WINTER
2015
Forbes forges career on the
NEWS BEAT ABC News reporter Tom Forbes once had ambitions of becoming a war correspondent, only to discover the drama of the daily news cycle can be just as compelling for a journalist.
IT WAS a beautiful autumn day on the Gold Coast in 2010 and the Australian Life Saving Championships were in full swing at Kurrawa Beach when young Sydney lifesaver Saxon Bird went missing in the rough conditions. For ABC Gold Coast journalist Tom Forbes it was a tragedy that impacted him deeply. It was also one of those rare occasions when Forbes felt vulnerable in his work environment as the crowd turned on the media covering the unfolding story. Forbes says the terrible loss of Bird, and that of Matthew Barclay two years later at the same event, are a constant reminder of the intrusive nature of his job. “Those stories are so gut-wrenching; they’re the hard ones,” says Forbes. “You’re as upset as everyone else, but instantly you become the enemy because you’re doing your job.” The irony for the Bond alumnus is that he became a journalist ostensibly to put himself in harm’s way, as a war correspondent. Forbes says the lure of travel and reporting from far-flung destinations were most appealing to him. “To be honest I didn’t even consider the danger. I just assumed that everything would be alright, but if you were to send me to the Middle East today I’d definitely think twice about it.” Forbes ultimately found his niche on the Gold Coast, a place he describes as a
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hotbed of breaking news in a city that pulsates with activity that is driven by 12 million tourists who visit each year. Forbes’ news reports are regular fare on ABC News 24, as well as ABC radio. Yet behind the disarming face there is a depth to Forbes’ own story, one that comes with its own angst as the openly gay journalist who came out to his family during his first year at Bond. “That’s probably the hardest thing most gay people do, coming out to their family,” says Forbes, whose long-term partner is another Bond alumnus, lawyer Derek Cronin. He concedes he often would ‘skirt around the issue’ of his sexuality, and even now sees no reason to ‘scream it from the hilltops’. Looking back, Forbes simply blames the anxiety of youth which is why he and Cronin hold strong views on the right to marry. Cronin, in particular, has been a vocal campaigner for marriage equality. “Kids worry that other people will not accept them for who they are,” says Forbes. “It’s not until you get older that you realise it’s not that big a deal. We are great believers that a lot of young people who commit suicide are probably struggling with their sexuality. “We feel the right to marry takes the stigma away and makes it easier for young people who are gay. It’s one less hurdle they have to jump and puts them on an
equal footing (with their peers).” Forbes took a great deal of time to define his role in life and to establish a career path that blended his love of the outdoors with a sense of adventure. Growing up in Gladstone he would spend weekends rolling grass on his lawyer father’s turf farm. That ignited ambitions of becoming a cattle farmer. The career went as far as a 12-month stint as a jackaroo at Longreach after Forbes completed a twoyear associate diploma course at the Dalby Agricultural College. Later, when the family moved to Brisbane, he worked on a construction site and even had a go at selling real estate - a job that Forbes says ‘barely interested’ him. “I always harboured ambitions to be a journalist,” says Forbes. So he leveraged off his associate diploma to undertake an Arts degree at Bond, majoring in Journalism and International Relations. Six months into the degree in 1997, he met Cronin, a young lawyer who had graduated a few years earlier. It was Forbes’ first long-term relationship, and one that has endured the perils of separate, emerging careers that had their own individual demands. While still studying at Bond, Forbes scored his first job as a sports reporter at WIN Television in Townsville. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Cronin agreed and followed him north, where Forbes says two years away from