Virginia Frances Trioli (born 16 August 1965) is an Australian journalist, author, radio and television presenter.
Trioli currently hosts the morning program on
ABC Radio Melbourne
ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR.
Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...
in
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 ...
. She has previously been co-host of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
's breakfast television program ''
News Breakfast
''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST/AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar. The program is also streamed ...
''.
Career
Born in
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
, Trioli attended
Donvale High School and graduated from
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...
in the 1980s with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree with a fine arts
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
in cinema. She worked as a publicist for a book publisher, then at the Victorian Ethnic Affairs Commission before starting at ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' in 1990. For three years she was president of ''The Ages chapter of the union, the
Australian Journalists Association
The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for journalists from 1910–1992.
In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 1 ...
(now the
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), also sometimes referred to as the Alliance, is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries.
Its Musicians section c ...
).
Trioli began, but never completed,
postgraduate studies
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree.
The organization and stru ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
from 1993 to 1994 while working as a reporter for ''The Age'', where she worked until 1999. She worked part-time for the
Packer organisation as a columnist on the magazine ''
The Bulletin''.
Trioli became a radio presenter when she worked at
774 ABC Melbourne
ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR.
Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...
in 2001 on weekday afternoons, where she shared the journalist union's
Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
with the 774 Drive Team. In 2001, she won a Walkley Award for her interview with former
defence minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Peter Reith
Peter Keaston Reith (15 July 1950 – 8 November 2022) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001, representing the Liberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1990 ...
over the
Children Overboard Affair.
In 2005, Trioli moved to Sydney to host the morning show on the radio station
702 ABC Sydney
ABC Radio Sydney (official call sign: 2BL, formerly 2SB) is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 hertz, kHz on the AM bro ...
, replacing Sally Loane. After nearly two years, she resigned from this role on 9 November 2007 to concentrate on developing her TV career. In addition to her radio commitments, she was a regular occasional commentator on
ABC TV program ''
Insiders'' and was a weekly host on ''
Sunday Arts
Sunday Arts is a weekly program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Australia every Sunday. It gives a broad view of the various artists working in Australia today ranging from theatre, music, visual art, film, literature, to ind ...
''. On 5 February 2007, Trioli was announced as the Friday presenter of ABC's ''
Lateline
''Lateline'' was an Australian television news program which ran from 1990 until 2017. The program initially aired weeknights on ABC TV. In later years it was also broadcast internationally throughout Asia and the Pacific on the Australia Plu ...
'' news and current affairs program, replacing
Maxine McKew
Maxine Margaret McKew (born 22 July 1953) is a former Australian Labor politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the First Rudd Ministry and the F ...
. Trioli hosts the ABC program ''
Q&A'' when its regular host,
Hamish Macdonald, is on a break.
Trioli is the author of the book ''Generation F: Sex, Power and the Young Feminist'' published in 1996 as a riposte to
Helen Garner
Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her as an origina ...
's ''
The First Stone
''The First Stone: Some questions about sex and power'' is a controversial non-fiction book by Helen Garner about a 1992 sexual harassment scandal at Ormond College, one of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne, which the aut ...
''.
In 2008, Trioli moved back to Melbourne to commence co-hosting ''
News Breakfast
''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST/AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar. The program is also streamed ...
'' alongside
Barrie Cassidy
Barrie Cassidy (born 4 March 1950) is an Australian political journalist, as well as a radio and television host and presenter and commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was the long-running host of the Sunday morning pol ...
, Joe O'Brien,
Paul Kennedy
Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and great pow ...
and
Vanessa O'Hanlon.
In January 2009, ABC announced that O'Brien would remain as host on Monday to Friday replacing Cassidy. In May 2010, O'Brien left ''News Breakfast'' to work as a news presenter on
ABC News 24
ABC News (formerly ABC News 24; also referred to as the ABC News channel) is an Australian 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour News broadcasting, news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the forme ...
. He was replaced by
Michael Rowland.
In May 2019, ABC announced that Trioli would be leaving ''News Breakfast'' to replace
Jon Faine
Jonathan Eric Faine (born 21 September 1956) is an Australian former radio presenter who hosted the morning program on ABC Radio Melbourne in Melbourne. Faine is recognised as a prominent and influential member of the Australian Jewish communi ...
as ''Mornings'' presenter on ABC Radio Melbourne.
Lisa Millar
Lisa Joy Millar (born 19 February 1969) is an Australian television news presenter and journalist.
Millar is currently co-host of the ABC's breakfast program '' News Breakfast'' alongside Michael Rowland.
She has previously been a foreign c ...
was announced as Trioli's replacement on ''
News Breakfast
''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST/AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar. The program is also streamed ...
''.
On her first ''Mornings'' program with ABC Radio Melbourne, Trioli incorrectly declared herself to be the first female presenter of the program when in fact it had been
Elizabeth Bond who had hosted the show in the late 1970s. Trioli apologised for the error.
Ramona Koval
Ramona Koval (born 1954, Melbourne) is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist.
Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of The Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950.
Koval is known for her extended and in-depth in ...
had also hosted ''Mornings'' from 1988 to 1992.
Personal life
Trioli is married to Russell Skelton who is a contributing editor of ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' and head of the ABC's
fact checking
Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting.
Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...
unit. The couple had their first child in 2012.
"Standing ovation for Trioli the MC"
by Suzanne Carbone, ''The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'', 13 June 2012
Awards
*1995: Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
[Profile]
ABC
*1999: Melbourne Press Club
The Melbourne Press Club, commonly referred to as MPC, is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia.
The Melbourne Press Club provides awards in the State of Victoria for outstanding journalism, presenting th ...
– "Best Columnist"
*2001: Walkley Award
Bibliography
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trioli, Virginia
1965 births
Living people
ABC News (Australia) presenters
Australian radio personalities
Australian women radio presenters
Australian people of Italian descent
La Trobe University alumni
Radio in Sydney
People from Bendigo
Walkley Award winners
Australian political journalists
Australian women journalists