Queensland Sunrise presenter Bianca Stone: ‘It’s my job to ask the tough questions’

Sunrise journalist and presenter Bianca Stone made headlines when she was involved in a testy exchange with the Queensland Premier at a Covid press conference in July.

Seven journalist Bianca Stone made headlines in July when she went head-to-head with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who told her off for being “rude” in a press conference, but three months on she’s still getting messages of support.

The Sunrise reporter and presenter accused the Premier of pulling a “publicity stunt” when she said was unable to get enough Pfizer vaccine supplies.

“I work for Sunrise, the show that you didn’t appear on this morning,” Stone began, at the July 1 press conference, before the Premier snapped: “Well, I’m not going to answer people being rude, so anyone else have a question? You are being very rude.”

Stone, an experienced TV reporter, said the clash hadn’t deterred her from continuing to quiz political leaders on their decisions, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I wanted to ask questions that mattered to Queenslanders and I think that resonated with a lot of people,” Stone said.

“I’m still getting emails now from people thanking me for asking questions and urging me to continue asking tough questions.

“It’s never been more important for us to ask questions of our leaders.”

Stone, 42, started her career in radio on the Gold Coast before moving to TV and has been a reporter for two decades.

She was shocked by the Premier’s frosty response at the July press conference but said it was just part of the job.

The mother-of-three said it was increasingly challenging to hold political leaders to account when the major parties had armies of “spinners” whose job it was to promote their key messages without facing close scrutiny.

“The Premier wants Queenslanders to bypass traditional media like newspapers and television news. It’s a great tactic if you are a politician, because you can simply get your message across without being questioned,” Stone said.

Ms Palaszczuk has a big media team behind her, with 29 staff in her communications department representing Queensland’s 18 state ministers.

Stone is the new host of Sunrise’s live and local news which started this month and will bring tailored news coverage and bulletins specifically for the program’s Queensland viewers.

“I joined Sunrise almost five years ago and it has always really annoyed me come daylight saving time, Queensland is on delay basically,” she said.

Stone gets up at 1am to travel from her Gold Coast home to Seven’s Mt Coot-tha studios in Brisbane for Sunrise.

“Once the show’s finished, I go home and have a rest and then my day starts again at 3pm when I pick the kids up from school.”

Sunrise dominates breakfast TV ratings – latest OzTAM figures show the weekday program draws on average 269,000 viewers across the five major capital cities, compared to Nine’s Today program at 223,000 viewers.