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Prime subscribers. Some shows may have ads. This

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is The Guardian. There

0:27

were town hall meetings, I'm told,

0:29

about this. The mayor was getting

0:32

involved. They called the local

0:34

MP and they were like, we

0:36

need you to find that city

0:38

journalist and get her to do

0:40

a correction over

0:43

what happened at that cake stand.

0:47

Hey, Laura Murphy-Oates here, coming to you from

0:49

Gadigal Land. And this is

0:51

the Full Story Summer Series, the

0:53

tale I dine out on. We've

0:56

asked 10 of our favorite storytellers, including

0:58

actors, comedians, writers and

1:00

more, to share an

1:03

extraordinary story. Today,

1:05

Guardian Australia's political reporter and

1:07

Politics Live blogger Amy Ramekis on

1:09

a controversial bake sale in the

1:12

Queensland town of Texas and

1:14

how her journalism made her the enemy of

1:17

the local country women's association. Picture

1:21

it, Texas, Queensland, 2015.

1:26

Texas is a town of, I think,

1:28

800 people at most. It

1:31

is a tiny dot in the Gundah

1:34

Windi part of Queensland. So we're talking,

1:36

you know, like just your typical Queensland

1:41

small country town. And

1:46

Texas, Queensland, was having a country

1:48

show. And I

1:50

adore country shows. I

1:52

just think they are one of the best parts

1:55

of living in Australia because you actually get

1:57

to see, you know, a lot of people.

2:00

lot of people from a lot

2:02

of different backgrounds just enjoying seeing

2:04

some cows and losing it over,

2:07

you know, some amazing chicken or

2:09

quilt that they have seen in

2:12

the show ring. So a group

2:14

of friends and I decided we were going

2:16

to drive to Texas, Queensland, which I think

2:18

was three and a half hours outside of

2:21

Brisbane, maybe four hours, I don't know, we

2:23

got lost going there. And that

2:25

we were just going to have a day at the show

2:27

and we were just going to look at cows and see

2:29

horses jump and, you know, have a cup of tea

2:31

and it was going to be amazing. And

2:34

it was all of those things. We rock up,

2:36

you know, they've got all of

2:38

the paddocks laid out. There's

2:40

everything you could imagine for a country show.

2:42

So there's the rides that you probably are

2:44

going to risk your life on if you

2:46

put yourself on but you put little children

2:49

on them anyway because it's part of the

2:51

show experience. There's people cracking

2:53

whips. There's people showing off

2:55

their cows. You know, I once again was

2:57

like, I really have to go back to

2:59

being a vegetarian because look at these lambs.

3:01

It's amazing how am I eating these lambs? And

3:04

then I went and had like a giant steak

3:06

sandwich and it was incredible. Like it's that sort

3:08

of place. We're having a

3:10

great time. It's a bit muddy. It's a bit

3:13

rainy. So not all of the, you know, show

3:15

elements were on. We didn't get to see like,

3:17

you know, a lot of the muster parts and

3:19

things like that. But it was amazing. It was

3:21

a really good day. We come to the end

3:24

of the day and we find

3:26

this little tent that's being run by

3:28

the CWA and they have

3:30

cups of tea and coffee for

3:32

a dollar and a piece

3:34

of cake for a dollar. And I

3:36

lose my mind because I'm like, oh

3:38

my God, $2 for

3:41

a cuppa and a cake. Like you cannot

3:43

get anywhere better in Australia right now. Like

3:45

this is it. This is living. So

3:47

I wait my turn. I get my cup of

3:50

tea. It's in one of those old camping cups

3:52

that you'll probably find in your Nana's house or

3:54

something like that. And then I'm like,

3:56

oh my God, look at all these cakes. Which cake do

3:58

I want? woman behind the

4:01

counter urged me not to get

4:03

the chocolate cake. She said

4:05

it was a bit dry or something. She's like,

4:07

you're not going to want that. And then she's

4:09

pointing at all these other cakes. She's like, oh,

4:12

date cake, date slice. Oh, I

4:14

canna buy dates. Like I wouldn't be going

4:16

for that one doll. And then she offers

4:18

up this other cake. I think it was

4:20

so tanner or something like that. She's like,

4:22

this is what you want. I'm like, babes

4:24

love you. Yup. Give me my dollar cake.

4:26

I have my cake. It is incredible. Have

4:29

my cup of tea. Just amazing. And

4:31

we're leaving the show and I just

4:33

think I'm going to write about our

4:35

time at the show,

4:37

just a nice little color piece. I was

4:40

working for what was then Fairfax. And I

4:42

was like, you know, people should know more

4:44

about like going to country shows, it shouldn't

4:46

just be something that we talk about doing.

4:49

We should actually go and support these towns.

4:51

So on the way back, we get lost.

4:54

Of course, we ended up in some bush,

4:56

didn't get murdered, was amazing. And I'm riding

4:58

in the back of the car, this

5:00

piece that I'm putting together. And I'm full of

5:02

love for Texas and what we had just been

5:04

through. And I included the

5:07

interaction that I had with the

5:09

woman who sold me the cake

5:11

and the cup of tea, and

5:13

I included what she said, but

5:15

I gave her a pseudonym. I

5:17

just chose a random name, Sherl.

5:19

I was like, Sherl, Sherl, whatever.

5:21

That's going to paint a picture

5:23

of the type of person that

5:26

I was speaking to. I'm

5:28

going to put this in. I

5:31

did not add the

5:34

asterisk that this is not

5:36

her real name. I did neglect to

5:38

do that. In my defense,

5:40

I was filing from the back of

5:42

a car, lost in a forest in

5:44

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to catch up on the latest

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episodes without the ads. The

6:46

piece runs, you know, it does okay. I forget about it. And then about two weeks later,

7:01

I get a phone call from the local

7:03

MP. And I was covering Queensland politics at

7:06

the time. So I pick up the phone

7:08

and I'm like, hey, how you doing? And

7:10

he's like, Amy, I just need

7:12

you to fix it. And I was like,

7:14

what are you talking about? Fix what? Have

7:16

I got something wrong in the story? He's

7:18

like, no. He's like, you

7:20

have turned the town of

7:22

Texas on its head. It

7:25

had turned out that the name I used

7:28

was actually the name of somebody

7:30

in that tent, but it was

7:32

not the name of the woman

7:34

who spoke to me. And

7:37

the local CWA went to

7:39

war over this. Who said

7:41

what? Who was complaining that

7:43

the cakes were dry? Who

7:46

was complaining about the date?

7:48

Did they actually say it? Why

7:50

has this city journalist said that

7:52

you've said it in the paper

7:54

when you actually haven't said it?

7:56

What is going on? The town

7:58

of Texas is absolutely. outraged. There

8:00

were town hall meetings, I'm told

8:02

about this. The mayor was getting

8:05

involved. They called the local MP

8:07

and they were like, we need

8:09

you to find that

8:11

city journalist and get her

8:13

to do a correction over

8:16

what happened at that cake stand.

8:19

And I have to impress

8:21

on people that this was

8:23

very serious. Like it was

8:25

being treated very seriously by

8:27

everyone, by the local member,

8:29

by the CWA, by the

8:31

town itself, by the newspaper

8:33

editors. Everyone was very serious

8:36

about what I had written

8:38

about Cheryl and the cakes

8:41

and how that had caused so

8:43

much drama within this country town

8:45

because a band-aid had been ripped

8:48

off about somebody's baking and then

8:50

that just opened up everything about

8:52

what had been happening in this

8:55

CWA and what people thought about

8:57

things. And so part of me was

8:59

going, am I about

9:02

to be shown to be on

9:04

like, I don't know, candid camera

9:06

or punked or something? Like, can

9:08

this actually be real? And

9:11

the bigger part of me was, oh my

9:13

God, have I managed to tear

9:16

a town apart over

9:18

cake? And that really bothered

9:20

me because I was

9:23

like, the chocolate cake didn't actually even

9:25

look that bad. How have

9:27

I managed to create this

9:29

situation? But at the same

9:32

time, it did reinforce upon

9:34

me just the importance

9:36

of journalism and how

9:39

everything we write matters. And

9:41

that is a lesson that I have never, ever

9:43

forgotten. So I have

9:46

to do a big email explaining

9:48

what happened, which was then apparently

9:50

passed on to the CWA people

9:52

and everyone who was upset. And

9:54

everyone is still upset. I am

9:56

told that they have a hotline

9:59

to the press. Prime Minister, Tony

10:01

Abbott, and they would, if

10:03

necessary, get the Prime Minister

10:06

involved in this. So

10:08

if I did not do a correction

10:11

in their local newspaper explaining

10:13

what had happened and the

10:15

abhorrent journalism that I had

10:17

done that had ripped this

10:19

town apart. And so

10:21

then I have to speak

10:23

to the newspaper editor of the

10:26

local paper that was biweekly, and

10:28

I have to explain what happened. The

10:31

conversation, yes, it did happen.

10:33

I was told these things.

10:35

However, it was not the

10:37

person's name. I used a

10:40

pseudonym. I probably should have

10:42

made that clear, but the

10:44

conversation absolutely did happen. There

10:46

was a complaint about the

10:48

cakes. Somebody didn't like

10:51

the chocolate cake. Somebody doesn't

10:53

like dates. I was told

10:55

this information. This was not

10:57

mowed up in the newspaper. I

11:00

then get a lecture about journalism

11:02

and how to do journalism correctly,

11:04

and that that would never happen

11:07

in their local paper, which is fair enough.

11:09

I should have made clear that it was

11:11

an actual pseudonym. I then

11:13

have to write a very long

11:15

letter to the editor where I

11:17

explain the situation and that I'm

11:19

very sorry to have caused

11:22

so much ruckus in the town and

11:24

that I know that the CWA is

11:26

the backbone of country towns, and I

11:28

know how important the CWA is,

11:31

and I'm very sorry that somebody

11:33

thought the chocolate cake was dry,

11:35

and I'm very sorry that I

11:37

reported that. I have learned

11:39

my lessons. Please don't call

11:41

the Prime Minister on me. I really

11:43

do love the town of Texas and your

11:46

show, and I'm very sorry this all happened.

11:50

That got published. I didn't hear anything about

11:52

it, but I did speak to the local

11:54

member not so long afterwards who asked me

11:56

to please avoid the town

11:58

of Texas. in the future,

12:01

that it has a long memory

12:03

and that perhaps when I enter

12:05

Texas, I will once again cause

12:07

a giant ruckus and that is

12:09

the story about how I got

12:12

chased out of the town of

12:14

Texas. That

12:20

was Amy Ramiquez, Guardian Australia's

12:22

political reporter and politics live

12:24

blogger. This episode was produced

12:26

by Allison Chan, Daniel Simo, Karishma Lathria

12:28

and James Milsom, who also did the

12:30

sound design and mix. The

12:33

executive producers were Hannah Parks and Miles

12:35

Matlioni. We'll be back with

12:37

another tale tomorrow. Tired

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of ads barging into your favorite news

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podcasts? Good news. Ad-free

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