Andi Yu
Andi Yu reports on how political decisions and legal processes intersect with social cohesion, public safety and everyday life, moving between government, courts, housing policy and health regulation. She works as a journalist and digital producer for ABC News, drawing on wire service and regional reporting experience to cover complex stories in clear, accessible formats. Her politics coverage consistently follows the real-world impact of policy on communities facing antisemitism, extremism, housing stress and health risks.
Politics, social cohesion and antisemitism
Yu’s political reporting focuses closely on social cohesion and the treatment of minority communities in public institutions.
In coverage of a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, she reports detailed testimony from Jewish staff and students describing harassment, antisemitic jokes and Nazi salutes that left them feeling unsafe on campus. She traces how “low level” antisemitism escalated after the Hamas attacks of October 2023, connecting individual accounts to national debates about safety and public discourse.
Her work also examines government decisions framed around social cohesion, such as a federal grant cancelled for an Islamic community association after claims it had mourned the death of Iran’s supreme leader. In reporting on more than a dozen people facing court over an alleged attack on an Indigenous protest camp, including a neo-Nazi leader, she links extremist politics and public order to the justice system and the state’s response.
Earlier experience reporting on multicultural and faith issues and refugees reinforces this focus on how political choices shape life for marginalised communities.
State policy, housing and infrastructure
Yu covers state-level policy decisions around planning and transport, translating technical proposals into consequences for residents and businesses.
In joint reporting on changes to the Suburban Rail Loop, she explains how a construction rethink will conserve parkland by displacing more homes and businesses in Box Hill, including one that has already relocated once. Her housing policy work includes analysis of government plans to designate dozens of activity centres for fast-tracked high-rise development, centred on tram and train stations.
She outlines how new planning rules are intended to boost housing supply and affordability, while capturing criticism from opposition figures who warn of damage to the character of established suburbs. Across these stories she keeps the focus on concrete impacts of planning reforms, giving equal weight to government objectives and community concerns.
Courts, crime and public accountability
Courts and serious crime form a recurring strand in Yu’s reporting, where she uses structured explanatory formats to break down complex legal proceedings. Her coverage of triple murderer Erin Patterson’s appeal is presented through key takeaways, guiding audiences through the arguments, evidence and judicial reasoning rather than leaning on sensational detail.
She reports on allegations that a missing teacher was murdered overseas and on the death of an Australian police officer while walking the Inca Trail, treating both cases as examinations of risk, responsibility and investigative process. In a story about a nightclub that operated for two years without public liability insurance, she treats regulatory gaps and commercial pressure as central to understanding the risk faced by patrons and operators.
Reporting on families confronting loss - including parents attending a police service before learning their son’s alleged killer would soon emerge - she keeps attention on the human consequences of decisions made by authorities and the courts.
Health, regulation and equity
Yu’s work frequently traces the intersection of health, regulation and inequality. In collaborative reporting on black-market peptides, she helps unpack new testing that reveals dangerous dosing levels and significant risks for people buying potent compounds outside formal medical oversight.
A related feature on a woman who suffered acute liver failure after using a knock-off drug follows her experience from purchase to emergency care, using it to raise broader questions about regulation, enforcement and consumer protection.
Her coverage of a midwifery program for First Nations families reports evidence that culturally tailored care leads to more full-term births and healthier birth weights, and relays researchers’ calls for the program to be expanded more widely. Her long-standing interest in multicultural and faith issues informs this focus on how health policies and services affect communities that already face systemic disadvantage.
4 more politics journalists.
Alexander Britton
Alexander Britton is a senior digital editor and political reporter whose work combines political strategy, economic policy and the human impact of major decisions. He covers tax and cost-of-living pressures, central bank forecasts, interest rates, trade risks, parliamentary accountability and social debates. His reporting also examines global crises, including Gaza, with a focus on humanitarian need, aid limits and direct testimony. Britton has written about sport, culture and language, including fans travelling for the Boxing Day Test and Words of the Year. He now works in senior newsroom leadership for a major news group, after digital editorial roles at SBS News. Earlier, he was a political correspondent in the UK. He writes in clear, accessible language, using concrete examples, eyewitness material and direct reporting to connect policy and political conflict to households, businesses and individual lives.
Andrew Bolt
Andrew Bolt is a journalist, columnist and political commentator known for combative conservative analysis across print, online and television. He writes for the Herald Sun, where his national affairs columns and political blog are promoted as driving the news cycle, steering discussion and offering a strong perspective on leadership and cultural conflict. He hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News Australia four nights a week, extending the same opinion-led style to broadcast. Bolt’s core focus is party politics and leadership struggles, using senior figures in government and opposition to argue about values, national interests and ideological direction. He also writes on culture, history, identity and race, including contested narratives about Indigenous identification, and covers populist movements, border control, terrorism and free speech. His work is written as arguments rather than reportage, using direct language, stark framing and sustained campaigns on chosen issues.
Ben Smee
Ben Smee is a public interest reporter whose defining work examines how state power affects justice and vulnerable people. He is Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent and senior correspondent, covering Queensland politics, policing, youth crime, domestic and family violence, courts, elections and major policy debates. His investigations into children held in police watch houses exposed institutional failures and won a Walkley Award and Queensland Clarion honours. He also reports on police use of force against vulnerable First Nations people, police culture, victims failed by domestic violence systems, human rights, health policy, electric vehicles, surrogacy and infrastructure spending. His work has appeared across breaking news, features, live blogs and investigative podcasts. A former editor, head of news and political reporter, he combines sustained investigations with daily coverage, returning to institutions and laws to track whether promises of reform produce change.
Benedict Brook
Benedict Brook is an award-winning journalist and the US Correspondent for news.com.au. He stands out for turning US politics, power and major events into clear stories for an Australian audience. He covers American politics, global leaders, the US–China relationship, landmark political history, mass shootings, religious institutions, retail change and labour issues. His reporting looks at how decisions by leaders, churches and companies affect ordinary people. He has written for Star Observer and other News Corp mastheads, and he brings experience as a journalist, editor and in media and communications. His style blends political context, historical detail and human testimony, with a focus on how power works in everyday life.