As a permanent member on Derryn Hinch’s SKY news panel I’m used to expecting the unexpected.
Social commentary by its very nature requires us to be across the issues of the day both domestically and internationally.
Last night, however, I dropped the ball..
Allow me to explain…
Derryn Hinch has been on holiday in Hawaii – where he often travels to write books – so I thought I was off the hook for this weekend’s show. For the record, I normally love going on but NOT during Federal Budget week. You see I don’t do Budget, we talk women’s issues here, we advocate for more women in leadership, less gender bias, we send a message that domestic violence is a crime. It’s safe to say budgets and I do not get along, not in my daily life or Joe Hockey’s version. Interviewing the Treasurer used to test me and quite a few of my journalist friends; except the Parliament House guns (Leigh Sales, Deborah Knight, Annabel Crabb – I’m talking to you). So you can imagine my reaction when Derryn texts me on Saturday morning..“Aloha, just back from Hawaii. Can you do tomorrow night? I want to talk about small business after budget and also domestic violence. Cheers, dh.”
For a desperate minute I contemplated pretending I’d lost my phone! But this is ‘Derryn Hinch’ after all people. Respect. The human headline assured me all would be great and I was confirmed as a panelist for 9pm the following night. As often happens in these situations, I also had a school ball and a dinner on the same weekend. Let alone the kid’s swimming lessons, piano, spray tanning for said ball. Again: you know the drill. So by the time I finally had an opportunity to sit down and Google search: ‘budget small business’ it was already Sunday afternoon. About an hour before the show I was drowning in information and in a cold sweat so I phoned Derryn,“Hi, it’s me. I’m in an absolute panic, there’s too much to know, I don’t know if I can do this,” I breathed down the iPhone.
“Ah, don’t worry, it’s just a light chat, you don’t have to know everything, it’ll be fun,” he assured. So I told myself to, “suck it up.” Catastrophised several variations of the worst thing that could happen and decided whatever the outcome I’d live. And the show went on. We spoke about many issues, did have a laugh, Derryn was super supportive. Most importantly we thrashed out this hideous epidemic of family violence we have in our country. Moral of the story: face your fears. Just do it, what’s the worst that can happen? That’s life. If you want to watch the segment on family violence tap, tap, tap here
With Andrea Clarke, our view from the desk.
Thought bubble: “Please don’t ask me about the economy, please don’t ask me about the economy.”
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