Flashback

Whenever he appears in the media (as he did this week with his comments about AUKUS), I will often relate to friends and colleagues the time I had to “meet and greet” former Prime Minister, Paul Keating. Though I don’t recall the exact date, it was probably in about 2006, and I think he was coming on ABC Radio Sydney to talk about Barangaroo.

As I recall from our chat, he was curious about the appointment of Virginia Trioli to the Morning Show on ABC Radio Sydney (“Does she know anything about Sydney?”), and related a funny anecdote about appearing on the radio with Alan Jones, and told me he hated “talkback radio”.

Lots of politicians come through the doors and don’t normally require a meet and greet. But some do, especially those with a police/security presence

I also remember having to “meet and greet” Peter Costello, the former Treasurer, as well as John Howard, the former Prime Minister.

NSW Premier, Dominic Perrotet had a police presence when I met him at the reception of the ABC this week. He was coming in for an interview on the Breakfast Show on ABC Radio Sydney, in the lead-up to the NSW election.

There have been a few reports in the papers over the last few weeks about the close relationship between Perrotet and Keating, and the memory of the Keating visit came flooding back to me.

I’m back at work full-time right now, as A/Manager of ABC Radio Sydney. I worked at the station full-time many years ago, and return from time to time in a managerial role to “help out”.

As I mentioned the other week, I’m finding it quite exhausting. It’s been quite frenetic. “It’s a young man’s game”, a former colleague said to me a few years ago, noting he was finding it harder the older he got to keep up with the pace of daily radio. It’s only a short stint, though a busy one with the NSW election, the prospect of industrial action at the ABC, and an increase in COVID cases. We had six people off sick last week.

Despite the pace of things, I’m enjoying being back briefly, and being able to reconnect with some older colleagues, as well as meet some new ones. And I LOVED heading out to Parramatta this week for an outside broadcast of the Morning Show with Sarah Macdonald.

Outside work hours, there have been a few interesting things going on, such as attending the launch of this year’s Sydney Writer Festival.

This morning I took an early morning trip down to Circular Quay. After a COVID break, the cruise ships are back. Despite the increase in COVID cases, virtually no one is wearing a face mask on the parts of Sydney public transport I use. My experience at work tells me it’s not over yet!