On Thursday, the Senate braced itself for a frantic attempt by the government to ram 36 bills through the upper house on the final scheduled sitting day of the parliamentary calendar ahead of a looming federal election.
All the while, the federal parliamentary press gallery had its own electoral matters to worry about — the election for the 2025 press gallery committee. Crikey happened to be in Parliament House to witness voting for the committee, which took place by a physical ballot in the News Corp offices. With the press gallery itself located in the Senate wing of Parliament House, Thursday was a hive of activity between federal politicians and reporters hawking for votes in the hallways, gossiping about who was voting for who.
The ABC’s Jane Norman, who continued unopposed as president, told Crikey that while we wouldn’t receive a vote count, the election had “strong voter turnout and the result was very close”.
Plastered across the hallways of the Senate wing were memes spruiking various candidates, including ABC federal bureau head of digital and social media Elise Scott, who featured in memes ranging from Charli XCX’s Brat to Barbie alongside Sky News Australia chief election analyst Tom Connell.
“She’s everything and he’s just treasurer,” read the Barbie meme depicting Connell as Ken. Connell, the incumbent treasurer, lost his reelection bid to Nine cameraman Guy “Sunny” Southwell in what was termed a “surprise” by gallery reporters speaking to Crikey.
“There wasn’t a cameraman [on the committee] for a while, then Sunny Southwell getting onto committee [last year] was a surprise,” one reporter said, adding “He knows how to do numbers — and now he’s treasurer!”
The other contested ballots were for general member positions on the committee. Scott was successful in her bid for election alongside SBS’ Sara Tomevska and Pablo Vinales (although Vinales is set to move to the ABC), as well as AAP’s Dominic Giannini.
The Australian’s federal political reporter Sarah Ison lost her meme-heavy bid for election to the general committee, as did The Mandarin’s Melissa Coade and Seven’s Daniel Searle.
The West Australian’s Canberra bureau chief Katina Curtis moved up to replace, unopposed, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s national affairs editor James Massola as vice-president, while The Australian Financial Review’s Tom McIlroy replaced the Herald Sun’s Jade Gailberger as secretary.
The committee organises events such as the annual Midwinter Ball and the regular sporting fixtures between politicians and the press, as well as the more routine logistical work of representing the 250+ members from across Australia’s fourth estate.
Recent past presidents have included The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s David Crowe, ABC’s David Speers, and Guardian Australia’s Karen Middleton.
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