Juanita Phillips (born 11 October 1963 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

) is an Australian journalist and news presenter. Phillips is currently weeknight presenter of '' ABC News NSW'' in Sydney.

Career

Phillips began her career in Brisbane in 1982 as a cadet journalist at ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northe ...

'' where she became a feature writer and columnist. In the early 1990s, Phillips worked at

TVQ-10 TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network 10 in Australia. History In April 1964, the Postmaster-General's Department granted Universal Telecasters a broadcasting licence. The channel was allocated channel 0 (the 0 was pronounced as t ...

Brisbane as a reporter and presenter and she made her national debut as regular presenter on ''

Ten Eyewitness News ''10 News First'' is an Australian television newscast, produced by Network 10. The network's ninety-minute long news program airs at 5pm each evening covering local, national and world news, including sport and weather. Weekend editions are p ...

'' weekend late edition (from Network Ten's Brisbane studios) in 1993. A year later, Phillips moved to Sydney to join Ron Wilson on TEN-10's '' Ten News First at Five'', succeeding

Sandra Sully Sandra Sully (born 18 February 1965) is an Australian news presenter and journalist and editor for ''10 News First'' in Sydney and Queensland. Sully attended Brisbane State High School, graduating in 1978. Life and career Sully was the firs ...

and she was lead female presenter for the bulletin for two years and was later succeeded by

Jessica Rowe Jessica June Rowe (born 22 June 1970) is an Australian journalist, author and television presenter. She was the co-host of ''Studio 10'' on Network Ten until March 2018, and is Member of the Order of Australia for her mental health advocacy. Ea ...

. In 1997, following a stint as presenter with

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

, Phillips moved to London where she worked as a news presenter at

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and ...

while at the same time running a London café. She later moved to

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

, also in London, working mainly as co-anchor on ''

CNN Today ''CNN Today'' was a global news program on CNN International aimed as a morning show for Asia. The show aired weekdays from 5am to 5:30am and 6am to 8am HKT. The program was set to premiere on October 19, 2014, but because of a delay, the show ...

'' before returning to Australia as weekend presenter of ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

'' in New South Wales. In 2003, she moved to co-anchor '' ABC News NSW'' with

Tony Eastley Tony Eastley is an Australian newspaper journalist and radio and television newsreader and host Journalism career Eastley began his journalism career in the 1970s with ''The Examiner'' newspaper in Launceston, Tasmania before joining the Australi ...

and later become solo presenter of the bulletin. During 2007, Phillips wrote a number of articles for '' The Bulletin'' including an article on animal rights activist Lyn White that caused some controversy. On 30 November 2007, Phillips suffered an on-air coughing fit while presenting '' ABC News NSW'', forcing the ABC to switch to a simulcast of the Victoria state bulletin from its

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

station until her coughing fit subsided. In her 2010 book, ''A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life'', she describes the episode as a result of a stress-induced

laryngeal spasm Laryngospasm is an uncontrolled or involuntary muscular contraction (spasm) of the vocal folds. The condition typically lasts less than 60 seconds, but in cases partial blocking it may last 20 to 30 minutes and hinder inspiration, while exhala ...

. On 19 November 2013, ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' published the ABC's top salaries; Phillips' salary is $316,000.

Personal life

In 2002, Phillips married Mario Milostic, an Australian graphic designer, after a six-week courtship. Their first child was born in 2003 and their daughter in 2006. In 2009, Phillips took carer's leave from the ABC to care for their children while her husband Mario was interstate for rehabilitation from bowel cancer. They separated in 2010. In 2012, Phillips began a relationship with Federal Government Minister for Climate Change,

Greg Combet Gregory Ivan Combet (; born 28 April 1958) is a former Australian politician and trade unionist. He was Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions between 1999 and 2007. He was elected member for the New South Wales Federal seat of Ch ...

. In 2013, the relationship attracted some controversy for a first-class overseas trip paid from government funds. In May 2013, Phillips was removed from one evening's ABC News bulletin due to a conflict of interest that arose after Combet faced an ICAC inquiry into government corruption.

Publications

*''The Newspaper Kids'', series of five children's books, 1996, 1997,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

Phillips' publications
at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

*''A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life: how to have it all, do it all, and keep it all together'', 2010,

ABC Books An alphabet book is a type of children's book giving basic instruction in an alphabet. Intended for young children, alphabet books commonly use pictures, simple language and alliteration to aid language learning. Alphabet books are published ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Juanita ABC News (Australia) presenters 10 News First presenters 1963 births Living people Journalists from Queensland Writers from Brisbane Australian children's writers Australian autobiographers