Ben Smee
Ben Smee examines how political decisions play out in the justice system and in the lives of vulnerable people, with a particular focus on Queensland state politics, policing and domestic and family violence for Guardian Australia. His reporting combines sustained investigations into institutional failures with day-to-day coverage of crime, policy and elections, giving readers both the immediate story and its structural context. He works as a senior correspondent and public interest reporter, recognised with major journalism awards for uncovering abuse of power and failures of accountability.
Queensland politics and state power
Smee covers Queensland politics as Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent, concentrating on how state leaders exercise power and how those decisions affect justice, rights and public services. His political coverage ranges from live blogs of party campaigns and efforts to defeat far-right parties, through to closer looks at the premier’s handling of crises and the internal dynamics of state governments. He reports on major policy projects, such as concept plans for an Olympic stadium precinct that critics dismiss as a “fantasy vision”, situating infrastructure announcements within debates about spending priorities and community impact.
His background includes senior newsroom roles as an editor, head of news and political reporter across multiple Australian outlets, which informs his ability to place individual stories within longer arcs of state and national politics.
Justice system, youth crime and police watch houses
A defining strand of Smee’s work is his scrutiny of the justice system, particularly youth crime laws and the treatment of children in police custody. His longform investigations into conditions inside Queensland police watch houses documented children confined in isolation cells designed for intoxicated adults and exposed how those facilities were used to hold young people, including those with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. That reporting has been recognised with major awards, including a Walkley Award and honours at Queensland’s Clarion Awards for public interest journalism. He continues to track youth justice policy, covering stories such as the state’s admission that a law imposing mandatory jail terms on some offenders as young as 10 breaches human rights.
Across court and crime reporting, he follows cases involving police use of force against vulnerable First Nations people, showing how incidents with Tasers and pepper spray sit within wider questions about accountability and systemic bias.
Domestic and family violence and police culture
Smee has built a substantial body of work on domestic and family violence, often focusing on the gap between official promises and the experiences of victims. His reporting includes cases where women reported domestic violence concerns to police days before they were allegedly murdered, and stories following victims who were promised a voice but found the system unable to deliver meaningful protection.
He covers complex and tragic incidents, such as sieges ending in apparent murder-suicides in outback communities, always tying individual events back to systemic failures in policing and support services. Over several years he has examined the culture and attitudes inside the Queensland police service on family violence, exploring how institutional norms shape frontline responses and trust in law enforcement.
This work extends into audio, where he hosts and contributes to investigative podcasts that look at the national domestic violence crisis and the role of police, bringing survivor testimony together with policy analysis.
Policy debates, social change and public interest reporting
Beyond crime and courts, Smee reports on policy debates that sit at the intersection of politics, rights and everyday life. His coverage includes the rapid growth of electric vehicles and hybrids in Australia during an ongoing fuel crisis, linking consumer trends to energy policy and cost-of-living pressures.
He has reported on health policy decisions such as bans on puberty blockers for transgender children, discussing whether such measures are ideologically driven and examining their consequences for families and medical professionals. His stories also cover complex social and legal questions around surrogacy, including cases where a woman gave birth to twins with different parents after a surrogacy arrangement coincided with a natural pregnancy.
Across these subjects he moves between formats - breaking news, features, live politics blogs and podcasts - while maintaining a focus on clear, evidence-based reporting that foregrounds human impact and the workings of law and policy.
Through all these strands, Smee’s distinguishing trait is his persistence: he returns to the same institutions, laws and frontline agencies over years, tracking whether promises of reform translate into change on the ground. His work is driven by a public interest lens that treats youth justice, domestic violence, policing and major policy decisions as connected parts of how the state exercises power, rather than isolated beats.
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.
Andi Yu
Andi Yu reports on how politics and legal processes shape social cohesion, public safety and everyday life. She is a journalist and digital producer for ABC News. Her beat spans politics, antisemitism, extremism, multicultural and faith issues, housing, planning, transport, courts, crime, health regulation and inequality. She has covered a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, an alleged attack on an Indigenous protest camp, changes to the Suburban Rail Loop, high-rise housing plans, Erin Patterson’s appeal, black-market peptides and culturally tailored midwifery care for First Nations families. She previously reported for the Australian Associated Press and has covered politics, health, crime, refugees and diverse communities. Yu explains complex policy, court and regulatory issues in clear, accessible formats. She connects testimony, evidence and government decisions to their effects on residents, businesses and marginalised communities.
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.
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.