Gary Adshead
Gary Adshead is a veteran political reporter at Business News whose coverage blends investigative reporting with close tracking of politics and the machinery of government. He focuses on the inner workings of parties, public institutions and regulatory systems, bringing a crime and corruption reporter’s scrutiny to the political beat. His reporting often sits at the junction of politics, business and administration, using concrete cases to show how decisions and power struggles play out in practice.
State politics and party machinery
Adshead’s core focus is state-level politics, particularly the finances, strategy and internal tensions of major parties. His work includes analysis of campaigns where he has argued that neither of the major parties offered much of substance, and pieces detailing why one party’s money and strategy problems continue to mount.
He uses these stories to chart how leadership decisions, funding pressures and organisational weaknesses shape the broader political landscape.
He frequently covers campaign cycles and budget responses, extending that scrutiny into audio formats through Business News podcasts. In discussion segments, he breaks down byelection campaigns, treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first federal budget, and the political implications of inflation and tax changes. The coverage is grounded in specific contests and policy moments rather than broad commentary, giving readers and listeners a clear sense of who is moving the levers of party strategy at any given time.
Adshead also tracks individual political figures and their positioning, exemplified by his work on federal MP Andrew Hastie and related policy debates on defence, Net Zero and community campaigns like Stop the Stink.
These profiles and interviews sit alongside his party-focused reporting, building a picture of how personal ambitions and ideological lines intersect with organisational challenges. His approach keeps personalities tied to decisions and consequences rather than treating them as standalone narratives.
Government, councils and public sector oversight
A recurring strand in Adshead’s coverage is the scrutiny of government bodies, local councils and public agencies. His reporting on the City of Perth includes detailed coverage of a three-month, $120,000 inquiry into the council by an inspector, framing the investigation as part of a pattern of governance issues at the city. He uses the mechanics of inquiries, audits and oversight processes to show how accountability is enforced, and where it breaks down.
His work extends into local government conventions and policy discussions, including podcast segments where he explores ideas coming out of recent local government gatherings and debates around events funding and state political issues.
In these pieces, Adshead links conference talking points to concrete issues such as immigration restrictions, industrial disputes and infrastructure plans, tying local conversations back to decisions that affect business and communities. His reporting on ministerial meetings with stakeholder groups, such as a story about a minister’s discussions with a spear fishing organisation, fits into this pattern of examining how interest groups and government interact.
Public sector agencies and utilities also come under his lens. In round-table podcast discussions, he helps unpack topics including an under-treasurer’s move, Water Corporation plans for Shenton Park, and tax changes affecting business. These conversations keep administrative decisions connected to political accountability, highlighting how technical shifts in policy or planning carry political and economic consequences.
Investigative background and accountability stories
Adshead’s political reporting is shaped by a long investigative career across crime, politics and corruption. He has spent more than four decades working across print, radio and television, building a reputation for investigations that have led to significant public consequences.
His work has earned multiple journalism awards, including being named Journalist of the Year at state media awards on four occasions and winning a national broadcasting industry Best Podcast award in 2024 for an eight-part series that revisited major stories from his career.
That background is evident in the types of stories he chooses and how he structures them. Past work includes exposing a major political scandal by revealing that a member of parliament had falsely claimed a role as a war crimes investigator, and uncovering corruption, violence and extortion in the tow trucking industry that prompted new government regulations.
These investigations sit behind his current focus on political integrity, giving weight to his coverage of governance problems and regulatory failures.
At Business News, he continues to apply the same investigative lens to contemporary politics and business, with frequent attention to issues such as the Perth Mint’s governance saga, industrial conflict in the Pilbara and regulatory pressures on sectors including construction and onshore gas. Whether in written pieces or podcast segments, Adshead tends to anchor political narratives in documented misconduct, regulatory gaps and systemic weaknesses.
The through-line is an insistence on tracing power, money and accountability rather than treating politics as surface-level contest.
Cross-platform coverage and events
Adshead operates across multiple formats at Business News, combining reporting, audio and live events. He produces exclusive reports for the website and contributes to the organisation’s magazines, podcasts, events and bespoke newsletters, with a brief to provide readers with the inside running on state politics and government. His role in Business News’ fortnightly magazine and expanded coverage into new political centres reinforces his position as a key bridge between business audiences and political developments.
In audio, he is a regular voice on Business News podcasts such as Mark My Words and At Close of Business, where he joins other journalists to discuss the big events in business and politics each week. Topics in these episodes range from byelection campaigns and bird flu impacts to investment banking, house prices, construction costs and industrial disputes, reflecting the breadth of his engagement with issues that sit on the border of politics and economic life.
His tone in these formats mirrors his written work: direct, focused on specific cases, and attentive to the practical consequences of political decisions.
Beyond Business News, Adshead has worked as a radio host and broadcaster, including stints hosting flagship programs at commercial and public broadcasters before returning to the newsroom. He has interviewed senior political figures on air, such as federal shadow ministers, pressing them on defence spending, emissions policy and community campaigns.
This cross-platform experience reinforces the immediacy of his political coverage, allowing him to move between breaking interviews, long-form investigations and event moderation while maintaining a consistent emphasis on accountability and the mechanics of power.
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.