Xanthe Gregory
Xanthe Gregory reports for the ABC with a focus on how government decisions, regulation and infrastructure affect communities, often using environmental and transport stories to show the real-world impact of policy.
Government, regulation and PFAS contamination
Gregory’s coverage frequently follows the intersection of government action and environmental contamination, with a recurring focus on PFAS chemicals and their consequences.
She reports on legal and regulatory responses, including government action against major companies over PFAS pollution and official clean-up and monitoring efforts that follow contamination discoveries. Her reporting on blood testing for residents living with PFAS exposure in the Blue Mountains tracks how policy commitments translate into health data, public concern and demands for further action, drawing out both the scientific detail and the lived experience of affected communities.
Across these stories she explains complex regulatory and technical material in plain terms, while foregrounding what contamination means for everyday life and trust in public agencies.
Infrastructure, safety and public services
A second strand of Gregory’s work looks at infrastructure, maintenance and safety, showing how government stewardship of public assets plays out on the ground. Her reporting on the backlog of almost 40,000 defects across Sydney’s train network details not just headline numbers but the operational and safety implications of “priority 1” issues that must be checked weekly, such as cracks in rail lines.
She uses inquiries and interim reports to chart how recommendations like “maintenance blitzes” and improved communication with staff and passengers are meant to reduce risk and restore reliability. In coverage of the historic Convict Bridge on the Great Western Highway, she traces the discovery of structural movement and cracking, the deployment of real-time sensors, and the eventual full closure of a key freight route when monitoring data showed unsafe movement.
These pieces highlight her habit of following a story from technical diagnosis through to political decision-making and community disruption, making infrastructure governance accessible without losing detail.
Politics through the lens of housing, cost of living and regional impact
Gregory’s political reporting often comes through specific policy domains rather than abstract party manoeuvring, with housing and cost-of-living pressures featuring prominently.
In coverage of an upcoming Queensland election, she sets voter experiences of rising costs alongside detailed breakdowns of competing housing policies, including multibillion-dollar social housing plans, promises on the number of new homes and timelines stretching into the 2040s. She incorporates positions from Labor, the Liberal National Party and the Greens on issues such as rent caps, freezes and lease security, framing electoral politics around concrete questions of affordability and security rather than campaign rhetoric.
Her broader work regularly brings in regional perspectives on how statewide or national decisions land in smaller communities, whether in relation to fuel costs, social housing or environmental regulation, giving policy stories a geographic and social texture.
Regional communities, environment and heritage
Gregory consistently reports from and about regional communities, with stories that mix environmental, economic and cultural themes. Her work on PFAS contamination in waterways documents farmers’ concerns about the safety of their land and stock and the promise of a whole-of-government response to manage pollution in rivers. She has covered diesel supply issues and their impact on farmers and freight, as well as greyhound racing, reflecting a broad interest in how policy and market shifts affect rural livelihoods and local industries. In heritage and Indigenous affairs, she has reported on the return and reburial of the remains of an Aboriginal man taken to London in 1900, focusing on the role of elders, ceremony and community in addressing historical dispossession. Across these stories she centers local voices and practical consequences, drawing attention to the way environmental damage, heritage decisions and service disruptions are experienced in everyday regional life.
Science, technology and economic geography
Another thread in Gregory’s work engages with science and technology as they are shaped by policy and geography. In reporting on a CSIRO analysis of Australia’s tech sector, she explains how tech employment and “unicorn” companies cluster across major capital cities, metropolitan suburbs and regional towns, and what that means for future growth and housing pressures. She uses expert commentary to situate Australian trends in relation to places like Silicon Valley, highlighting differences in housing crunch risks and regional opportunity.
These pieces show a consistent method: grounding broad economic and innovation themes in specific locations, datasets and lived conditions, while maintaining a clear line back to government strategy and planning.
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.