Gareth Parker Exits Nine for Forrest Empire Role in Major Blow to Network News Strategy
Nine Entertainment is losing one of its most senior newsroom leaders, with Network News Content Director Gareth Parker departing the company to join Tattarang, the sprawling private investment group owned by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and philanthropist Nicola Forrest.
The move ends Parker’s relatively brief stint in a newly created national leadership role at Nine, and raises fresh questions about the future direction of the broadcaster’s newsroom transformation strategy during a period of ongoing structural and cultural change.
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Parker will leave Sydney and return to his home state of Western Australia to take up a senior position within the Forrest business empire, according to reports first published by Business News.
His departure is significant not only because of his profile within Australian media, but because the role he leaves behind was designed to sit at the centre of Nine’s broader push to integrate and modernise its national news operation.
In September 2024, Nine announced Parker’s appointment as Network News Content Director, describing it as a newly created executive position reporting directly to 9Network Director of News and Current Affairs Fiona Dear.
At the time, the network said the role would help coordinate major national coverage across Nine’s metropolitan newsrooms, including political, business, health and technology reporting, while strengthening integration between state operations and the network’s broader digital and broadcast assets.
Fiona Dear described the network news desk as “a critical piece” of Nine’s transformation strategy, while Parker said his focus would be maximising the “reach and impact” of the company’s journalism across the country.
The role was widely viewed internally as a strategic appointment rather than a standard newsroom promotion.
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Parker had only recently relocated to Sydney after serving as 9News Perth Director of News, making his exit after less than two years in the national role especially notable.
Before moving into television leadership, Parker built one of the strongest media profiles in Western Australia.
He joined 9News Perth in 2022 following six years at 6PR, where he hosted the station’s flagship Breakfast and Mornings programs during a period of major political and social upheaval in WA.
Prior to radio, he spent more than a decade at The West Australian, where he served as political editor and bureau chief, becoming one of the state’s most recognisable political commentators.
He also became a regular panellist on ABC’s Insiders, while his journalism earned multiple honours including WA Journalist of the Year, the Matt Price Prize for WA Columnist of the Year, and a Walkley Award nomination.
One of his most high-profile investigations examined the WA Government’s oversight of Crown Perth, reporting that further elevated his standing within the industry.
When Nine appointed him to lead the Perth newsroom in 2022, then-news boss Darren Wick described Parker as an “acclaimed local media identity” with a proven record of breaking major stories.
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Then-Perth managing director Clive Bingwa said Parker was “WA born-and-bred” and “one of the state’s finest journalists”.
Now, Parker’s shift to Tattarang represents a dramatic pivot away from frontline journalism and into the corporate and strategic sphere.
Tattarang is not a conventional corporate employer.
The Perth-based private investment group controls an enormous and increasingly influential portfolio spanning energy, agriculture, resources, property, sport, consumer brands and health technology.
Its holdings include Squadron Energy, Wyloo, Harvest Road Group, Fiveight, R.M.Williams, Akubra and Tenmile, alongside major investments connected to the Forrest family’s broader business and philanthropic activities.
The company positions itself as an investment organisation using capital “as a force for good”, while continuing to drive the Forrest family’s ambitious “Real Zero” climate agenda.
The organisation is overseen by chief executive John Hartman, who also holds senior responsibilities within the wider Forrest philanthropic ecosystem, including the Minderoo Foundation.
Parker’s arrival inside the group gives Tattarang a high-profile operator with deep experience across media, politics, public affairs and strategic communications — skills likely to prove increasingly valuable as the Forrest business interests expand further into nationally significant sectors.
The move also comes during a turbulent period for Nine Entertainment.
Parker’s national appointment followed a year of substantial upheaval within Nine’s news and current affairs division.
In late 2024, the company publicly released findings from an independent workplace culture review conducted by Intersection, after allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment emerged inside the television news division.
The review made 22 recommendations and formed part of a broader organisational reset underway at Nine following executive and leadership changes.
At the same time, Nine has also been reshaping parts of its wider media portfolio.
Earlier this year, the company confirmed the sale of its radio division — including Perth station 6PR, where Parker became one of WA’s most recognisable broadcasters — in a deal reportedly worth about $56 million.
Against that backdrop, Parker’s resignation leaves a vacancy inside one of Nine’s most strategically important newsroom roles.
The challenge for the network now will be whether it replaces the position directly, restructures the responsibilities internally, or rethinks elements of the transformation project Parker was originally brought in to help deliver.
His exit also removes a senior executive with strong editorial credibility in both television and radio, as well as deep relationships across the Western Australian political and business landscape.
For Nine, the loss is as much symbolic as operational.
Parker was seen as part of the broadcaster’s next-generation newsroom leadership team — experienced in traditional journalism but also capable of helping steer legacy media businesses through the demands of digital integration and audience fragmentation.
For Tattarang, meanwhile, the appointment signals the growing importance of strategic communications and media expertise inside one of Australia’s most powerful private investment groups.
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