The Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is ending the seven-year premier boycott of Melbourne radio station, 3AW due to her “friendly” relationship with new host, Tom Elliot.
The Herald Sun reports that Ms Allan will speak with Tom Elliot on Monday morning, as he officially takes over the reins from Neil Mitchell.
Dan Andrews had not appeared on the show since 2017, making Ms Allan the first Victorian premier to speak with a 3AW host in seven years.
The former premier black-listed the program, sparking the years-long boycott, after an “aggressive” on-air feud with Mitchell over the sky rail, with Mitchell hypothesising that “repeated critical analysis” also contributed to the shun.
“It was about the sky rail, and he was conducting a survey into the sky rail. Before they built it and they were doing this study, I said, ‘but you’re going to build it’ and he said yes, and I said ‘why are you doing the bloody study then’ and he got quite grumpy about that,” Mitchell said last year.
Mitchell also recalled a conversation he had with Mr Andrews about a 2014 state election campaign bus stop to his family’s farm in Wangaratta, north-east Victoria.
“I rang to tell him, and I did broadcast this, when he went up to his father’s farm during the election campaign, and his father was dying and he took the bus up there to take film of his dad selling off the farm,” he said.
“And I told him I thought it was wrong and I rang him to tell him that.”
An inside source revealed to the Herald Sun the newly appointed Premier’s media team had “cordial” relations with Elliot’s staff, leading to a thaw in the icy conditions between the station and the state government.
Ms Allan’s friendly relationship with Elliot also contributed to the change of heart, according to the publication.
Last year, Mitchell spoke about why he was not willing to hear from Daniel Andrews on his final day on 3AW mornings.
“I think probably I would because it would turn into a fistfight. I was going to use another word, but it would turn into a fight, and I don’t want to sully the day,” he told Ross and Russ’s breakfast show in December.
“There’ll be a few fights today, but not with him. I’d spend an hour getting stuck into him, to try and get questions answered that I’ve been asking for seven years.”
(SKY NEWS)
