Pangallo started his career as a copyboy at The News in 1972, with an aim of becoming a sports journalist. [6] He was promoted to a cadetship after a year's work at The News, and was sent to report in Melbourne for the paper in 1973, working at The Herald and Weekly Times. [3] During the mid-1980s, Pangallo worked as a chief reporter and chief of staff at The News. [3]
In 1978, Pangallo joined the radio station 5DN as a sportscaster. He also commentated National Soccer League matches for 5DN and 5RPH until 2001.
He was also part of the commentary team for the Australian Formula One Grands Prix from 1986 to 1995.
From 1981 to 1985, Pangallo was the Executive Producer for Jeremy Cordeaux's 5DN talkback programme.
From 1986 to 1989, Pangallo worked for SAS-10 and SAS-7 as the newsroom Chief of Staff.
Pangallo left a job at Channel Seven to become the editor-in-chief of The News in 1989. He resigned from The News in 1991, taking a role in television at the ABC's The 7.30 Report. [3] Pangallo would later join ADS-10 as a Features Producer for Ten Eyewitness News .
In 1994, Pangallo moved to Sydney, where he became the Supervising Producer for Seven Network's national current affairs programme Real Life— a forerunner to Today Tonight . In 1995, he became the Supervising Producer for Today Tonight, returning to Adelaide later that lear as the State Supervising Producer and Senior Journalist.
In 2002, Pangallo was appointed Queensland State Producer for Today Tonight and NSW State Producer from 2003–2005.
In 2005, Pangallo returned to South Australia as Supervising Producer and Senior Investigative Journalist for Today Tonight until he retired from journalism in July 2017. Later that year, Pangallo became a media advisor to Nick Xenophon. [7]
Politics
Pangallo was placed second on SA-Best's ticket for the Legislative Council at the 2018 South Australian state election. [8] At the 2018 election, Pangallo was successfully elected to the Legislative Council, becoming one of SA-Best's two parliamentarians, alongside Connie Bonaros. [9] [10]
As a member of the Legislative Council, Pangallo introduced a bill in 2021 to limit the powers of South Australia's Independent Commission Against Corruption, removing its ability to investigate misconduct or maladministration. Pangallo's bill was passed unanimously. [11]
Pangallo left SA-Best in December 2023, citing ideological disputes with SA-Best's other MLC, Connie Bonaros. The Advertiser reported that this stemmed over a dispute over a merger proposal for the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide. Bonaros supported the proposal, while Pangallo wished for more time to consider it. [12]
Pangallo proposed a parliamentary inquiry into gender dysphoria in February 2024, which he described as a "social contagion". [13] This motion was not brought forward to a vote after the Labor Party decided against allowing its members a conscience vote on the issue, a decision supported by Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas. [14] [15]
Pangallo proposed legislation in October 2024 to place a number of regulations on the betting industry, with betting companies prevented from banning or limiting bettors based solely due to betting success, and being required to provide written reasons for banning or limiting bettors. [16] [17]
In August 2025, Pangallo joined the South Australian Liberal Party, being announced as the Liberal candidate for Waite in the 2026 South Australian state election. [18] [19]
Pangallo provided a list of four sources to a parliamentary committee in August 2025. The sources were claimed to support his position on a correlation between desalination plants and harmful algal blooms. [20] Pangallo later stated that he had used generative AI to prepare the citations, which produced an incorrect list of sources. [21]
