Samantha Dick

Samantha Dick follows how political power, lobbying and regulation translate into real outcomes for people, rather than staying in the realm of party tactics or insider commentary. She works as a political reporter at the ABC, contributing digital investigations to programs such as Four Corners and ABC Investigations. Her reporting combines close attention to Canberra decision-making with detailed case studies that show who benefits and who is left vulnerable when laws, oversight and funding arrangements change.

Power, lobbying and the defence industry

A central strand of her work is the scrutiny of lobbying and influence in and around Parliament House.

She is part of the team behind an investigation into government insiders who move into lobbying roles for defence contractors, documenting dozens of former officials now working to shape defence policy from the outside. She also co-writes Four Corners coverage showing how lobbyists can outnumber elected representatives inside Parliament House, and explores what that imbalance means for transparency and public trust.

These pieces treat lobbying as an integral part of political reporting, using data, access-to-information work and interviews to show how formal processes and informal networks intersect. Her focus stays on the structure of power rather than personality, mapping the routes through which industry interests reach legislators and senior officials.

Regulation, tax and consumer protection

Samantha Dick reports on the mechanics of regulation and taxation, asking whether key industries face effective scrutiny and pay their share. In her coverage of the gas sector, she frames the debate around whether major gas companies pay enough tax as a political and policy question, not just an economic one.

The reporting steps through how the tax regime operates, what the companies contribute, and how those settings affect budget capacity.

She pursues similar questions in consumer protection, particularly around food labelling. Her stories on country-of-origin labelling follow the impact of a Four Corners investigation on small producers, including a Tasmanian business that pulls products off shelves after doubts are raised about labelling rules.

She then tracks the regulatory response when the competition regulator launches an inquiry into food labelling claims in the wake of that investigation. Across these pieces, she treats regulators, businesses and consumers as part of the same system and tests whether the rules work as intended.

Policy delivery and vulnerable communities

Alongside power and regulation, she consistently reports on how government programs function for people who rely on them most. Her co-authored coverage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme examines provider registration rules as the government searches for budget savings, highlighting the risk that changes aimed at cutting costs can weaken safeguards for participants. Earlier reporting has followed the impact of funding shortfalls in legal assistance, including a case where a man faces a Supreme Court trial without a lawyer because of a legal aid crisis.

In the Northern Territory, she has covered adults placed under guardianship orders despite warnings that some may have no need to be under such strict control, and she has reported on an Aboriginal woman’s effort to overturn a guardianship order that rested on culturally biased cognitive testing. She has also documented attempts in remote communities to reduce alcohol-related harm, profiling a social club that tries to balance access with safety.

Her work on older Australians with motor neurone disease weighing early euthanasia decisions sits in the same vein, drawing out the intersection of health, aged care, disability support and end-of-life law. Across these stories, she uses individual cases to illuminate system-level issues in justice, disability and health policy.

Digital investigations and storytelling format

Samantha Dick’s bylines sit across multiple investigative formats within the ABC. She is listed among the digital team members for Four Corners, reflecting a role in translating broadcast investigations into detailed digital reporting and follow-up pieces. Her work with ABC Investigations on food labelling shows how she uses longform online stories to expand on televised reporting, bringing in additional voices such as small producers and technical experts.

She also contributes to audio programming, including reporting for national current affairs shows where she has covered topics like new generations of hunters motivated by self-sufficiency and a closer connection to the meat they consume. Throughout, her style is direct and explanatory: she sets out the issue, names the actors and the rules involved, and then stays with the consequences for people affected by those choices.

That combination of political beat reporting, investigative collaboration and multi-platform storytelling marks out her coverage from more routine daily politics reporting.