Niki Savva
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Niki Savva is an Australian journalist, author, and former senior adviser to prime minister
John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...
and treasurer
Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...
.


Early life

Savva was born in the village of Choli, Cyprus. Her father Andreas emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1951 and she followed with her mother Elpiniki and brother Steven several years later. She grew up in
Doveton Doveton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 31 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Doveton recorded a population of 9,603 at the 2021 census. Doveton ...
, an outer suburb of Melbourne. She attended Doveton Primary and Doveton High School where she was a prefect.


Career and personal life

Savva started work as a journalist at the ''Dandenong Journal'', before moving to ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'' newspaper. In her early twenties, she moved to Canberra to work as a correspondent in the Canberra press gallery, for ''The Australian'' and later for the ''
Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...
'' and ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
''. She also worked as the Washington correspondent for
News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...
. The illness and death of her sister Christina at 43 caused Savva to reconsider her career in journalism in 1997, and she accepted a job offer from federal treasurer
Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...
as his media advisor. She worked for Costello for six years before joining the staff of prime minister
John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...
for three years on Howard's Cabinet Policy Unit. She resigned from ''The Australian'' in June 2021 when the paper opted to commission a column from
Peta Credlin Peta-Louise Mary Credlin (born March 1971) is an Australian media personality and former political advisor who served as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia), Chief of Staff to Tony Abbott during his term as prime minister of Aust ...
to run on the same day as Savva's and started working at ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' the following month. Savva appears regularly as a panelist on the ABC's '' Insiders'' program. Savva is married to Vince Woolcock, a Liberal political staffer.


Political views

In a book about her time as an adviser to Peter Costello, and then to John Howard, Savva described herself as a "conservative leftie". On the Liberal side of politics, she supported Costello's leadership ambitions, over those of the more conservative Howard, and, later,
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...
's leadership ambitions over those of
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...
. According to journalist
Laurie Oakes Laurie Oakes (born 14 August 1943 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian former journalist and author. He worked in the Canberra Press Gallery from 1969 to 2017, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections for print, ra ...
, Savva said in 2011 that journalists can lie, but politicians should not: "As a journalist, I lied often, usually about my sources, but about other things, too. Journalists can and do get away with lying; politicians and staff can't. Nor should they." In 2016, Savva released the book ''The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government'' outlining the fall of the
Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...
, relating it to Abbott's closeness to his chief of staff,
Peta Credlin Peta-Louise Mary Credlin (born March 1971) is an Australian media personality and former political advisor who served as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia), Chief of Staff to Tony Abbott during his term as prime minister of Aust ...
. Savva was criticised by Abbott and Credlin, several journalists, and the ABC's '' Media Watch'' for not contacting the subjects of her book for comment on its claims, or giving them a right of reply. Michael Gawenda wrote in ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'': "It is a terrific book, but that's not the point here. The point is that Savva does not rely on anonymous sources for her examination of the relationship between Abbott and Peta Credlin. Her sources are named. They speak for themselves. We know who they are and where they worked and we know the terms and circumstances of their relationships with Abbott or Credlin." ''The Road to Ruin'' won the 2017 Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for General Non-fiction Book of the Year. Savva won the Adult nonfiction prize at the 2023 Book of the Year Awards and the Australian Political Book of the Year for ''Bulldozed''.


Books


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savva, Niki Australian political journalists Living people The Australian journalists Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Cypriot emigrants to Australia Year of birth missing (living people)