Annie Pullar: Welcome to covered a podcast that helps you figure out what the hell is going on in the news and how you feel about it.

Jodi: Here to guide you through the biggest stories of the last week, as always, we are your hosts, journalists Jodie Lee and Annie Puller. On this week's episode, we talk about the federal government's current solution to solve the fuel crisis and why the federal treasurer has pissed off so many influencers.

Annie Pullar: Also, what's going down at the ABC and why your favorite show didn't go to air this week. And once again, Jodie has another girl crush, Emma Lawrence makes NRL history. Jodie, kick us off.

Jodi: so much but we'll have to get there in a moment. Our first story is the fuel crisis and if you're sick of hearing this I'm so sorry but it is top of the headlines again this week. It's been a big story just about every day this week, it's evolved so much and no doubt will evolve even after this episode hits your ears.

Annie Pullar: Of course, if you missed last week's episode, we actually went into a deep dive around what was happening with the war, why Iran has made it very difficult to get fuel out of the Middle East. I mean, it's kind of hard to avoid those headlines now, they're everywhere. But it really feels like this week we did hit a breaking point. More than 600 service stations have actually partially run out of fuel. And now we're even having discussions about fuel rationing, which is actually underway in some service stations across Sydney, also parts of Queensland. But still, the government insists Australia has nothing to worry about. There's months supply of fuel, diesel and jet fuel. But worth noting, nothing is guaranteed beyond 30 days, which feels like a very short timeframe.

Jodi: All right. The Prime Minister and the Energy Minister held a press conference on a Saturday, which usually means that something interesting and unprecedented is about to happen. They announced that they're going to introduce ⁓ new legislation into parliament on Monday that is designed to help us survive this fuel crisis. ⁓ So what the government planning to do is use public money to underwrite the purchase of fuel. What that means big fuel companies ⁓ buy fuel on the international market. But as we said last week, it is becoming more and more expensive. And ⁓ of those companies companies are actually struggling to keep up with rising costs, which puts Australia's fuel supply at risk. So on Monday, the government's going to introduce this legislation into parliament that will allow it to use public money, as I said, to underwrite the purchase of emergency fuel. It means that the companies will still pay for the fuel, but the government will take on the financial risk of those shipments that might otherwise become too expensive.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, really interesting as you said that they held this on a weekend. feels like they were backed into a corner as pressure just kept mounting. ⁓ also on Monday, ⁓ Anthony Albanese has called this national cabinet meeting with state and territory premiers to really consider ⁓ new emergency measures. We're hearing word a lot, emergency The government insists that these measures ⁓ are not needed yet. It's more a precautionary action keep up our sleeve in the event that we do. But what I found really interesting this week is we actually saw documents uncovered through a freedom of information request which journalists often often use to sort of ⁓ get to the nitty gritty of the story and in these documents the government has actually already mapped out a fuel rationing scenario. So one example given suggested capping purchases at around forty dollars per top up which we're already seeing at a Shell service station on the northern beaches in Sydney. But ⁓ really raised eyebrows about this story is the government reportedly spent about $150,000 trying to keep these documents secret, trying to keep them from being released. measures though, I should say, that have been openly discussed on the table, public transport discounts, pushing people to get back onto public transports, carpooling, sorry, Jodie and I, ⁓ I think we're a little bit ahead of our time in the carpooling scenario, and that wasn't due to a fuel crisis. ⁓ And then also encouraging voluntary work from home which I'm not sure small businesses will completely back.

Jodi: No, I feel like it's been an uphill battle since the dreaded COVID, sorry to say, to get people back to the office. We've seen business associations, advocacy groups, obviously CBDs across the country, urging people to come back to the office in droves. Now suddenly the government's flagging it as a potential good solution to the fuel crisis, which is just so wild. What I thought was equally insane is that Australia has actually rationed fuel before. So was back in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution and then your number plate dictated the days that you were allowed to use your car. So if you had an odd number plate, you could drive on a certain day. If you had an even number plate, you were able to drive then. But back then it wasn't actually down to fuel supply. Apparently we had heaps of fuel onshore, so that wasn't a problem in terms of supply, but it was staff striking at a petrol company that caused those restrictions. But also just wild, like I feel like it's 2026, I thought days of restrictions and rules were behind us.

Annie Pullar: Hmm. I know, it's really that sense of deja vu, but it seems like everywhere we look or everywhere we listen in the last few weeks, there's just these bleak warnings coming out of the government, out of experts. This week, we were hearing some really stark warnings about what this is all doing for the state of our economy. I I paid $6.50 for a coffee yesterday. I feel like that just didn't exist a year ago. Anyway, that's my own.

Jodi: $7.40 for an almond piccolo at Melbourne Airport.

Annie Pullar: She Okay, well that's our own gripe that we're going to put aside. We might take that up with Melbourne Airport later. That's next week's episode. ⁓ But really we want to give context here. So when petrol prices rise, it becomes really expensive to operate. Really anything to do with transport, transporting food, construction materials. We're definitely going to see a lot of construction projects ⁓ hit delays and snags. and businesses are being forced to pass on these costs. That's when you start to see grocery prices rise. Obviously the price of our coffees, flights get more expensive. I think it's $1,500 one way to London, which is pretty insane considering that that was like half the cost a year ago. And then obviously we have that whole delivery costs that creep up as well. So economists are now warning that inflation could end up significantly higher than the current official figure, potentially more than three times higher. that's because the data that we're currently going off was calculated before the conflict escalated. So in other words, we are really not seeing the full impact of this. And even the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has said the knock-on effect of this petrol crisis is going to last for months,

Jodi: Well, yeah. so basically what you're saying is inflation was already high, which is why the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate. And now if you take in the impact and consequences of the fuel crisis, it's going to be even higher than that. So we're likely to see interest rates rise. And I guess my biggest takeaway from all of this is that it is now undeniable. And I'm sorry to sound a little woe is me, but that we are the worst generation, we are worse off than generations before us. And it's now becoming difficult to ignore that fact, know, by

Annie Pullar: Mm. Mm.

Jodi: a home is completely out of reach for a number of young Australians, if not a majority. The cost of living has never been higher and we seem to not have any end insight to or any solutions by government to help bring these down long term.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, I think the other point, and I know we discussed this this week, but it's really one of those moments where you feel like, have we learned anything since the pandemic? I mean, we speak about how COVID exposed, how quickly things fall apart when systems aren't prepared and when we're not acting in a unified way. Like in COVID, we saw states and territories coming up with their own solutions, which caused a lot of angst, a lot of anger. And now it feels like we're very much back in that position. The gates are doing their own thing, obviously we have this cabinet meeting tomorrow that Albo's trying to race through quickly to look like he's getting on top of things. But yeah, I just can't help but sit here and go, how the hell have we ended up in a position where we're reacting in real time instead of having a plan in place to actually deal with this? Anyway, I feel like we could, we could go on for a while here.

Jodi: Yeah. Well, it's true. I think Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, made that point. He said we shouldn't be making individual decisions as states and territories. And that's where the pressure then came from on the Prime Minister to call this national cabinet meeting. So it'll be interesting to see what the national response overall is. we mentioned Jim Chalmers and the Treasurer. He's actually he's kind of the second story in today's episode because he's pissed off a lot of influencers, which doesn't typically happen. Influences and politicians don't typically engage in much

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi: cost but on this occasion the Federal Treasury has definitely pissed off social media influencers.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, sadly for Jim Chalmers, he really can't escape the headlines this week. If you were his media team, you would be wanting to dig your head into a hole right now. But basically the federal government hands down a budget every year. It's one of the biggest ⁓ events on the political calendar. It happens usually the second Tuesday in every May. And typically journalists are invited to get a first look, almost like a sneak peek of the document in what's called a lockup, which Jodie's actually been in one. I haven't myself. the Albanese Labor Government invited influencers into this lockup, which was very unorthodox, ⁓ raised a lot of eyebrows, copped a lot of criticism, but I guess also it's just a massive sign of the times as new media giants gain momentum and we're starting to all ⁓ take and listen to our news from other platforms. So this year the Albanese Government has gone, ⁓ we quite liked what we did last year, we're going to invite influencers back, but this is the catch, this is the real stinger. The government has asked them to pitch their content before they are granted access. Now this has pissed off a lot of influencers, particularly people like Hannah Ferguson who's the CEO of Cheek Media. Let's take a listen to what she had to say. Yeah, I mean, she's really got a point there. ⁓ As we both know, Jodie, it's, it's, I mean, rarely ever, I can't even ever think of a scenario where I have had to essentially pitch a story to the government before delivering it. So I can see why this has enraged a lot of people.

Jodi: Yeah, totally. Look, I think it's a very rare occasion where I agree with Hannah Ferguson or Cheek Media, but on this occasion, I 100 % do. So to break this down, influencers are shitty that they need to present the final product to the government for approval before they can be invited into the lockup. For influencers, that's commonplace if you're working with, a brand. If you're about to plug a blender, I dare say you probably have to show your proposed content to the blender company in order to get approval, but that is a paid post. This is very different. is a big difference between influences and journalism. The key tenet of journalism is that you need to report without fear or favour. That means you can't allow a person's perception of what you're going to say to taint your own ideas, to taint the way that you intend to write or produce your story. They don't get to decide, the people in the story don't get to decide how they will appear or be portrayed prior to the story making it out to the public. That is a core tenet of journalism and essentially what the government is saying here is we want to turn this process on its head. We'd like to see beforehand, make sure that we're going to look okay that our budget is going to, I dare say, come off in an appropriate light before we grant you access to our lockup, which is nuts.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, I think also what's really fueled this uproar is, as we mentioned off the top, 13 content creators were actually let in for the first time last year, but they were let in on equal measure to legacy media. They weren't asked to submit any kind of content proposal. So I think to have the government come back this year, but with a catch, it almost feels like they are talking down to these content creators that are trying to breach into this journalism space. Obviously last year, did raise some eyebrows by the very fact that it had never been done before. ⁓ And some of the travel expenses were actually covered by Labor. So the coalition wasn't very happy because basically they argued that this really blurred the line between journalism and curated political messaging. And what we mean by that is content creators kind of pushing an agenda that is in line with the political party. you know, thinking about it now, maybe the coalition were onto something. The Treasury's office, as for their response, Well, they've doubled down saying that space is limited in the budget lockup and this is really simply a way to be selective about who gets access. But before we sort of get into whether this is actually fair or not, Jodie, it's probably worth explaining what exactly goes down in a budget lockup because it is kind of one of the most controlled environments in journalism.

Jodi: Yeah, absolutely. So I've never been in a federal budget lockup because I was only in regional TV in Canberra, but I have been in lockups at the Reserve Bank of Australia, the state government in both New South Wales and Victoria. And it is quite literally a media blackout. So you have to hand in your phones. There's no access to the internet. ⁓ You can have... ⁓

Annie Pullar: you

Jodi: your laptops there, but basically they hand over what is usually a very large policy document and they give you an hour or two to go through it with a fine-tooth comb as best you can and produce your story, whether that's for print or for TV or for online, whatever kind of journalism you work in, before they then make that document open to the public. So it's a fairly common way to release new policy documents. ⁓ There are policy advisors on hand to quote unquote answer any questions, but It is a very controlled environment, definitely, and very common as well.

Annie Pullar: Mm. Yeah, and it's also a pattern that has kind of emerged from the US as well. When I started to read through this story this week, it's always interesting to see what's happening overseas. ⁓ And this whole creator shift has kind of moved well beyond interviews in the US. Influences are actually being pulled into political ecosystems themselves. They're being invited into policy conversations. They're being invited into the Oval Office ahead of legacy media. ⁓ really clear example of this around immigration. ⁓ influences, which there are many of, ⁓ were brought along to actual enforcement activity. So policing activity that's happening in states like Minnesota. ⁓ They were filming and posting what was happening on the ground and framing it in real time to their audience. ⁓ And then that content is amplified the same political ecosystem. So largely to pro-Trump supporters. ⁓ And I, for me at least, I think this is where it really starts to blur a line because traditionally as you mentioned Jodie, journalists really sit on the outside of that process. We observe it, we interpret it, we question it and then we deliver it to the public. So not saying that Australia is there yet, not criticizing our content creators for blurring that line, but it's just interesting to see what's happening overseas.

Jodi: Yeah, definitely. My issue is with lockups in general. Like some people have you believe that it's actually all about fairness? I'm way more skeptical and I actually think it's about control of the message. So I think if they can limit the amount of time you have to be able to scour through these documents, then they can create a kind of sense of urgency. And then in that sense of urgency, if they can have their policy advisors on hand to answer any questions, they have a greater opportunity to kind of mold and curate the message that you then put out to your audience. first thing I sort of think that lockups are redundant and a waste of time. Firstly, just put it out with an embargo which is something that's often done in the media. You'll receive information or a story or an idea. You might get it on a Monday and it'll be embargoed until a Thursday which means you can do what you like with it but you cannot make it public until that Thursday.

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi: I don't see why they can't be doing that with policy documents. Okay, great. There's a risk that it might leak, but by and large, they just have less control. That's the first thing. The other thing for me is that this is a gross double standard. You either want access to the audience that an influencer has or you don't. I don't have an issue with influencers and new media being invited into government press conferences. I have absolutely no issue. The more the merrier, but you can't set a double standard. If you want access to their audience, then they need to abide by exactly the same rules to use Hannah Ferguson's

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi: language is quote unquote the Murdoch media and the rest of the media. You can't have the benefit of their reach but hold them to a different set of standards. That just makes no sense.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, I also think in the world of 24-7 media, know, audiences expecting constant updates, the whole kind of premise of this lockup is a little bit outdated that we're holding off on these budget documents. I think your idea around the embargo is brilliant. I don't know, maybe Jodie Lee for Prime Minister. Whenever the next...

Jodi: ⁓ my God, absolutely not. No, thank you.

Annie Pullar: While we're on the topic of media though, let's move on. Our national broadcast of the ABC has basically gone into complete and utter meltdown this week. Staff walked out, incredible pictures for the first time in 20 years. What the hell is going on here?

Jodi: Yeah, well, it all stems from a pay dispute that's dragged on for more than nine months. I don't think ABC management ever thought that it would get this bad, but there were fairly unprecedented scenes. saw like journalists, camera operators, editors, researchers literally walk off the job in both regional and metropolitan newsrooms around the ABC. And what I found fascinating was seeing other news crews standing outside filming people who are effectively their colleagues at the ABC. People who create the news this week became the story.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, it's also people that they would be attending, you know, daily press briefings with, daily press conferences, and now they're just there filming them and vox popping them, which is wild. ⁓ But the story is a little bit complicated in that it all centres around a new pay deal. And ABC staff are basically governed by an enterprise agreement, which is a deal that sets pay and conditions for a group of staff and is approved by the Fair Work Commission. So it gets regenerated every few years. And if staff, their union and management simply can't agree, can't come to any kind of consensus, that's when you start to see things unravel, like what we saw this week. What's interesting is about 60 % of staff from the ABC who participated in that vote rejected the offer that was put on the table and they say that they were left really with no choice but to strike. The added layer here is that the ⁓ ABC is obviously government funded. money for pay rises actually comes from a fixed pool of funding. It's not like a normal commercial network that has a revenue structure that can divert different pay rises. Everything has to be approved, which makes these negotiations kind of more difficult because yeah, as I mentioned, any increase usually means other areas have to suffer. But it's probably worth stepping through what the actual pay offer was to understand how we got here.

Jodi: Yeah, so the ABC had put forward a 10 % pay rise over three years, which sounds lucrative and great, but there is a catch when you break it down. The pay rise in the first year was 3.5 % and then it was 3.25 % in the second year and the third year. And staff were also offered a $1,000 one-off bonus. But if you speak with the ABC staff who were speaking with media and representing the rest of their colleagues, they'll tell you that this strike was really about three things. It was obviously about pay. but it was also about the opportunity to have career progression within the national broadcaster and it was also about the length of their contracts. What I didn't know is that a lot of ABC journalists aren't actually permanently employed on an ongoing full-time basis. ⁓ A lot of them on short-term fixed-term contracts, some of them are six months, ⁓ some of might be a year or two, which that at the end of that contracted period they have ⁓ no idea if they'll any kind of continued employment beyond that. ⁓ uncertain, it's very unstable and makes it very difficult for them to make life decisions. Things like getting mortgages, making big financial purchases or decisions because they have no job security beyond the life of that contract. The union, the MEAA that represents workers at the ABC says too many people are basically rolling from contract to contract. The union on behalf of staff had originally asked for a 5.5 % pay rise

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi: But they basically, that was all knocked back by ABC management. And a lot of ABC workers when we dipped into the figures because they're obviously publicly available because they're government workers, a lot of ABC reporters are being paid somewhere between $75,000 and $110,000. So if you do the maths, think that's like, you know, on a $90,000 contract, a three and a half percent pay rise is just over like three or just under three grand a year. Like it's not very much, you know, it amounts to like 60 bucks a week after tax. So it's really not going to get you very far. It's kind of lip-surfing.

Annie Pullar: Mm. Mm.

Jodi: from ABC management and it probably explains why things escalated and they reached a crescendo and staff just downed tools and walked off the job.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, god, $60 a week, that's barely gonna cover your fuel. Not to go back to that story.

Jodi: Well, if it's capped at $40 top ups, you might actually be okay.

Annie Pullar: We'll be fine. I'm actually quite okay with a $40 top up to be honest. really, it honestly rains in my own spending. Would gladly take that. Anyway. ⁓

Jodi: How did you save so much money this year? The government forced me to spend less on fuel. Okay, but can we just-

Annie Pullar: No, I'm just gonna carpool with you, don't worry.

Jodi: Yeah, can't pull karaoke. Let's come back though to the ABC because the obvious question here is then what happened to the programs that people actually watch on the TV?

Annie Pullar: Yeah, I'm a total idiot. was like, did they just go black? No, they did not go black. ⁓ The ABC obviously had contingency plans in place, but it still left a pretty big embarrassing hole, I have to say. So for 24 hours, the major programs, ⁓ some didn't go to air, some did go to air. The airtime was actually filled with international reruns and news from the BBC, which is the broadcaster in the UK. Parliamentary coverage, my God, what a snooze. ⁓ runs of old ABC shows, Triple J actually switched to pre-prepared playlists so none of that was live and then what was interesting is I think the 730 program which is their flagship program didn't go to air at all but for me when you actually step back and you look at what the role of the ABC is, their entire objective is to keep audiences up to date, especially now when we're living through these fairly unprecedented times and in serious, in an era of global conflict. And when the news never stops, people expect constant updates. So for a day, the ABC simply couldn't do that. And in a very competitive media landscape, that is a shocking position to be in while everyone else is pushing news, pushing updates, pushing agenda, The national broadcaster is essentially filling time. Internally, you can only imagine how chaotic this would have been as well. A newsroom, we always say, runs like a footy team. Every single person has a role. So when a huge chunk of the workforce essentially walks out and disappears, there really is nowhere to go, which left the CEO front and center fairly red-faced.

Jodi: Yeah, well, Hugh Marks, the CEO, apologized to the public for the disruption, but he's also standing pretty firm. So basically he's using the argument that you flagged earlier that any pay rise for ABC staff because they're the public broadcaster has to come from a set pool of money. And so if they take money from there to give staff pay rises, then it's got to come from somewhere else. But staff are standing firm too. So we sort of have this stalemate and we don't really know where this is going to end up. The tricky part is that staff are saying that the pay rise that's been offered doesn't keep up with inflation. So the cost of living is rising so much, staff are saying they can't afford to continue to do this job. And that's what you saw. A lot of the messaging at these strikes was around that basically talented journalists and editors, producers, researchers, camera operators have been forced to leave the industry altogether and certainly leave the ABC because they had to choose between. affording to live in big metropolitan cities like Sydney and doing a job that they're passionate about. So if neither side moves, it's going to be really interesting to see where this all lands.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, and to be completely transparent, when I first heard that this was happening... And this sounds terrible, but I was a little bit judgmental about it. I was like, come on, just get on with it. We're all living through hard times. Surely you can turn up to work. Like at least you're employed. There's layoffs happening left, right and center. But then when I actually started to think about it a little bit more and having spent more than a decade in this industry, I actually do respect that staff had the guts to do this because I think it would have taken a fair. bit of balls, if I can say that collectively. Journalism has, for most people, never been about the money. You do it because you love the stories, you love the people, you love being part of a team, you really love updating your community. that doesn't mean that pay and conditions shouldn't matter. a long time, I think there's been this culture in media that you sort of put up and shut up, you keep rolling over, you accept the long hours. And I think that's because everyone's so passionate about what they do and no one wants to rock the boat. But this felt different for me. This felt like staff going in to bat for each other and kind of shoring up the industry ⁓ for future generations and young Jodi and that are somewhere in regional ⁓ Australia right now.

Jodi: Yeah, and I think that viewers and listeners should actually care about this. You know, the news, as you said in what

Annie Pullar: Mmm.

Jodi: you use the term unprecedented times, it's never been more important to know and be empowered by what's going on around you. And so the quality of the news that you get matters a lot. And I think that the government needs to be investing in the national broadcast, investing in quality journalism. And ⁓ you don't really see that happening when, ⁓ you know, when the chief the ABC around saying, well, we don't have any more money, you should just deal with it. Like ⁓ it's the government's job rein in the cost of living. It's the government's job to support quality journalism through the national broadcaster. And if it can't put a cap on the rising cost of living, then it needs to find a way to compensate the staff that work for the government providing what is an essential service. during COVID, I was in Melbourne, everything locked down for three years, but the news was considered an essential service for a reason. And we can't, you there's a lot of criticism out there. know, Donald Trump invented this term fake news and people like to criticize the quality of journalism, but it's actually a very expensive product.

Annie Pullar: Mm. Mmm.

Jodi: You need to be experienced and you need to have the tools and the resources to be able to produce quality journalism. doesn't just happen, it doesn't ⁓ arrive ⁓ via osmosis or through thin air. And so if we believe in ⁓ quality journalism, then we need to be in people who ⁓ provide it. And that starts with the ABC. ⁓

Annie Pullar: You Mm. Yeah, absolutely. And it's about the audiences. We do this to keep people informed and when you simply can't do the one thing that you set out to do then you have a real problem on your hands. But anyway, let's lighten up the mood a little bit. We've saved the best till last. Jodie's girl crush, Emma Lawrence. She's just made history becoming the first woman to call an NRL game.

Jodi: just have to say, I don't know Emma Lawrence, but God, I want to. This has been the most exciting story for me for so many different reasons. So bit of background, Emma Lawrence works at Triple ⁓ and at Channel 9. She's a footy journo. She's a rugby league journo. a couple of, well, being now two rounds ago, she made NRL history, as you said, becoming the first woman to ever... ⁓ call an NRL game on Triple ⁓ What I find so amazing is that, you know, the level of knowledge and understanding you need to have of the game to be able to call every play, know every player's name, call every tackle, understand every decision as it's happening. This is on radio. So this is for people who aren't watching the game. You're calling it play by place. They understand what's happening on field. is such a skill. She absolutely nailed it. And she's just really led the way and opened the path.

Annie Pullar: Mmm.

Jodi: every woman not only in rugby league but in sport more generally. I'm so excited.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, and I had to go back because as you know, I'm a proud AFL lover. So NRL is like my second tier sport, but I'm a huge fan of Emma Lawrence, also don't know her, but here to support her. But basically, yeah, as you mentioned, you can't literally take barely any breaths when you're calling a game because it's all about rhythm. So you can't just like stop, have a sip of water and keep going. ⁓ It's also really interesting to see and to consider that this is largely a male dominated audience. Obviously. A lot of females love NRL, I'm not saying that. But when you consider traditionally who have been these play-by-play callers, it's been people like Ray Warren, Andrew Voss, Matt Thompson, these industry greats. So it's kind of this male-dominated seat. So the fact that she's in this position, she's paving the way, breaking new ground, I mean, I would be fricking terrified. ⁓ I don't know how she does it, but she's been preparing for it for a long time. And so that's what I found like the best bit of this story, the fact that she's, you know, been screaming at the TV for however many years to actually familiarise herself with the pace of this.

Jodi: Yes! So this is the best part of the story. First of all, think you mentioned that it's obviously been a male dominated industry for so long, but Triple M's audience is male. you know, they market to men age 25, I think to 54. So they know that the people listening are blokes and it was Emma's male boss.

Annie Pullar: Yeah. Mm.

Jodi: who tapped her on the shoulder at Triple ⁓ and said, hey, I reckon you should give this a crack. So what I love so much is it was when she was on maternity leave with her first child, she's now pregnant with her second, but when she ⁓ had her daughter Harper, I think her name is, she just decided, well, I'm at home, I've got a lot of time, so I'm going to start practicing. And so she'd pull up old games of footy and stand there yelling at the screen, which is so exciting. I just love it so much. But she also comes, It comes on the back of there are obviously women as you touched on in the AFL footy world. ⁓ Jess Webster more recently made history with that amazing NAS call during the St. Kilda game and Kelly Underwood was the first woman to call an AFL match. So it is amazing ⁓ and to hear that Emma is now she's now pregnant again. So she's pregnant. She's up skilled on maternity leave. Her male boss has tapped her on the shoulder and she's just gone and actually done the thing she said she was gonna do. And Mariah done it really well. Like there's been widespread praise and applause for her effort and the way she handled herself on that during that game. Like I just, actually gives me goosebumps. I loved it. I love this so much.

Annie Pullar: you She's also probably going to raise her children to be ⁓ prodigies in this space considering that they've been listening to her practice for however long she has been. I just think it's really cool to be honest. Like I know ⁓ the media industry definitely spotlights a lot of females. We have definitely found our voice. We've definitely found our place. But to see someone of her calibre, someone that has no doubt worked her ass off to get to where she is kind of take this step. To me it just suggests it's kind of a sign of the times and it's looking at women in sport from a broader perspective. I think we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go, but the fact that female voices are now represented in this particular space, to me it's just exciting. I just think bring bring more on.

Jodi: Yeah, totally. And I should say, she's obviously not the first female broadcaster to be involved in rugby league. You've got women like Danica Mason and Marley Silver riding the boundary, as they call it in AFL, but like working the sidelines during footy games. And they have been doing for years and years and they do an amazing job. But this specific role of calling play by play requires such an in-depth understanding of the game. And I just think she nailed it, hit it out of the park and I'm very inspired. Good on you, ⁓ Love to have a beer with

Annie Pullar: No, no my god, and we love to have a beer with them. We think a live cross is hard, so hats off to them. Anyway, we have crisscrossed a of topics this week. I hope you feel up to date and covered with the week's biggest news. ⁓

Jodi: Yes, and if there's anything you'd like us to cover on next week's episode, we would love to hear from you. are covered.podcast on Instagram and our DMs are open. See you next week.