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Inside Mail was first to report this week that the ‘captain’s pick’ to replace Andrew Lofthouse as co-anchor of Nine Queensland’s 6pm bulletin had caused a storm in the newsroom.
Now, it appears there may be more to the story.
The saga began on Wednesday when our phones started blowing up with tips from the network’s Mount Coot-tha headquarters about news boss Brendan Hockings‘ decision to poach roving Seven reporter Joel Dry and parachute him into the top job.
Two days later, the station confirmed the news, telling viewers Dry would be stepping into Lofty’s shoes in August, following the veteran newsreader’s retirement earlier in the year.
While our initial story centred on the disquiet within Nine’s ranks over Dry’s appointment – which staffers described as being like a bolt from the blue – there was also another burning question in the newsroom.
What’s going to happen to Dry’s wife Jessica Millward?
Inside Mail was first to report that Joel Dry (pictured), the ‘captain’s pick’ to replace Andrew Lofthouse as co-host of Nine Queensland’s 6pm bulletin, had caused a storm in the newsroom
While our initial story centred on the disquiet within Nine’s ranks over Dry’s appointment, there is another burning question. What’s going to happen to Dry’s wife Jessica Millward (right)?
Millward is Nine’s European correspondent, a role she has held since February 2024, and the journalist couple currently lives in London with their son Sullivan.
While they were always expected to return to Australia as a family eventually, we can confirm they won’t be coming back together in August.
Millward is contracted to stay in Europe until the end of the year, and despite earlier suggestions she might cut short her posting to take a position at Nine-owned radio station 4BC, we have since learned she will complete her overseas assignment.
This means one of the golden couples of TV news will spend up to five months in a long-distance marriage while Dry settles into the most high-profile gig of his career.
Nine slightly danced around this fact in a press release pushed out after Inside Mail broke the story of Dry’s new job, with a spokesperson saying Millward would be back ‘later this year’ and the couple would be ‘reuniting in the same newsroom’.
Dry cut his teeth in journalism at Nova’s FIVEaa talkback station in Adelaide back in 2008 and went on to spend almost nine years plying his trade in Nine’s Brisbane bureau before defecting to Seven in 2018.
He has spent the past year and a half filing freelance reports from London.
‘Both Joel and Jess love Brisbane and while they’ve loved London, they’re ready to be home,’ one insider told us.
Millward is Nine’s European correspondent, a role she has held since February 2024, and the journalist couple currently lives in London with their son Sullivan
‘All their family is here and they’re keen to let their son Sully grow up in Queensland. The question is whether she goes back to TV reporting or tries something new like radio – which would actually be better hours for her as a working mum.’
Dry’s appointment comes after one of his latest reports, spruiking the success of an oxygenated water company, attracted a five-a-half-minute takedown by Linton Besser on Media Watch less than a month ago.
(For their part, Seven offered an equally damning response, telling the ABC to find something better to report on in the middle of a federal election campaign.)
Word of his new role at Nine had our phones ringing off the hook on Wednesday as newsroom insiders railed against Hocko’s decision to hire Dry for the prized anchor role alongside Melissa Downes.
‘He quit Nine seven years ago to go to Seven and has been freelancing for the past 18 months since moving in London,’ one Nine News staffer told us.
While they were always expected to return to Australia as a family eventually, we can confirm they won’t be coming back together in August. (Millward is pictured with her son Sullivan)
‘How do you then get the top job in our newsroom?
‘Everyone is up in arms about it – there are so many good journos already working at Nine and we go and “poach” one that turned their back on us.’
We hear some Nine newsroom staffers believe experienced reporters Josh Bavas, Tim Arvier and Tim Davies were unfairly overlooked for the role.
Inside Mail is not suggesting Dry is unqualified for the role as Brisbane news anchor, only that his appointment has caused some disquiet in the newsroom given the other internal candidates that were passed over and the fact Dry had previously left Nine for Seven.
We revealed in March that Nine News sports anchor Jonathan Uptin had long been considered the heir apparent to Lofthouse, who quit in January due to ill health after almost two decades in the job.
Nine sports anchor Jonathan Uptin (pictured) had long been considered the heir apparent to Lofthouse, but his ascendency was scotched by complaints of his allegedly erratic behaviour
However, Uptin’s ascendency was scotched following a number of complaints about his allegedly erratic behaviour.
The accusations were so concerning that Nine’s Queensland managing director Kylie Blucher requested Uptin undergo a workplace urine test, which he voluntarily agreed to do and ultimately passed.
After a stretch on the sidelines, the drama was resolved last year with Uptin retaining his $230,000 gig on the 6pm sports desk along with the network’s full support.
This is an expanded excerpt from the latest Inside Mail, the media and politics column by Steve Jackson and Peter van Onselen exclusive to M+ subscribers
