Patrick Lenton
Patrick Lenton covers queer politics and LGBTQIA+ news for Star Observer, bringing a sharp focus on how policy shifts and public debates affect the daily lives and rights of LGBTQIA+ people. He works as the masthead’s digital editor and journalist, combining hard news with accessible features, reviews and interviews that keep the publication’s audience close to both the political process and community culture. His coverage stands out for its mix of political literacy, humour and a long-standing investment in queer storytelling, drawn from his parallel work as an author and editor.
Queer politics and anti-discrimination coverage
On the politics beat, Lenton concentrates on legislation, policy frameworks and parliamentary debates that directly shape LGBTQIA+ rights and protections.
In his reporting on a petition urging MPs to reject changes to Australia’s anti-discrimination framework, he tracks how proposed reforms move through political channels and translates them into clear questions about whose rights are strengthened or weakened. He treats anti-discrimination law not as an abstract legal topic but as a live safeguard for communities, foregrounding activists, advocates and affected groups in his choice of angles and sources.
His background in queer news means political stories are anchored in community impact rather than insider manoeuvring. He writes in plain language, keeping attention on the concrete outcomes of policy decisions, such as access to protections, exposure to harm, or shifts in institutional power.
Where a generic politics reporter might focus on party tactics or polling, Lenton’s work emphasises whether legislative changes uphold or erode the principles of equality that Star Observer’s readership relies on.
LGBTQIA+ news with a community lens
Lenton’s role at Star Observer spans more than straight political reporting; he is responsible for digital coverage across news, features, reviews, interviews and reportage. He consistently frames stories through a community lens, ensuring that LGBTQIA+ audiences see their experiences, campaigns and cultural life reflected in the masthead’s output.
His editorial approach prioritises specificity to the publication and its readers, favouring stories that speak directly to LGBTQIA+ interests rather than generic news angles.
As a digital editor and manager, he also commissions and shapes work from other writers, looking for pitches that show a clear speciality and a strong point of difference. He has described valuing an impeccable work ethic and distinctive expertise, using these criteria when choosing contributors and stories.
This focus on tailored, high-quality work feeds back into his own reporting, which often sits at the intersection of politics, identity and lived experience, rather than treating LGBTQIA+ people as an occasional subject.
Crossing journalism, books and queer culture
Beyond his newsroom role, Lenton is an author of queer fiction and a long-time commentator on queer culture, which informs the texture of his political and news writing.
His debut queer rom-com novel In Spite of You and earlier short story collection Sexy Tales of Paleontology show a sustained interest in messy, human stories and humour, qualities that carry over into his journalism. This literary background gives him a particular sensitivity to how representation, storytelling and tone matter when covering policy that affects queer lives.
He writes not only news but also features, reviews and interviews, using these formats to draw out the personal and cultural stakes behind political developments.
Profiles and conversations with queer authors and artists sit alongside harder-edged reporting, building a body of work where culture and politics are treated as inseparable parts of the same public sphere. For subjects, this means political stories are rarely isolated from questions of identity, visibility and creative expression.
Independent queer news and commentary
Lenton also runs Nonsense Newsletter, a successful comedy and queer news publication with thousands of subscribers.
The newsletter has received a significant Walkley Foundation grant, underlining its standing as a serious piece of independent journalism as well as a vehicle for humour. Through Nonsense, he has built an audience for sharp, sometimes absurd commentary on queer life and politics, which complements his more formal reporting at Star Observer.
This independent work reinforces his point of difference on the politics beat: he approaches policy and discrimination debates with a voice shaped by queer community media and comedy, rather than by traditional political journalism alone. It gives him freedom to test ideas, tones and formats, and those experiments feed into how he frames stories in the masthead, often choosing angles that cut through jargon and speak directly to readers’ concerns.
Taken together, his roles in institutional and independent queer media mark him as a politics reporter whose coverage is rooted in community, storytelling craft and a distinctive, sometimes playful, voice.
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.