Julie Hare
Julie Hare covers higher education as a system, focusing on how governance, leadership and policy decisions shape universities and the people who study and work in them. She is a freelance journalist and former education editor at The Australian Financial Review, with more than 20 years’ experience as a writer, journalist and editor specialising in education. Her work now centres on higher education governance and policy, including her Substack publication The Hare Report and regular reporting for outlets that scrutinise universities and their regulators.
Universities, governance and accountability
Hare’s reporting treats universities as political and corporate institutions, with governance and accountability at the core of her work. She has examined governance breakdowns such as the suspension of a former Australian National University vice-chancellor over allegations of serious misconduct linked to appointing a close friend as a full professor despite the absence of university qualifications.
She has also written about the Australian National University’s loss-making School of Cybernetics, tracing how promotions, scholarships and high distinctions sit alongside the financial performance of a flagship program. In her coverage of Australian universities facing a governance crisis, she brings together leadership decisions, board structures and sector-wide policy settings to explain why institutional oversight is under strain. The Hare Report extends this approach, concentrating on governance, leadership and policy in higher education rather than campus lifestyle or individual student stories.
Rankings, performance and sector trends
Hare often uses data, rankings and structured comparisons to show how institutions perform across the breadth of their activities.
In The Australian Financial Review’s inaugural Best Universities Ranking, she reported on the University of Queensland taking the top spot on the strength of its performance across teaching, research and other pursuits, noting how narrow margins separated it from the University of NSW and the Australian National University. Her reporting on universities marching towards gender parity highlights progression towards equal representation, using the Women of Influence framework to track women’s roles and recognition within the sector.
In features marking International Women’s Day, she draws on interviews with women in schools, universities and government to explore how critical thinking, ethical leadership and public service shape a “good life” in education and beyond. Across these pieces, Hare positions universities within broader economic and social trends, using rankings and profiles to show which institutions and leaders are gaining ground and why.
Policy, migration and international education
Policy, migration and international students are recurring themes in Hare’s portfolio.
Her award-winning work includes coverage of the intersection between international students and migration policy, and the politicisation of migration during an election campaign. Professional profiles of her work emphasise that she frequently reports on government education policies, university funding settings and visa regulations, with particular attention to their impact on international students and institutional finances.
Earlier in her career she wrote regular blogs for a UK-based higher education policy outlet, focusing on tertiary education reforms and their consequences for universities and students. She has also produced thought-leadership pieces for professional services and policy organisations, using analysis of legislation, funding models and regulatory changes to explain how policy shifts translate into operational realities for higher and vocational education providers.
Sector relationships and long-view expertise
Hare’s coverage is informed by long-standing relationships across the higher education sector.
She previously spent seven years as higher education editor at The Australian, leading a team of journalists recognised for in-depth coverage of universities and their policies. Before that, she was editor-in-chief at APN Educational Media and editor of Campus Review, a specialist title known for detailed reporting on the tertiary sector.
She has held editorial roles with gender and policy-focused publications and is regularly invited to contribute analysis to conferences, seminars and summits on higher education governance and policy. Hare is an honorary senior fellow at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne, reflecting her ongoing engagement with academic and governance debates in the sector. Event and author biographies consistently describe her as a former education editor at The Australian Financial Review whose primary focus remains higher education, governance and policy.
4 more education journalists.
Bridie Short
Bridie Short reports on how learning environments shape young people’s experiences and their engagement with wider issues. She writes about education for Lynn News, a local news publication with a focus on community stories. Her coverage centres on classrooms and other learning settings, with attention to the people and events that define daily life there. She has written about drama students paying homage to the climate emergency with a performance, framing their creative response as part of their educational experience and blending arts coverage with an education lens. Her education reporting sits within a broader community news agenda, linking school and college stories to general news. Her pieces are grounded in concrete events and activities, showing what students and staff are doing rather than focusing on abstract policy.
Catherine Strohfeldt
Catherine Strohfeldt reports how education policy, money and behaviour collide in Queensland classrooms and childcare services, focusing on what government decisions mean for students, families and teachers day to day. She is an education reporter at Brisbane Times covering schools, universities and early learning alongside related state policy. She often starts with a single school, subject or provider to explain shifts in funding, discipline and workforce conditions, treating suspension statistics, surveys and on-the-ground accounts as complementary evidence. Her work links school fees, capital funding and teacher pay deals to who can access which schools and on what terms. Her beat extends into childcare chains in crisis and university leadership and governance. She also covers Queensland government, planning and environmental issues, showing how housing, health and coastal decisions reshape the communities in her education reporting.
Charles Bliss
Charles Bliss is a features-led reporter at the Eastern Daily Press whose distinct focus is education told through human stories about schools, pupils and the adults who work with them. He writes about what it feels like to be in a classroom or school community, using specific events, characters and concrete activity to show how reading, creativity and wellbeing are encouraged in young people. His education coverage centres children and teachers rather than policy, turning visits, campaigns and workshops into narrative pieces with practical detail. He gives particular weight to wellbeing, mental health and sensory learning, linking health, psychology and horticulture through tangible examples. Alongside education he covers health, environment, behaviour, everyday guidance and local innovation, using plain explanation, step-by-step advice and narrative structure to show how people learn, adapt and look after each other in their communities.
Conor Duffy
Conor Duffy stands out for linking education policy to the daily lives of students, parents and teachers, treating the classroom as part of a wider social system. He is the ABC’s national education and parenting reporter. His beat spans schools, universities and family life. He covers education policy, test scores, rankings, funding, teacher workload, behaviour, school refusal, student wellbeing and parenting stress. He reports on NAPLAN, university rankings, the Job Ready Graduates legislation and the cost of humanities degrees. He also covers privacy and school data. His reporting combines hard data, policy detail and personal stories. He has also done foreign, environment and investigative work for the ABC, including as North America correspondent, and has worked across Lateline, 7.30 and AM.