Pittwater Life May 2024 Issue

I worked for the ABC, ‘Why
would you live all the way
up there?’” Phillips says.
“My reply always was, ‘Why
wouldn’t you? It’s the most
beautiful place in Sydney!’
“Since COVID, people
have really discovered the
Barrenjoey peninsula and the
population has boomed. But
it’s still a wonderful, friendly
community set among the
most extraordinary natural
beauty. We love it here.”
As local residents they are
both concerned about the
threat of overdevelopment –
and are particularly looking
forward to the day when
their favourite local cafe,
at Avalon Beach Surf Life
Saving clubhouse, eventually
reopens with new operators.
One thing they don’t
share is Phillips’ visits to
the hairdresser for her
trademark shoulder-length
cut and colour.
She posed for a photograph
for the Good Weekend
magazine several years ago
showing, as she put it, “that,
naturally, I’m as grey-haired
as a badger”. The article
accompanying it bemoaned
the double standards
facing men and women on
television, with males rarely
criticised for their weight,
clothes sense or facial
appearance.
Her stand was seen as
a feminist disclosure, but
Phillips readily admits the
photo was airbrushed: “I
wasn’t brave enough to go
grey while I worked in TV,
and I’m still not.”
Having Combet as a
partner doesn’t help. Apart
from a little whitening
around the sideburns, his
hair is as naturally black
as it was when he was a
teenager at Rooty Hill Public
High School. “It’s not fair,”
she jokes.
Mind you, Combet admits
to facing adverse criticism
himself. “When I was
first a junior minister in
parliament, my office would
receive complaints asking
why I felt it necessary to use
Grecian 2000!”
*More info futurefund.gov.
au
Life Stories
The Local Voice Since 1991
MAY 2024 37