Melissa Downes (born 17 September 1973) is an Australian broadcast journalist. She is currently a presenter of ''

Nine News Queensland ''Nine News Queensland'' is the flagship state-based news bulletin of the Nine Network in Brisbane. Like all ''Nine News'' bulletins, the Queensland bulletin runs for one hour nightly at 6:00pm. The bulletin also airs, albeit on a half-hour del ...

.''

Career

Downes began her career at the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in Brisbane as an intern during her final year of university. Following her internship, she was offered a position and took on multiple roles, including reporter, fill-in presenter, and co-host of a live 5:00 p.m. local magazine show. She spent nearly seven years with the network. In 2001, Downes joined the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

in Brisbane as a reporter, later taking on the role of fill-in weekend news presenter. By 2006, she assumed the position of full-time weekend presenter. During her time at Nine, she also contributed to the local magazine show ''Saturday Extra'' and served as a presenter for QTQ-9's ''

Nine Gold Coast News ''Nine Gold Coast News'' is a weeknight, local news bulletin of the Nine Network. It is screened on the Gold Coast, Queensland relay of Channel Nine from Brisbane. The bulletin first aired in 1996. Unlike all Nine News bulletins, the Gold Coas ...

'' bulletin. In November 2008, Downes replaced

Heather Foord Heather Foord (born 1965) is an Australian television journalist. Foord was a news presenter for the Nine Network in Brisbane for over 20 years, presenting the weekday edition of ''Nine News Queensland'' with Bruce Paige between 1995–2001, an ...

as co-anchor of ''

's'' weeknight bulletin, initially alongside

Bruce Paige Bruce Paige (born 10 November 1948) is a former newsreader in Brisbane, Australia. He previously presented '' Nine Gold Coast News'' alongside Eva Milic. He previously co-presented '' Nine News Queensland'' alongside Melissa Downes, having pa ...

, and from June 2009, with

Andrew Lofthouse Andrew Lofthouse (born 2 June 1962) is a former television and radio newsreader based in Brisbane, Australia. The former teacher was formerly the weeknight presenter of ''Nine News Queensland'' with Melissa Downes between 2009 and 2024. Prior t ...

. Her appointment coincided with a period of declining ratings for the bulletin, which had lost its dominance in the Brisbane market, finishing behind ''Seven News Brisbane'' for the second consecutive year in 2008. Despite these challenges, ''Nine News Queensland'' managed to reclaim its lead in subsequent years, winning 21 out of 40 ratings weeks in 2013.

Personal life

Early life

Born and raised in Brisbane, Downes graduated from

Somerville House Somerville House is an independent, boarding and day school for girls, located in South Brisbane, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Established in 1899 as the Brisbane High School for Girls, the School was eventually name ...

in 1988. She moved to Sydney to model for two years before returning to Brisbane to complete an Arts Journalism degree at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Family

Downes is married to DJ Wendt, owner of music group

The Ten Tenors The TEN Tenors (also known as TTT) are an Australian music ensemble, first formed in 1995. Current members *Cameron Barclay *Sam Ward *Michael Edwards *Adrian Li Donni *Ammon Bennett *Jared Newall *Boyd Owen *Joe Naim *Daniel Belle *JD Smith Ba ...

. The couple have two daughters.

References

External links

9 NewsTwitter – Melissa Downes
Australian television newsreaders and news presenters Living people 1971 births University of Queensland alumni Australian women television journalists People educated at Somerville House {{australia-tv-bio-stub