
the Opposition, Dr John Hewson, and then entering the parliament and rising to Health Minister in the Howard Government.

Peter Andren: Federal Independent member for Calare
was a local TV presenter on Channel 8 in Orange (now Prime) from 1976
until 1996 and before that a radio news editor from 1968.

Bruce Atkinson: Victorian Liberal in the upper house who continues to work on a retail trade magazine.

Michael Atkinson: the South Australian Labor Attorney General and media junkie was once The Advertiser’s industrial reporter but is very coy about this background on his website.

Ian Baker:
the former ABC news chief of staff in Victoria was Agriculture Minister
in the Kirner Government and gloated about creating the WorkCare
monster. Flopped as an independent in the 1999 campaign in his old seat
of Sunshine and now on the outer with Labor.

Ezekiel Alexander Baker:
a journalist who who later became the Minister for Mines in NSW but was
expelled from the NSW Parliament following an enquiry into payments
from the Mines Department to some mines in which he had an interest at
Bumbaldry, between Grenfell and Cowra.

Michael Baume: a former Investment Editor of The AFR who also started The Bulletin’s Speculator column, Baume was a Liberal politician from 1975 to 1996 and is back writing columns for The AFR after a stint in New York as Consul-General.

Tony Benneworth:
Former Tasmanian state cricketer and journalist, who rose to become the
uninspiring Liberal member for the state seat of Bass. Now a newsagent
and turned up at the 2005 Gunns AGM to heap praise on the giant
tree-lopping outfit.

Craig Bildstein: The party boy
former Liberal MP for Mildura was a regional TV reporter who took his
eye off the ball and let Independent Russell Savage win his seat in
1996. After various other political and spinning jobs he’s now back in
journalism for The Advertiser in Adelaide.

John Bowler: formerly of the ABC and now proprietor of The Golden Mail and ALP Member for Eyre in the WA Parliament.

Brian Burke:
Channel Seven journalist to dodgy WA Labor Premier, to jail and now
working for the CFMEU and as a controversial Perth lobbyist who still
wields a lot of power in the Right faction.

Brian Cahill: former TV news reader in Brisbane who became a National Party MLA and is now a part-time actor.

Eoin Cameron: From radio broadcaster to Federal Liberal backbencher and then back to 6PR and ABC Radio in Perth where he now does Breakfast.

Alan Carpenter:Daily News Perth, Channel Seven, ferocious 7.30 Report
presenter and then Labor Minister for Education in WA, just like Mary
Delahunty in Victoria. Moved to state development after the 2005
election and now tipped as a likely prospect to replace Geoff Gallop as
Premier.

Bob Carr:The Bulletin and ABC news and
current affairs to NSW Labor Premier who made it into a third term but
then retired to join Macquarie Bank on a lucrative consultancy last
year.

Bob Cheek: the former Liberal leader in Tasmania is best remembered
for his 2005 book lifting the lid on political perks but before that he
was a businessman who had previously spent time as a journalist with The Mercury in Hobart, a profession two of his children have followed him into.

Senator John Cherry: The former Queensland Democrat senator was a hack on Rupert’s Townsville Daily Bulletin and is now CEO of the Queensland Farmers’ Federation after losing his seat at the 2004 federal election.

Peter Collins: The former Liberal leader in NSW and state Treasurer was a television journalist and researcher for Four Corners.

Ian Cover: from 3AW broadcaster on The Coodabeen Champions to Liberal Upper House MP in Victoria and now back on the ABC.

James Cox: Tasmanian Labor MHA for Bass, previously on 7EX in Launceston.

John Curtin: Was an accomplished journalist before becoming PM, including stints on The Westralian Worker and was president of the Perth division of the Australian Journalists’ Association from 1920 until 1925.

Alfred Deakin: journalist on The Age and then the Morning Post in London before rising to become Premier of Victoria and then Prime Minister.

Bob Debus:
Energy Minister and Attorney General in the Carr Government who was an
ABC broadcaster, Executive Producer of the ABC’s Department of Radio
Talks and Documentaries in the 1970s.

Mary Delahunty: Labor’s Education Minister and later Planning and now Arts Minister in Victoria was a former presenter of The 7.30 Report and Four Corners reporter who won a Walkley.

Charles Gavan Duffy: owner of The Nation (Dublin), The Advocate (Melbourne), Premier of Victoria.

Jeannie Ferris: The Liberal Senator was a New Zealand journalist who crossed the Tasman to work at The Canberra Times. She then became a biting editor of the Yass Tribune,
in its more leftish days. She then did PR for the National Farmers
Federation and Ian McLachlan MP before landing that cosy Senate
sinecure.

Kerry Finch: independent member for Rosevears in the Tasmanian upper house who was dumped as a morning presenter on the ABC in Launceston in 1999 after 15 years.

Bernie Finn:
the two term Liberal MP in Victoria was a panel operator at 3AW before
being an MP from 1992 until 1999. He briefly worked on air at 3AK on
losing office.

Alan Fitzgerald: elected to the
pre-self-government ACT Advisory Council in 1968 and 1970, running as a
True Whig. He’d been a columnist published in The Canberra Times, The SMH, The Age, The Bulletin and The Sun-Herald.
Was also President of the National Press Club 1969-71 and contested the
1970 by-election for the federal seat of the ACT (Jim Fraser having
died in harness) and again the 1972 general election, both times as an
Australia Party candidate. Re-emerged in recent years as a staunch
monarchist and the publisher of The Australian National Review.

Bill Forwood: the outgoing Liberal member for the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Templestowe Province worked for The Herald doing business and general in the 1970s and also for the sports pages of The Advertiser in Adelaide.

Allan Fraser: ALP member for Eden-Monaro 1943-66 and 1969-72 who worked for The Mercury, The Argus, The Age, The Times, The Sun, was also sacked from The Telgraph, then wrote for The Truth and The Mirror. Has any journalist, let alone a politician, racked up that many different titles in a career. Was also a Labor staffer.

Jim Fraser:
ALP member for the ACT 1951-70 and the brother of Allan. Worked on a
paper in Glen Innes before entering Parliament and was also a Labor
staffer.

Senator Mervyn George Everett: was a journalist
before he took up law. Became Tasmanian Attorney General before
becoming a Supreme Court and then Federal Court judge.

Joan Hall: TV political reporter and radio producer turned disgraced SA Tourism Minister in the Olsen government.

Gary Hardgrave:
the Federal Liberal member for Morton always gets up on ABC debates and
goes on about how he used to work there but we’re not sure if he was a
journo or just fetched the coffee. However, he did work as a reporter
on Channel 7 news and State Affair (current affairs show) in Brisbane
in the 1980s and ran the student radio station at school in the ’70s.
He was also a reporter on kids shows such as Wombat and Rewind and spent time with Sea FM on the Gold Coast.

Les Haylen: the federal ALP member for Parkes from 1943 until 1963 was new editor of Australian Women’s Weekly from 1933 to his entry into parliament.

John Hyde: former sub on The West Australian (sacked and/or resigned 3 times), The Scotsman in Edinburgh and the Geraldton Guardian, butnow the Labor member for Perth in WA. Still an MEAA member.

Richard Jones: Editor and/or Publisher of Simply Living Magazine from 1983-89 and is now Independent Parliamentary Nudist and Upper House Hippie in NSW.

David Jull:
the axed Howard Minister for Administrative Services was a newsreader
for Channel 0, (now 10) in Brisbane more than 30 years ago. The
Marlboro Man, as he’s known, would have made a great speaker if only he
had the numbers.

CR Bert Kelly: the absolute legend was a
columnist (though not a full ‘journo’), before and after entering
parliament and a prolific writer during and after his time in
parliament.

Rod Kemp: John Howard’s Sports Minister was a junior finance hack with The Age
in the early 1970s, and even rubbed leather patched elbows in the
Melbourne Stock Exchange with the late Chris Skase. His journalistic
career is omitted from his Who’s Who entry, yet in the same entry he boasts about being a director of the Institute of Public Affairs in the 1980s.

Delia Lawrie: Northern Territory Minister for Family and Community Services, and Sport and Recreation, was a journalist with the Northern Territory News, The Advertiser and The South China Morning Post before she won the Darwin seat of Karama for Labor off the CLP in 2001. Also worked for the AJA in Melbourne.

Peter Lindsay: Federal Liberal MP for Herbert who was general manager of Townsville Television for 24 years before entering federal parliament in 1996.

Robert Lowe: owner and editor of The Atlas (Sydney), Member of the NSW Legislative Council.

Clare Martin:
The ALP’s chief minister in the Northern Territory was the morning
presenter on ABC 666 Canberra in the1980s before becoming media adviser
to chief minister Rosemary Follet in the first ACT government in 1989.
She later moved to Darwin where she returned to the ABC and was at one
stage presenter of The 7.30 Report.

Barbara McCarthy:
Northern Territory Labor MLA for Arnhem and one of the first Indigenous
women in an Australian Parliament. Barbara was strongly promoted by Emily’s List and was an ABC news presenter in Sydney and Darwin and a contributing reporter to the ABC series Blackout.

John McGrath: WA Liberal member for South Perth since 2005 who was once sports editor of The West Australian and is now shadow minister for Shadow Minister for Racing, Gaming, Liquor and Seniors.

Rob Messenger:
ABC radio broadcaster in Bundaberg who is now representing the National
Party as the member for Burnett in the Queensland Parliament.

Eddie Obeid: Vice-President Ethnic Press Association of Australia: 1981-86, Publisher of El Telegraph to parliamentary backroom man for NSW Right and dumped Fisheries Minister.

Steve O’Doherty:
NSW Liberals shadow treasurer was previously on 2GB as both a breakfast
and a drive time afternoon host but never rated as well as Alan Jones.

Neville Oliver:
the former head of sport at the ABC failed when he ran as Labor’s
candidate in the Tasmanian lower house seat of Franklin in 1998 but in
2002 he achieved his goal by replacing replaced Fran Bladen as is
explained in this St Patricks school newsletter.

Clyde Packer:
After surrendering his media proprietor role at PBL to his brother
Kerry for $4 million in 1976, the elder Packer son quickly went into
the NSW Upper House as one of the youngest ever Liberal MPs.

Sir Henry Parkes: owner and editor of The Empire (Sydney), 3 times Premier of NSW.

Alister Paterson: Victorian Liberal MP for South Barwon who read the Channel 10 News in the 1980s.

Phillip Pendal: the Independent Liberal MP for South Perth in the WA Parliament loves recalling his days at The Daily News.

Mike Rann: The Labor Premier in SA was a political journalist
with the News Zealand Broadcasting Corporation before moving to
Adelaide in 1977 to be a speechwriter for then South Australian Labor
Premier Don Dunstan.

Tony Rundle: The Liberal premier of Tasmania in the mid-1990s was a television reporter in the 1980s.

Jillian Skinner: Shadow health spokesperson for Health in NSW who worked on The Herald in Melbourne, Radio Hong Kong, The Associated Press and the ill-fated Sunday Australian.

Ray Sherry (Nick’s dad): was Member for Franklin from 1969 to 1975 and before that a journalist.

Fiona Simpson: The National Party MP for Maroochydore in the Queensland Parliament says she was “an award winning journalist” before entering Parliament in 1992.

Cameron Thompson:
Liberal Member for Blair who took the seat off Pauline Hanson and
before that worked for the ABC in Darwin and Longreach. Also was a
staffer to Shane Stone in the Northern Territory parliament and Joan
Sheldon in Queensland.

John Tingle: The Shooters Party member of the NSW Upper House was an announcer on 2GB and is the dad of journalist Laura
Tingle.

Malcolm Turnbull: the member for Wentworth worked as a journalist during and after his studies at The Bulletin, 2SM, Channel Nine and TheSunday Times in London but he made his name as a lawyer, investment banker and Republican.

Diana Warnock: long time ABC radio personality and subsequent MLA for Perth in the WA Parliament from 1993 until retiring in 2001.

Bruce Webster: the NSW Liberal member for Pittwater in the mid-1970s actually punctuated a 30-year plus career at the ABC as a sports broadcaster with his three-year stint in the NSW Parliament.

William Charles Wentworth: owner and editor of The Australian (the original one, Sydney) and member of the NSW Legislative Council

Grant Woodhams: the new National Party member for Greenough
in WA worked with ABC radio in Tasmania, South Australia, NSW and
Victoria as well as being the Channel 7 weatherman in Perth for many
years.

Journalists who made it into local government

Peter Adamson:
Lord Mayor of Darwin and also the former CLP Member for Casuarina and
Minister in the Stone and Burke Governments. Built his profile working
as a radio and television presenter in the NT and Queensland over many
years, particularly reading the Channel Nine sport in Darwin.

Sallyanne Atkinson: a journalist at Rupert’s late unlamented Telegraph in Brisbane before moving on to become Lord Mayor of Brisbane and now chairs childcare behemoth ABC Learning.

Pauline Clayton: one of the many fired by pre-Christmas letters delivered to their homes by cab on the closure of Murdoch’s Brisbane daily, The Sun,
in 1991. Stood successfully for Caloundra Shire Council in 2000 but
lost by three votes in 2004 for telling the truth – that the council
could not legally stop the building of a Woolworths store that local
protestors claimed would destroy a platypus habitat.

Peter Costigan: the former journalist for The Herald in Melbourne rose to become Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1999 until 2001 but then sadly died in 2002.

Sally Davis: worked for The Herald in Melbourne and then rose to be Mayor of Stonnington (Toorak etc) in 2003 and a councillor for six years.

Hall Greenland: former Leichhardt independent councillor and currently a sub-editor at The Bulletin.

Paul Kadak: the Seven News reporter in Sydney was a councillor on the City of Joondalup in WA until 2003.

Elizabeth Lyons: journalist at The Herald in Melbourne in
the 1970s before spending about six years on Hawthorn council. Also
owned her own publishing company producing trade magazines.

Paddy McGuinness: the editor of Quadrant was a councillor in Leichhardt municipality for four and a half years (1999-2004), representing the Balmain Secession Movement.

Anne Marie Nicholson: the ABC’s arts reporter and partner of Mark Westfield used to be on Manly council.

Politicians who subsequently worked in the media

Richard Alston: the long-serving Liberal communications minister became a consultant to radio group Austereo shortly after leaving office.

Peter Anderson: the former NSW labour police minister did a year at 2GB after leaving office.

Bob Hawke: the former Prime Minister was briefly a reporter for 60 Minutes and also wrotes columns for The Sunday Age.

Jeff Kennett: the former Victorian Premier became a shock jock on 3AK in 2002 until it all fell apart spectacularly.

Daryl Manzie: long serving CLP Minister retired in 2001 and now hosts talk-back radio on the Territory Network and 8TOP-FM community radio.

Graham Richardson: the notorious Labor fixer and Minister in the Hawke and Keating governments became a Bulletin
columnist and low-rating 2GB shock jock as part of his commitment to
the broader Packer circle of influence which includes election night
commentary for Channel Nine.

Michael Yablsey: Justice Minister in the Greiner government and then worked as a presenter on 2GB after leaving office.

Journalists who tried and failed to get into Parliament or Local Government

Sallyanne Atkinson: the former journalist at The Telegraph
and Brisbane Lord Mayor was defeated when she ran as the Liberal
candidate in Rankin as part of the John Hewson Fightback! team and then
returned to the media to host Sallyanne’s Brisbane on 4BC before the
station switched to playing country music.

Shane Brennan:
the former news director for Win Television in Victoria ran for the
Liberals in Ballarat West in 1999 but his campaign was hit by an on-air
gaffe when he dropped the f-word while reading the sports news in
Shepparton. Now the CEO of the Ballarat Turf Club, Brennan failed to
win Liberal Party preselection in Ballarat for the 2006 state poll.

Elaine Canty: the former ABC broadcaster ran unsuccessfully as Peter McMullin’s deputy in the 2001 Melbourne City Council elections.

Bob Cronin: the former editor of The West Australian, the Western Mail and The Sun
in Melbourne failed to win the Federal seat of Stirling for the
Liberals in 2001 and also failed to be elected deputy president of the
party in 2003, mainly because of this article on Crikey pointing out his former editorial support for WA Inc and the discredited Labor Government.

Dennis Driver:
the former Darwin ABC reporter ran for the ALP in Lyne in 1993, but was
beaten by beaten by Mark Vaille. Bobbed up in the Territory again as a
media advisor to various ministers in the Martin Government.

Bob Ellis:
whilst he’s more an author than a journalist, the Labor luvvie famously
ran against Bronwyn Bishop in Mackellar at a 1993 by-election.

Alan Fitzgerald:
the prominent columnist and former National Press Club President lost
the Federal seat of ACT twice for the Australia Party in 1970 and 1972.

Chloe Fox:
needing a swing of 5%, we’re predicting Labor’s candidate in the South
Australian seat of Bright will join the losers list. The daughter of
Mem Fox spent 3 years at The Advertiser.

Graeme Gilbert:
2SM’s syndicated night time shock and a former news director of 2CC.
Was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate in Tasmania in the 1990s.

Bruce Grant: the former journalist announced his candidacy for a Federal seat in 1975 whilst still High Commissioner to India.

Alan Jones: Famously ran for the Liberal Party in the 1978 Earlwood by-election but lost, as Wikipedia notes in its profile of the 2GB shock jock.

John Harker:
Shock jock and Napisan spruiker who beat John Brogden in preselection
for the NSW Seat of Pittwater but then quit for whatever reason.

Rod Henshaw: the former Breakfast presenter on 612 ABC Brisbane lost narrowly to Cheryl Kernot when running for the Liberals in Dickson in 1998.

Peter Holland: the Perth newsreader with the ABC and now Channael Nine ran for Labor in the seat of Forrest during the 1984 state election.

Greg Hoy: the television journeyman turned Melbourne restaurateur ran on People Power’s ticket for Melbourne City Council in 2001.

Peter Kennedy: the former Bendigo Advertiser
chief of staff ran for the Libverals in the Victorian upper house seat
of North West Province in 2002 but was well beaten by Nationals
candidate Damian Drum, the former coach of the Freemantle Dockers.

Stephen Mayne: the Crikey founder ran for Jeff Kennett’s old seat of Burwood in 1999 and also failed when running for Lord Mayor of Melbourne in 2001.

Gary Neat:
former ABC foreign correspondent who ran on the Liberals’ 1987 senate
ticket only to be pipped at the post. Now has a swag of business
interests and is national President of the Australian Institute of
Management.

Joanne Painter: feisty former reporter for Leader and The Age who ran for Melbourne City Council in the late 1990s.

Margaretta Pos: Journalist for The Mercury
in Hobart who stood unsuccessfully for Hobart City Council in 2005 and
also missed out with just 2.81% of the vote in a tilt for the Tasmanian
Legislative Council seat of Queenborough in 1995. It’s hard to win as an independent.

John Remus: Tasmanian newsreader who has tried and failed to win the seat of Denison in Tasmania for the Liberals on a couple of occasions.

Phillip Satchell:
was given a send off from ABC Adelaide at The Italian Centre in October
2003 where 250 listeners had been encouraged to pay $65 a head for a
three course nosh up celebrating his 43-year career. Surprised many by
announcing on the night that he’d be running on Nick Xenophon’s No
Pokies ticket in this year’s SA election. We’re predicting he’ll lose,
although Xenophon will probably get another 8 years.

John Sevior: the
man who now runs Perpetual’s Australian equities portfolio spent
several years as a business journalist for Fairfax in the 1990s and
before that he ran unsuccessfully for the old Richmond City Council in
Melbourne.

Pat Sheil: the former editor of The SMH’s Column 8 had a run for the Federal seat of Wentworth in 2004 but missed out to another former journalist, one Malcolm Turnbull.

Georgi Stickels: The former BRW
reporter was the defeated Liberal candidate in the Federal seat of
Maribyrnong in 1996 but is now an active member of the Victorian Greens.

Karalee Tilvern: the former Channel Seven reporter lost a preselection battle to represent the Victorian Liberals in Prahran at the 2006 state election.

Chris Uhlman:
Jon Faine’s senior producer on ABC 774 Melbourne will be returning to
Canberra this year where in 1998 he was an unsuccessful candidate for
the Paul Osborne Group. Osborne was a right to life footballer who
played for the Canberra Raiders and served two terms. Uhlman worked as
a staffer for Osborne and also presented the Breakfast program on ABC
666, after earlier working for The Canberra Times.

David Utting: edited The West Australian’s gadgets sections in the early 1990s and then started the Western Beaconin
late 2004, a free monthly giveaway in Fremantle. Ran for Fremantle
council in 2005 but on losing closed the paper and is now selling his
South Fremantle home.

Corrections and additions to smayne @ crikey.com.au.