Rachel Eddie

Rachel Eddie reports on Victorian politics for ABC News, focusing on how state power, party dynamics and public services intersect. Her reporting follows the internal workings of the Labor government and its opponents, then connects those decisions to elections, transport networks and social policy outcomes. She brings together breaking news, leadership coverage and policy explainers, often returning to the same figures and systems over time to show how political choices accumulate.

Victorian Labor leadership and elections

Eddie’s core line of work is the contest for control of Victoria’s government and the future of its governing party. She has reported on Jacinta Allan’s rise and decline, charting a career that began with promise and ended in a shortened premiership, and then followed the leadership challenge that forced a change at the top.

Her coverage of the subsequent leadership spill and cabinet reshuffle under Ben Carroll tracks which MPs gain or lose influence, and how those internal decisions set up the government for the next term.

Her election pieces examine whether the Coalition can unseat Labor and what a fourth term would look like, treating polls, campaign strategies and voter moods as part of a single story about the durability of long-term rule.

She frames upper house preselections and looming losses as structural problems for Labor, not just personnel shifts, explaining how late candidate decisions and internal tensions can shape the balance of power. In analysis work, she uses individual political figures as entry points into broader questions about party vetting, redemption narratives and how controversial candidates are presented to the electorate.

Public transport, infrastructure and the Suburban Rail Loop

A second strand in Eddie’s reporting is the machinery of public transport and major infrastructure, especially where big projects and fare systems meet everyday travel. Her coverage of the Suburban Rail Loop audit focuses on cost scrutiny and hidden fare implications, showing how long-term infrastructure promises translate into changes for commuters and public finances.

She follows the rollout of tap-and-go ticketing on train and tram networks as a live policy implementation story, detailing delays, launch dates and the specific lines affected.

Across these transport pieces, she gives close attention to practical impacts: how and when passengers can use new payment options, what networks are included, and what reforms mean for regular users rather than just for ministers and agencies.

The transport beat sits within her broader politics remit, but she treats it as a system where technology, contracts and government decisions are all part of state power over movement and access. When combined with her election and leadership work, this coverage builds a picture of a political reporter who sees infrastructure and fares as central to the story of government, not a side issue.

Policy impacts on communities

Eddie reports on how state policy choices affect specific groups, particularly where government steps in to fill gaps left by national schemes or regulatory settings. Her coverage of Victoria’s preparations to support children removed from the National Disability Insurance Scheme examines what happens when families lose federal support and must rely on state structures instead, treating this as a political responsibility as well as a social challenge.

She uses the detail of assistance and program design to show how vulnerable children are positioned in broader budget and reform debates.

In analysis on One Nation and its Victorian presence, she uses the personal story of leader Warren Pickering to explore candidate vetting, accountability and how parties manage reputational risk. Her reporting on work-from-home laws being sent to a parliamentary committee situates employment rules within election timing and upper house power, showing how everyday workplace arrangements become part of a larger fight over authority. Taken together, these pieces show an interest in the human consequences of legislative and administrative decisions, and in the way political messaging interacts with lived experience.

Reporting style and formats

Eddie works across straight news, analysis and longer narrative pieces, often within the same political cycle. Leadership challenges and cabinet reshuffles are covered in real time with clear headlines and concise updates, then revisited through deeper profiles and state-of-play pieces that place events in a longer arc of party history.

Election-focused articles blend data, internal party movements and on-the-ground campaigning into compact assessments of each side’s path to government.

Her transport and policy stories use specific dates, lines, laws and committees to anchor broader explanations, giving communications and policy professionals a clear sense of both the technical detail and the political stakes. Across her work, the emphasis is on clarity, concrete examples and the accumulation of political decisions over time rather than on commentary about personalities for their own sake. The result is a body of coverage where Victorian politics, infrastructure and social policy are treated as parts of one system, and where changes at the top are always connected back to their practical effects.