During the media opportunity at Port Kembla, Scott Morrison was asked a question about his government's commitment to supporting regional media.

"It is a tough market for regional broadcasters, that's not new," Mr Morrison said.

"The deputy prime minister [Michael McCormack] ran a regional newspaper and it's been a long time since the paper he used to run has actually employed a new journalist."

I'm sorry, did I hear that correctly? Did Prime Minister Scott Morrison just say that it had been a long time since The Daily Advertiser has employed a new journalist?

We employed a new journalist earlier this month. The contract was signed on September 3.

Now, I know a week is a long time in politics, but for the rest of us, two weeks since our last hiring is hardly an exorbitant period of time!

Obviously Mr Morrison's got a lot on his mind at the moment - a global pandemic, a recession, planning his next holiday to Hawaii (sorry, that was a cheap shot) - and perhaps that hiring escaped his attention.

But what about the three reporters we hired across February and March? The pandemic was barely a full-blown thing back then and the government was still talking about a budget surplus, so what's his excuse?

All jokes aside, as much as we expect our prime minister to be across a lot of detail, the ins and outs of The Daily Advertiser's staffing are not - and should not - be high on his priority list.

So we'll excuse him his error and genuinely thank him for the support his government has provided to help regional media through a difficult time.

But we want to assure our community that The DA does have reporters on the ground in Wagga, bringing you the news in print and online each day.

Maybe we're a little less visible at the moment because, for the most part, editorial staff have been working from kitchens, lounge rooms, dining rooms, spare bedrooms and even garages since moving to a working-from-home model in March due to the pandemic.

And sure, our Peter Street office might appear a tad quiet, but a look at our website or print edition clearly shows we're still working hard to tell the stories that matter to Wagga and the wider region.

Those stories are not being written by bots, nor nameless, faceless people with a Facebook page to push their political agendas.

There's a human behind every interview, every photo, every video and every keystroke.

We may not have sat next to each other in a meeting room or side-by-side at a desk in quite some time but we hang out virtually twice a day and I can assure you, we are real.

I've been at The DA for almost 12 years - more than a third of my lifetime. On our staff we have a mix of born and bred Riverina locals - like me - and those who have chosen to come to live and and work in our fair city.

And if Mr Morrison would like to come out to Wagga, we'd be only too happy to show him around - provided he doesn't mind being asked some curly questions on behalf of our readers!

Daisy Huntly, digital specialist