Clare Armstrong
Clare Armstrong is the chief digital political correspondent at ABC News, focusing on how politics, law and online life intersect in Australia. She specialises in explaining complex policy debates on social media, extremism and crime through clear digital reporting and on-air analysis. Her work tracks how governments and parties use these issues to shape their messages, and what that means for people who live, work and argue in the online public square.
Digital politics and online safety
Armstrong’s recent coverage shows a sustained focus on the political fight over online safety and the rules that govern social platforms. In her reporting on the decision to add Reddit and Kick to a national ban on social media use by children under 16, she traces the detail of new age restrictions, enforcement powers and fines, while spelling out how the eSafety Commission defines “social interaction” online. She sets this within the wider push by ministers to frame platform regulation as a core responsibility of government, not just a technical issue for technology companies.
Her analysis work extends that digital lens beyond social media policy. On ABC’s daily news podcast, she examines campaigns around major oil and gas projects and the political pressure they create, showing how environmental and economic arguments are prosecuted in a fast-moving online environment. She regularly joins radio and television programs as the ABC’s chief digital political correspondent, bringing a digital-first perspective on how stories land with audiences who consume most of their news online.
In announcing her appointment, she emphasises that most Australians now get their news online and links that reality to her interest in training the next generation of journalists.
Extremism, hate laws and social cohesion
Armstrong reports closely on extremism and the legal and political responses to it.
Her coverage of a neo-Nazi group being banned under hate laws follows the group’s activities, the legal mechanism used to outlaw it and the government’s argument that such bans are necessary to protect the community. Within the ABC’s fascism topic, she also covers cases where symbols and portraits from World War II fascist regimes surface in contemporary settings, such as a club photograph that inadvertently included an image of Croatian leader Ante Pavelić.
These stories reflect a consistent interest in how historical fascist imagery and modern extremist movements collide with mainstream politics and community standards.
That focus on social cohesion carries into her analysis of a proposed national royal commission into antisemitism and social media. As chief digital political correspondent, she examines how rising antisemitism, online platforms and free speech debates converge, and how political leaders attempt to respond through inquiries and new powers.
Her work in this area often sits at the junction of law, identity and political argument, showing how fringe movements and hate speech become matters for cabinet, parliament and regulators.
Party strategy, populism and leadership
Armstrong’s political reporting also centres on party strategy and the language leaders use to frame contentious policies. In her piece on Pauline Hanson’s appearance at the National Press Club, she treats the event as a kind of “fight club”, focusing on the populist tone of the speech and the broader political project it serves.
She looks beyond the set-piece address to the way Hanson speaks to discontent and grievance, and how that style fits within the current landscape of minor-party and protest politics.
Across television and social platforms, she unpacks major-party tactics.
On the ABC’s Insiders program, she joins the panel to discuss what has been described as a populist wave and to analyse state election results through the lens of message discipline and voter sentiment. In another Insiders segment she breaks down the Coalition’s “potent political message” in response to proposed capital gains tax changes affecting small business, tying the language of “legitimate debate” to the party’s broader positioning on tax and fairness. Her analysis pieces for ABC News track the changing fortunes of leaders such as Anthony Albanese, contrasting moments when a prime minister appears “on top of the world” with later periods of political pressure and public dissatisfaction.
She approaches leadership not as personal drama but as a function of narrative, timing and the economy.
Law, order and economic pressure
Armstrong frequently reports on law-and-order measures that sit at the intersection of crime, health and economic stress. In her coverage of plans to toughen tobacco crime laws in response to surging cigarette and vape black markets, she follows the policy detail and enforcement strategies while highlighting the broader black economy that has grown around nicotine products. She links that growth to gaps in existing regulation and to political pressure on governments to be seen as tough on organised crime.
Her wider work on economic policy within politics includes coverage of debates over capital gains tax settings for small business and how tax reforms are sold to voters. These stories often show how technical changes to law and regulation become political flashpoints when they touch everyday costs, security and fairness.
She brings the same clear, accessible style to discussions of national direction and public mood, participating in news breakdown segments that connect economic data, anxiety about jobs and income, and the stories parties tell about prosperity.
Multi-platform reporting and background
Armstrong works across formats as a digital-first political reporter.
She writes for ABC News online, provides regular analysis on television programs such as Insiders, joins radio shows for news breakdown discussions, and appears on the ABC’s daily news podcast. She also shares behind-the-scenes views of her work through social video, including “day in the life” content built around her Insiders appearances. This multi-platform presence aligns with her stated focus on reaching audiences who primarily consume political news on their phones and laptops.
Before joining the ABC, Armstrong covered politics for a major commercial news organisation, where she held senior roles editing national political coverage for a tabloid title. That background in high-tempo, mass-audience journalism informs her current approach: she brings an editor’s eye for sharp angles and clear language to stories about online safety, extremism, tax and crime, while using ABC platforms to dig further into how these issues play out within the machinery of government. Her beat sits where politics meets everyday life, and her work is shaped by the belief that digital audiences deserve detailed, accurate reporting on the decisions made in their name.
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.
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.