Over the years the Canberra Press Gallery has been home to all personality types, from the mad to the bad, and even one (current) reporter who appeared with Dame Joan Sutherland in the Donizetti opera Lucia di Lammermoor.

But there’s a special type of mystery surrounding Australian Insider and the associated website ggii.info, little-known Chinese-language publications occupying an office between Fairfax Media and News Corp Australia, which appeared and disappeared in just over a year.

Reporters first became concerned about Australian Insider and ggii.info after a lengthy overseas trip with Malcolm Turnbull in 2015. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Despite claiming to publish on Chinese social media platform WeChat, most press gallery observers have been left stumped by the shortage of output. Even the Canberra Press Club, which allows a weekly sermon in the form of a question from (the always interesting) 2CC breakfast anchor Tim Shaw, turned them away.

CBD hears one senior gallery hack became so concerned that a journalist from Australian Insider and ggii.info seemed to be filming other reporters during one of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull recent overseas trips, that he complained to the authorities.