Virginia Trioli (born 1964) is an Australian journalist, author, radio, and television presenter. She became nationally known when co-hosting News Breakfast on ABC Television for many years, and has published two books. After working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on both radio and television for 27 years, she left the broadcaster on 26 June 2026.
Virginia Trioli was born in 1964 in Bendigo, Victoria, to an Italian father and Australian mother. Her father migrated to Australia during the 1930s. One of nine children, she grew up the Melbourne suburbs of Nunawading and Donvale. Her paternal grandparents ran a fruit and vegetable shop in Bendigo.
She undertook some postgraduate studies in New York from 1993 to 1994.
Career
Early career
Trioli began her career in journalism as a cadet at The Age in 1990. In her first two years there, she wrote many theatre reviews.
In 1995 she won her first Walkley Award, for Best Business Report, for "The Bet Bardas Lost".
She then worked for The Bulletin magazine for some time.
ABC
Trioli joined the ABC in 1999, From 2001, became a radio presenter at 774 ABC Melbourne on weekday afternoons, hosting the Drive program.
In 2005, Trioli moved to Sydney to host the morning show on the radio station 702 ABC Sydney, replacing Sally Loane. She was a radio host for a total of eight years. In addition to her radio commitments during this time, she was a regular occasional commentator on the ABC TV program Insiders and was a weekly host on Sunday Arts. In February 2007, Trioli was announced as the Friday presenter of ABC's Lateline news and current affairs program, replacing Maxine McKew.[citation needed] She resigned from her radio role on 9 November 2007 to concentrate on developing her TV career.[citation needed]
In 2008, Trioli moved back to Melbourne to commence co-hosting News Breakfast on ABC TV and ABC News 24 with Barrie Cassidy from Mondays to Thursdays and Joe O'Brien on Fridays, along with sport presenter Paul Kennedy and weather presenter Vanessa O'Hanlon. The program premiered on 3 November 2008. In January 2009, the ABC announced that Joe O'Brien would host on Monday to Friday, replacing Cassidy. In May 2010, O'Brien left News Breakfast, and was replaced by Michael Rowland. During Trioli's time with the show, it rose to be ranked number two in morning TV programs.
In May 2019, the ABC announced that Trioli would be leaving News Breakfast to replace Jon Faine as Mornings presenter on ABC Radio Melbourne. On her first Mornings program with ABC Radio Melbourne, Trioli incorrectly declared herself to be the first female presenter of the program when in fact it had been Elizabeth Bond who had hosted the show in the late 1970s. Trioli apologised for the error. Ramona Koval had also hosted Mornings from 1988 to 1992.
In August 2023, Trioli announced that she would resign from ABC Radio Melbourne on 15 September 2023 and move into a TV role with the broadcaster.
Other roles on ABC Television included hosting of Q&A and 7.30
In June 2026, Trioli announced that she would leave the ABC after 27 years to pursue new creative projects, including work on writing two books and a television script. Her move was partly inspired by some of the people she had interviewed on Creative Types. On 27 June she published her final column for the ABC, entitled " 27 things I've learned at the ABC".
Trioli started her career at The Age, where she worked as a columnist in the late 1990s. In April 1998 she was the recipient of the "Best Columnist" award in Melbourne Press Club's Quill Awards.
Trioli is the author of the book Generation F: Sex, Power and the Young Feminist, published in 1996 as a riposte to Helen Garner's 1995 book about two sexual assaults, called The First Stone. Trioli's book was republished in 2019 with a new foreword, relating to ideas highlighted by the MeToo movement.
From 2019, she wrote a weekly column for the ABC called Weekend Reads.
She published her second book, A Bit on the Side, in 2024, which centres around her experiences with food and cooking. Journalist Jane Rocca described it as "more memoir than cookbook", saying that it employs "food as a means of self-exploration".
Other roles and activities
In the early 1980s in the lead-up to the launch of Gertrude Contemporary, an arts complex in Melbourne, Trioli worked with founding director Louise Neri. In May 2015 she was appointed chair of Gertrude (a position she left sometime before 2022).
In 2003 Trioli married her former boss at The Age Russell Skelton, who had three children from a prior marriage. The couple had their first child, a son, in 2012, making Trioli a first-time mother at the age of 48.
12"Locating the Women of Bendigo". Bendigo Regional Archives Centre. 8 March 2020. Archived from the original on 28 October 2025. Retrieved 28 October 2025. Virginia was born in Bendigo, where her parents John and Patricia lived until she was a toddler when the family moved to Nunawading.
12"La Trobe honours Distinguished Alumni". La Trobe University. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2026. I transferred my Honours year to La Trobe University... What I learnt at La Trobe was just a greater sense of application to the real world
↑Crowley, Tom (28 March 2025). "Virginia Trioli". ABC News. Retrieved 21 June 2026. Prior to broadcasting Virginia spent nine years as a news reporter, features writer, assistant news editor and columnist in Melbourne.
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