Dunja Karagic

Dunja Karagic reports across platforms for the ABC, with a focus on the economic and social conditions shaping life in Western Australia. Her coverage centres on how policy, public services and business decisions play out in housing, disability care and regional communities, often highlighting failures in systems meant to protect vulnerable people.

Housing standards and the business of government services

Karagic’s reporting frequently examines the state of housing managed or funded by government, including the quality of properties, maintenance standards and the way contracts and oversight structures affect tenants. In her coverage of government-owned homes with issues such as black mould and broken toilets, she documents both the physical conditions and the complaints process residents must navigate, showing how procurement, budgeting and property management decisions affect everyday living standards.

She returns to the theme of housing scarcity and insecurity in regional Western Australia, reporting on cases where survivors of domestic violence and their children face homelessness due to a lack of long-term accommodation options. In these stories she traces how funding models, social housing supply and support services interact, treating housing as both a social need and an outcome of public spending and policy choices.

Disability services, care standards and accountability

Karagic covers disability services with an emphasis on care quality, regulatory oversight and the treatment of residents in facilities linked to national funding schemes. In her reporting on an NDIS disability group home in Broome described as “inhumane”, she details allegations of neglect from former staff, including concerns about supervision, living conditions and responsiveness to complaints. Her work in this area looks beyond individual incidents to the structures that allow problems to persist, including the roles of providers, regulators and funding arrangements.

By documenting both the perspectives of workers and the experiences of residents, she shows how business decisions in the care sector—staffing, training, resource allocation and management practices—translate into real-world outcomes for people with disability. This coverage sits at the intersection of social policy and service delivery, drawing attention to the responsibilities that come with public money and contracted care.

Regional communities, local economies and public institutions

Karagic reports from regional Western Australia on how local economies, policing and community culture intersect. She has covered incidents such as a WA Police investigation into footage of an officer pushing a woman in Broome, bringing together visual evidence, formal responses and community reaction to scrutinise institutional conduct. Her work also follows how local events—from tourism impacts to seasonal celebrations like Halloween—are experienced in towns outside major cities, reflecting the economic and cultural dimensions of regional life.

Across radio, TV and digital formats, she works as a multi-platform reporter with ABC Kimberley, filing stories that combine on-the-ground reporting with broader context about how decisions made in distant centres affect regional communities. Before moving into this frontline reporting role, she worked behind the scenes on major ABC programs, including investigative and long-form projects, giving her experience in deep research and complex story construction.

Background in investigative and long-form storytelling

Karagic has contributed to investigative series and current affairs programs at the ABC, including work on the EXPOSED investigation into the Ghost Train fire and reporting from the epicentre of Australia’s Delta outbreak in Fairfield. In these projects she has collaborated with teams of reporters, producers and researchers on multi-part narratives that unpack historical events, public policy decisions and their long-term consequences. Her role in these productions involves gathering evidence, shaping storylines and supporting the detailed reporting that underpins major investigations.

She also has experience as a producer on national radio programs, working with prominent authors and cultural figures on segments about reading, literature and public culture. This background in audio and cultural programming complements her reporting on social and economic issues, giving her a broad toolkit for explaining complex subjects in accessible ways.