Jake Evans
Jake Evans is a senior political correspondent covering federal politics for ABC News, with a focus on how federal decisions on money, migration and climate policy play out in real communities. His work links day‑to‑day parliamentary manoeuvring to tangible outcomes such as grants, tax changes, and cost‑of‑living pressures.
Federal grants, pork-barrelling and power
Evans devotes sustained attention to federal grant programs and the political strategy behind where money is sent. He has broken down the “winners and losers” of large community grants schemes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, showing which electorates receive funding and which miss out.
His reporting tracks accusations of pork‑barrelling against the government, including coverage of taxpayer‑funded upgrades for local clubs and sporting facilities linked to senior politicians. In television packages and written analysis, he follows these stories from individual projects to broader questions about transparency, accountability and the use of grants to shore up marginal seats.
Across these pieces he treats grant programs as instruments of power, detailing both the political calculus and the policy mechanisms behind them.
Migration, immigration and security politics
Evans regularly covers the contested politics of migration and border policy, including how parties frame population settings as part of their electoral strategy. His work on the migration “debate mess” examines government plans to tighten migration, opposition responses, and proposals from minor parties, setting out who wants to cut which visa programs and why. He has reported on Barnaby Joyce and One Nation’s push to drive net migration into negative territory by heavily restricting student visas and family visas for skilled workers.
In live federal politics blogs, he follows parliamentary scrutiny of migration issues, from visa overstayers and enforcement teams to assurances that heavy‑handed raid tactics seen overseas will not be adopted by the government. These stories are grounded in the detail of policy and numbers but framed around how migration settings intersect with voter sentiment and party positioning.
Climate, energy and cost-of-living policy
Evans connects climate and energy policy directly to economic pressures and electoral risk for the government and opposition.
His analysis of the Albanese government’s year ahead argues that climate change will be a “reckoning” issue, treating emissions policy and energy transition as central to both economic management and political fortunes. He has reported on Coalition pledges to “take a chainsaw” to climate laws and slow renewables development, including scrapping most offshore wind zones and unpicking key climate policies, and set those promises against broader debates about energy prices and investment certainty. His explainer on cost‑of‑living budget measures offers a concise guide to tax changes, cheaper medicines and other relief, translating complex budget tables into clear takeaways on household finances.
Across these pieces he focuses on how climate and economic policy choices are sold to voters, and what they mean for different income groups over time.
Live coverage, analysis and the federal politics beat
Evans works across formats on the federal politics beat, combining daily reporting, live blogs, weekly round‑ups and on‑air segments. He writes regular federal politics updates from Parliament House, pulling together the week’s key developments on party tactics, leadership manoeuvres and legislative fights into a single narrative.
In politics live blogs he provides rolling coverage of sittings days, blending short updates from the chamber with links to deeper reporting and analysis on grants inquiries, security briefings and party debates. Television scripts credit him with political editor and reporter roles on stories about grants schemes and pork‑barrelling, showing his work feeding into broadcast as well as digital coverage.
His author page identifies him as part of the federal politics team, underscoring that his core terrain is national government, parliament and the policies that shape everyday life.
Earlier in his career, Evans worked as a political reporter and producer and has continued to build experience across digital, broadcast and analysis‑driven formats. Across his body of work he returns to a consistent thread: federal politics is ultimately about who gets resources, who carries the burden of policy choices, and how parties use the machinery of government to secure and wield power.
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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
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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.