Cara Waters

Cara Waters is the city editor for The Age, covering how business, politics, culture and infrastructure intersect in city life. She brings a long background in startups and small business reporting to stories about urban change, focusing on the decisions that shape daily experiences for residents, visitors and local enterprises. Her work moves between hard news on transport and planning, close coverage of local elections and budgets, and feature pieces that explore the character of neighbourhoods and the people who define them.

City life, infrastructure and public spaces

As city editor, Waters reports on the systems and spaces that make a modern city function, from airports and streets to parks and cultural venues. Her coverage includes stories on changes to airport pick-up and drop-off arrangements, where she examines how transport and infrastructure decisions affect travellers and the broader community. She also writes about areas normally closed to the public that are opened up through cultural events, such as pieces on parts of the city showcased during the Rising festival.

Waters often approaches these subjects through the lens of everyday experience. She has written about a deteriorating World Heritage-listed site that is set to receive much-needed repairs, highlighting that the pledged funding falls well short of the estimate for a full restoration. Her reporting on neighbourhood “milk bars” revisits these local institutions with a sense of nostalgia while treating them as living businesses and community hubs rather than merely retro curiosities. She also follows how major sporting events shape the city, profiling returning international visitors who build their travel around the Australian Open and the hospitality and tourism economy that grows up around them.

Beyond marquee locations, Waters pays attention to the small details of urban life: the architecture and design rules that change what new buildings look like, and the way local streetscapes evolve over time. Social posts tied to her work invite recommendations for cleaners, plumbers, electricians and other trades in specific suburbs, reflecting an interest in the everyday services that keep a city running and in the micro-businesses behind them. Across these pieces she treats the city as an ecosystem where planning decisions, regulations and culture are felt in very practical ways.

Small business, startups and the local economy

Waters’ city coverage is grounded in years on the business beat, particularly in small business and startups. Before taking on her current role, she was the startups and technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and led a weekly Entrepreneur section in their business pages. In that capacity she oversaw coverage of founders, funding, policy and innovation, building a detailed understanding of how early-stage companies grow and how regulation and capital markets influence them.

Earlier in her career she edited an online publication focused on small business and worked as a senior reporter for a major financial news website and a Sunday newspaper in London. That background informs the way she approaches local economic stories, whether they involve long-established family shops, new hospitality ventures or tech-driven startups. Her work often tracks how policy decisions, from planning rules to budget measures, translate into pressures or opportunities for businesses on the ground.

Waters regularly speaks about what makes a strong business story, emphasising clear stakes, real-world impact and access to compelling operators and customers. Those priorities are visible in her city reporting, where entrepreneurs, small-business owners and workers frequently carry the narrative. Her social and professional bios also signal an ongoing interest in food and travel, which is reflected in coverage that intersects hospitality, tourism, lifestyle and the business realities behind them.

Politics, planning and the people behind the city

Politics and policy are a consistent strand in Waters’ work, especially where they touch the built environment and the local economy. She has covered knife-edge election contests, including recount requests and final tallies in the seat of Goldstein where the margin between Liberal candidate Tim Wilson and independent Zoe Daniel was reduced to just over 100 votes. Her stories in this area focus on what such close results reveal about community sentiment, campaign tactics and the implications for representation.

Planning and heritage debates are another recurring theme. Waters reports on proposals to change architecture and design rules, explaining how they could reshape future development and the character of different neighbourhoods. In writing about underfunded restoration commitments for a World Heritage-listed site, she connects heritage conservation to broader questions of public investment, tourism potential and civic identity. These pieces balance policy detail with the voices of affected communities and experts.

Alongside hard news, Waters produces profile-driven features that explore the people who shape the city’s culture and conversation. Her “Lunch with” piece on author and journalist Kate Legge is one example, using a shared meal to draw out personal history, professional milestones and the emotional texture of her subject’s life. Across news and features, Waters’ distinguishing focus is on how decisions made in boardrooms, council chambers and parliaments play out in streets, homes and small businesses, and on the personalities who carry those stories into public view.