David Speers is an Australian journalist and the political editor at Sky News Australia. He worked with the Macquarie Radio Network, including the station 2GB, and the Southern Cross radio network, including stations 2UE and 3AW, before joining Sky in 2000. He has been a member of the National Press Club board since 2005. In 2006, he was awarded with the Astra Award for "Most Outstanding Performance by a Presenter for Political Editor", as host of the regular Sky News current affairs program, Agenda. He again won the award for best presenter in 2007. He was chosen to moderate the leaders' debate between John Howard and Kevin Rudd for the 2007 Australian Federal Election and again in the 2010 Australian Federal Election between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.

David (Hebrew: דָּוִד, דָּוִיד, Modern David Tiberian Dāwîḏ; ISO 259-3 Dawid; Strong's Daveed; beloved; Arabic: داوود‎ or داود‎ Dāwūd) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and, according to the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, an ancestor of Jesus. David is seen as a major Prophet in Islamic traditions. His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040–970 BC, his reign over Judah c. 1010–1003 BC,^{[citation needed]} and his reign over the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1003–970 BC.^{[citation needed]} The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only sources of information on David, although the Tel Dan stele records "House of David", which some take as confirmation of the existence in the mid-9th century BC of a Judean royal dynasty called the "House of David".

David is very important to Jewish, Christian and Islamic doctrine and culture. In Judaism, David, or David HaMelekh, is the King of Israel, and the Jewish people. Jewish tradition maintains that a direct descendant of David will be the Messiah. In Islam, he is known as Dawud, considered to be a prophet and the king of a nation. He is depicted as a righteous king, though not without faults, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, traditionally credited for composing many of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms.

Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos) (born 27 October 1968) is an Australian federal politician. She has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria. Mirabella is presently the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak and was a solicitor and articled clerk from 1995 to 1997 at Riordans. From 1998 until her election to Parliament, she worked as a barrister.

In 1995, she began a live-in relationship with a man forty years her senior, then dean of law at Melbourne University, Colin Howard. The relationship ended in 2001, however they remained close until his death in 2011. Her relationship with Howard was later the subject of a bitter dispute between Mirabella and Howard's adult children.

In June 2006 she married Lieutenant-Colonel Greg Mirabella, a former Army Reserve Officer still working in the defence industry.

She has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1987. She was president of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, vice-president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation, a delegate to the Liberal Party State Council of Victoria and is also a member of numerous Policy Assembly Committees. She became well known during the debate on Australia becoming a republic as a prominent advocate for retaining the constitutional monarchy, and was an elected member of the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

Nicholas David "Nick" Champion (born 27 February 1972 in Kapunda, South Australia), is the ALP Member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the electorate of Wakefield. He won the seat at the 2007 Australian federal election, defeating the sitting Liberal member, David Fawcett.

Champion spent his early years in the rural town of Kapunda and completed his secondary education at Kapunda High School while working part time as a fruit picker. He completed an Arts degree at the University of South Australia^[when?] and became a union official at the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association in 1994. He is aligned with the Labor Right.

He served as South Australian State President of the Australian Labor Party from 2005 to 2006. Champion was a Ministerial Adviser to State ALP Minister Michael Wright before the 2007 election campaign.

Champion was re-elected to the seat at the 2010 federal election, becoming the first Labor party member to do so.

Alan Edward Tudge (born 24 February 1971), an Australian politician, is a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Aston representing the Liberal Party of Australia. He succeeded Liberal MP Chris Pearce, who retired from politics, at the 2010 federal election.

Tudge was educated at Haileybury College, Keysborough before attending the University of Melbourne, where he completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts; he subsequently completed a Masters of Business Administration at Harvard University. Following a period as a consultant with Boston Consulting Group, he became an adviser on Education and Foreign Affairs to the Howard Government; he subsequently ran his own policy advisory firm.