Journalist reveals story behind Zoom call blow-up John Barilaro

A journalist has revealed what led to her blow-up on a Zoom call with Deputy Premier John Barilaro after she thought she on mute.

A regional journalist has explained her Zoom call blow up where she said she was “p***ed off” with Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

Central Coast Newspapers senior reporter Skaie Hull, 29, who has been reporting for a decade, logged on to the Deputy Premier’s daily regional media conference on Tuesday prepared to ask the pollie the tough questions.

Hull asked the deputy premier about reports that Covid-19 patients from western Sydney were transferred to Gosford Hospital on Monday.

Skaie Hull explained the situation that led to her blow-up.

Mr Barilaro said he does not “speculate on gossip and rumour” and goes off the information given to him from health.

He added, “I don’t see what the issue is in relation to case numbers, vaccination, and the ability to manage those cases in the local hospital network. Anything outside of that is negative scaremongering.”

This prompted Hull to rant to her colleague, but she accidentally left her microphone on.

“Same thing, ‘scaremongering freakin’ rumours’. He turned his camera off on me, so I’m p***ed off,” Hull said.

“He purposely did that. I caught him fiddling around and he turned it off while replying to my question.”

Screengrab of the original video. Picture: Twitter

Skaie Hull said she and the Deputy Premier and her are on good terms. Picture: Instagram

She told news.com.au on Tuesday that the blow-up had come from weeks of frustration when dealing with government departments and politicians.

“I find when the politicians come out to the regions they try to walk all over us,” she said.

“There’s no hard feelings between the Deputy Premier and I. Another minister’s department has told me that they do not do interviews with the regions previously and it is very frustrating.”

The Deputy Premier holds these hour-long briefings daily for regional journalists across the state. There are regularly up to 70 journalists tuning in to ask questions.

The pair have patched and made up. Picture: Instagram

Ms Hull said she has been largely supported by colleagues across the state who sent her messages of sympathy and encouragement once the video was posted on Twitter.

However, she was surprised Prime7 Wagga journalist Samantha Costin shared the video.

“I don’t know her at all. I reckon if she did know me she wouldn’t (have shared it),” she said.

“I think it was a bit off, I’ve seen comments like what purpose was it to share there. Was it for a laugh? I thought she should have spoken to me.”

In an Instagram post, she revealed more details abut the incident.

“I wasn’t planning on sharing this publicly but another regional journalist took it upon herself to share my little rant about Barilaro on Twitter yesterday- after I forgot to turn my microphone off post questions,” the post said.

“Silly mistake but it’s started a little media frenzy.

“As many of you are aware I am very passionate about what I do and the Central Coast Community.

“I am not a rumour spreading journalist and I usually don’t share information until it is verified. However myself and other Central Coast journalists have had great difficulty in seeking even simple answers in prior weeks/months hence my frustration yesterday.

“It’s nothing personal with the Deputy Premier himself - I just want the correct information so I can share it with you guys.

“I will note there is a bigger back story to my question around the Covid patient transfer from Western Sydney to Gosford Hospital - which I will share once officially confirmed.”

Originally published as Journalist reveals story behind Zoom call blow-up John Barilaro