LocumPR - About Us

About us

Brendan Giffney - With more than 30 years experience on major Australian newspapers, Brendan is a researcher and writer of considerable skills and thoroughness. He has an understanding of complex technical, corporate and political concepts, and in his time with newspapers such as the Melbourne Sun, Melbourne Age, Sydney Daily Mirror, Sunday Telegraph and New York Times, has held positions such as chief-of-staff, and political columnist and analyst as well as writing general columns. He has also worked as a consultant with development companies to bring projects from their initial concept through to the final approval from state and local government. Brendan was the public relations consultant for Australia’s biggest golf tournament. In addition, he has devised and written an important historical series that was presented nationwide by the ABC.

Tony Homfray - Assignments have included issues management activities for Motorola, Hoechst chemicals, Australia’s Very Fast Train project, Metcard (the introduction of Melbourne’s multi-modal transport ticketing system) and the tender process for Transurban’s successful bid for Melbourne’s City Link project. Tony has been involved in consulting work with Burson-Marsteller, the world’s leading public relations consultancy, Hewlett-Packard, KPMG Consulting (now Bearing Point) and Hansen Information Technologies (Sacramento, CA USA).

Leigh Mau - is a widely experienced journalist and public relations specialist with more than 35 years experience. He worked with major news organisations such as the Sydney Mirror, Melbourne Herald, Reuter, Australian Associated Press, United Press International and Daily Mail in London. Consulting clients include Coca Cola Bottlers, Castrol, Australian Glass Industries, International Harvester, Ericsson Australia, General Motors Holden, McDonalds Restaurants, 7-Eleven convenience stores, Timber Industries Association, AeroSpace Technologies of Australia and Pilkington Australasia.

Kevin Balshaw – With extensive experience in all communications fields in the media, government, non-government organisations and private sector, extending across major Australian and international corporations, SMEs, peak business bodies such as the Business Council of Australia, think-tank forums such as the Australian Davos Connection, industry sectors ranging from energy and transport to biotechnology. Kevin is expert in developing and project managing publications and web sites and he is also experienced in issues and risk management. A high-level speechwriter, he was former senior adviser and chief speechwriter to Premier Jeff Kennett,

Paul Pearce - originally from a government and industry lobbying background, he has been a public relations consultant for 20 years. After working as a senior consultant for a range of major PR firms, Paul established his own consultancy in 1991, specialising in editorial media relations and corporate writing assignments. Over the years, he has provided services for organisations across all levels of government, and most sectors of business.The current client base includes: State government departments, a major engineering consultancy, software developers, management consultants, share market educators, energy efficiency advisers, infrastructure development specialists and automotive industry representatives. Working with in-house communication specialists is a normal and continuing practice in Paul’s client relationships particularly with regard to larger organisations.

Chris Chalke - A former journalist, Chris is a full member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and was South Australian President of the PRIA for two years and a member of the State Council for six years. Chris specialises in writing, editing and public relations to meet the needs of a range of government, non-government and private sector clients. Chris’s writing and editing skills are based on 20-years of print media experience, including five on The Sydney Morning Herald and 10 as a sub-editor on Fleet Street newspapers. He writes/edits material ranging from scientific papers to strategy documents, features, media releases, magazines, and capabilities documents. He has also created and run major public relations campaigns such as the launch of the Australian Road Rules in SA and the sale of SA Ports Corporation. Chris is listed with the Federal Government Communications Unit as a registered consultancy for Writing/Editing and Public Relations.