Felicity Caldwell is the state political reporter for Brisbane Times, specializing in education policy, urban governance, and community infrastructure development. With over a decade of experience covering Queensland’s public institutions, she brings a data-driven yet humanistic lens to complex policy issues.
Notable Achievements:
Felicity Caldwell has established herself as a authoritative voice on Queensland’s education systems, urban governance, and community development through her decade-long tenure at Brisbane Times. Her reporting synthesizes granular policy analysis with human-centered narratives about how institutional decisions impact everyday Australians.
This 2025 investigation revealed how Brisbane’s most sought-after public high school is reshaping residential patterns and educational choices. Caldwell analyzed enrollment data across 15 suburbs, conducted interviews with 43 families, and uncovered the unintended consequences of strict catchment policies. Her work prompted the Queensland Education Department to review its school zoning implementation framework.
“Four out of five families in West End now choose state education – not because of ideology, but because the system finally delivers what their children need.”
Caldwell’s 2024 exposé on traffic management blended FOI requests with sensor data analysis to demonstrate how parking violations disproportionately affect accessibility in rapidly densifying neighborhoods. Her reporting led to Brisbane City Council reallocating A$2.3 million to pedestrian infrastructure upgrades.
This atypical piece for Caldwell showcased her ability to translate complex medical research into public health guidance. Collaborating with clinicians, she created decision-making frameworks that Queensland Health later adapted for its community outreach programs.
Caldwell prioritizes stories demonstrating measurable community impact, particularly those bridging policy and grassroots implementation. A successful 2024 pitch detailed how Logan teachers developed peer mentoring systems that reduced student absenteeism by 38% – she then connected this to broader debates about professional autonomy in education reform.
Her parking enforcement analysis set a precedent for evidence-based reporting on municipal services. Pitches should include spatial analytics or original datasets showing neighborhood-level effects of infrastructure decisions, similar to her mapping of pedestrian near-misses around school zones.
While not a health reporter, Caldwell frequently examines how education and urban policies affect community wellbeing. The menopause article succeeded by linking healthcare access to workforce participation trends among women over 45 – a model for pitches connecting social determinants to economic outcomes.
2024 Queensland Media Award for Education Reporting: Recognized for her series on vocational training pathways in regional schools, which influenced the state’s A$178 million skills investment package. Judges noted her “ability to make statistical analysis resonate emotionally without sacrificing rigor.”
2023 Walkley Award Finalist (Local/Community Reporting): Shortlisted for investigating asbestos handling protocols in Brisbane schools, combining archival research with whistleblower testimonies to reveal systemic maintenance failures.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Politics, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
