Politics Journalistsin Australia

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 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 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 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.

Benedict Brook is an award-winning journalist and the US Correspondent for news.com.au. He stands out for turning US politics, power and major events into clear stories for an Australian audience. He covers American politics, global leaders, the US–China relationship, landmark political history, mass shootings, religious institutions, retail change and labour issues. His reporting looks at how decisions by leaders, churches and companies affect ordinary people. He has written for Star Observer and other News Corp mastheads, and he brings experience as a journalist, editor and in media and communications. His style blends political context, historical detail and human testimony, with a focus on how power works in everyday life.

Bevan Shields is a senior political writer and former editor at The Sydney Morning Herald who examines how institutions of power respond to pressure, scandal and scrutiny. He covers corruption inquiries, parliamentary debates, public inquiries, leadership contests and NSW laws on hate, protest and social cohesion. He also writes about sport and media when they intersect with governance and influence, including powerful sporting administrators, business figures and high-profile media personalities. His notable work includes coverage of ICAC’s Operation Rosny, party fundraising and editorial campaigns for royal commissions into gendered violence and the COVID-19 response. A former federal editor and Canberra bureau chief and Europe correspondent, he joined the Herald in 2014 and now focuses on long-form analysis, editorials and subscriber communications. He reports through testimony, evidence, timelines and institutional context, using an explanatory, conversational style.

Bob Savic focuses on how shifting power is expressed through trade, sanctions and supply chains, especially China’s changing place in global politics. He writes for Asia Times on the geopolitics of trade and economic security, tracing how tariffs, regulatory rules and economic security frameworks reshape negotiating power, supply routes and industrial planning. He covers US–China rivalry through commodities, critical minerals and sanctions, linking resource deals and restrictions to wider leverage on allies and partners. Savic reports in detail on China’s industrial and supply chain security laws and post-COVID industrial policy, and on how regions such as Central Europe and Southeast Asia navigate a multipolar order and China–Russia ties. His work is grounded in close reading of legal texts, trade mechanisms and resource flows, always tied to concrete risks for governments, companies and financial actors.

Brandon How reports breaking political and policy news for Capital Brief, showing how government decisions reshape technology, infrastructure and capital markets. He covers tax reform, Treasury power, AI oversight, startups, data centres, telecommunications, defence, industrial policy and ASX companies. His work has appeared in Business News, and he brings three years covering tech policy and innovation, plus federal press gallery experience. He explains how rules, funding, procurement and infrastructure choices affect founders, employees, investors, listed companies and national systems. His reporting follows the practical effects of policy, from capital gains tax tests and AI governance to data centre planning, critical services, takeovers, debt covenants and share prices. He also writes newsletters that frame complex debates with short, sharp labels and detailed reporting on consultation, criteria changes and stakeholder lobbying.

Bronte Gossling is a politics reporter with The Age and its sister mastheads, known for combining fact-checking, seat-by-seat election coverage and campaign-trail scenes. She covers federal campaigns, government responses to conflict and human-rights claims, climate-driven extreme weather, agricultural impacts and sexual assault on university campuses. Her election reporting tests claims such as whether Anthony Albanese “lied 97 times” and whether the Coalition “ripped $30 billion out of schools”, while tracking projections, seat outcomes and leadership changes. She also reports on Australia’s response to allegations involving activists in Israeli custody. Her earlier work spans lifestyle, celebrity and entertainment, including sleep routines, television personalities and awards nights. She writes with attention to personalities, rhetoric, policy, institutional practice and lived experience, showing how political claims affect everyday life.

Cameron Adams is a Daily Beast reporter whose beat is the collision of political power, public institutions, and spectacle, especially Donald Trump and the fallout from his presidency. He covers Trump’s behavior in office, the public theater around his decisions, and how those choices affect agencies, museums, security, and everyday life. His work brings an entertainment reporter’s eye for drama and detail to fast-moving political stories, with blunt, tabloid-style framing and clear, scene-driven narratives. He has also written for Rolling Stone and Marie Claire, and has worked as a music journalist, writer, editor, researcher, and interviewer across TV, audio, and podcast projects.

Cameron Peters explains how political decisions reshape government institutions and the people who depend on them, turning complex power struggles into clear, accessible stories. He is a staff editor at Vox, where he covers US politics and policy across reported pieces, data-driven features, audio, and newsletters. His beat is the internal mechanics of governance, with a focus on who holds authority, how they use it, and how rule changes, executive orders, and staffing decisions reconfigure the state. He has reported on foreign aid cuts, GOP redistricting plans, Trump-era executive power, leaks, federal layoffs, immigration enforcement, public safety, infrastructure failures, and public health misinformation. Peters contributes to the Today, Explained podcast, writes The Logoff newsletter, and previously covered US politics and policy for CQ Roll Call, drawing on research experience to ground his institution-focused explainers.

Christopher Knaus is a chief investigations correspondent at the Guardian who exposes systemic failures in government, corporate and social institutions. He is best known for breaking and sustaining coverage of the robodebt scandal, using whistleblowers, leaked documents and affected people to reveal unlawful welfare debt recovery. His work also covers immigration detention, prisons, homelessness, social services, economic abuse, climate policy, mining and corporate power. He has investigated preventable deaths in prisons, security failures in detention centres, Centrepay and BHP’s plans to delay decarbonisation. His reporting is built on long-running, document-based investigations rather than daily political coverage. He uses records, data, inspections, internal reports, confidential sources and interviews to test official claims and measure accountability. He joined the Guardian in 2016 after six years covering crime, courts and politics at a local newspaper.

Clare Armstrong is the chief digital political correspondent at ABC News, known for reporting where politics, law and online life meet. She covers digital politics and online safety, explaining complex policy debates on social media, extremism and crime, and how governments and parties use these issues to shape their messages. Her work follows the rules that govern social platforms, online campaigns around major projects, and the way stories land with audiences who get most of their news online. She reports closely on extremism, hate laws and social cohesion, and on party strategy, populism and leadership. She also covers law-and-order measures tied to crime, health and economic pressure. Armstrong works across online, television, radio and podcasts, drawing on a background in fast-paced political reporting and editing to bring clear, detailed coverage of how political decisions affect everyday life.

Collin Binkley reports where White House politics meet education power struggles, following federal decisions all the way down to classrooms, campuses and individual students. He covers the White House and education policy for The Associated Press, where he has worked since 2015. His beat centers on how presidential agendas collide with universities and schools, from investigations and financial sanctions against elite campuses to proposed compacts that tie grants and access to changes in admissions, women’s sports, free speech, discipline and affordability. He tracks civil rights enforcement, Title IX, disability rights and diversity, equity and inclusion fights, showing how rule changes affect student protections and vulnerable groups. He also documents university closures, campus culture and segregation in public schools, grounding high‑level power struggles in clear, on‑the‑ground reporting.

Courtney Gould is a political reporter and live blog specialist who runs the ABC’s politics live blog and a recurring federal politics wrap, turning constant parliamentary developments into clear, tightly edited narratives. She covers federal politics with a focus on cost of living, tax and budget debates, tracing how insider strategy and campaign theatre affect voters and households. Her rolling blog coverage moves quickly between committee hearings, floor debates, party-room manoeuvring, corruption watchdog matters, AUKUS legislation, negotiations over the Reserve Bank, sector responses and moments where business and politics intersect. She is credited as the organiser behind the network’s politics blog. Her weekly wraps and analysis pieces look at attention-seeking strategies on platforms like TikTok and podcasts, climate diplomacy, budget reactions and protest movements, showing how policy, public anger and political performance collide.

Dan Jervis-Bardy is chief political correspondent at Guardian Australia, known for tracing how conservative party conflicts and rightwing populist movements shift power. He covers federal politics, Coalition tensions, One Nation’s rise, preference deals, elections, tax, energy, housing, cost-of-living policy and the regulatory choices shaping rights, universities, creative industries and civil society. His reporting links internal party struggles and policy design to broader electoral strategies. Before joining Guardian Australia, he wrote for a major Western Australian outlet on cost-of-living pressures, industrial relations, immigration detention, tech regulation and central bank reforms. He combines gallery reporting, policy-focused news stories, field reporting, polling, interviews and regular audio appearances. On podcasts, he explains voter sentiment, campaign tactics, conservative realignment and how political decisions affect what voters hear and feel.

Deebashree Mohanty is a senior editor at India Today whose most distinctive work investigates crises and accountability in education, jobs and everyday policy. She covers how education systems, exams and powerful boards like NCERT and CBSE shape trust, breaking down textbook vetting and following fallout when errors and exam controversies trigger court cases and public anger. She reports on NEET and other competitive exams through families’ lived experiences, linking procedural failures to wider questions of transparency, autonomy and state oversight. A second strand of her beat is work and layoffs, where she treats employment as a split market shaped by AI, immediate deployability and granular layoff practices, while also tracking wage gaps and remote work tensions. She writes long-form narrative explainers built on interviews and case studies, drawing on more than two decades in media and senior editorial roles at the India Today group.

Dirk Mulder examines how migration policy, visa rules and political sentiment shape international education, global student mobility and the organisations that support it. He is the founder of The Koala News, where he reports on legislation, parliamentary activity, student visa crackdowns, transfer rules, Evidence Levels, migration debates and market shifts. His beat also covers university and provider strategy, recruitment, rankings, English language education, student wellbeing, social connection, awards and sector events. He has written for specialist education briefings and mainstream outlets and received an Excellence Award for commentary from the International Education Association of Australia. Mulder combines operational experience with political analysis. He turns dense policy changes and market signals into direct, practical reporting on compliance, recruitment, student pathways, risk and sustainability.

Drew Pittock uses politics, pop culture and everyday consumer hooks to explain how power, rights and public perception shape daily life. He covers national trending news for USA TODAY, with a focus on Trump-era governance, civil rights, LGBTQ+ policy, election rules, online discourse, media ecosystems and communications infrastructure. His work has appeared in stories on national parks, transgender sports bans, Jan. 6 records, social media speech, the Onion’s takeover of InfoWars, T-Mobile outages and global views of Trump. He also covers lighter subjects, including luxury property, restaurant promotions and product recalls. Pittock reports through court filings, survey data, audio, marketing promotions, legal texts and timelines. His document-driven stories connect policy, rhetoric and culture, foregrounding concrete effects on voters, workers, athletes and activists without slipping into punditry.

Duncan Murray covers where politics, law and institutional accountability meet for Canberra CityNews. He follows decisions by powerful actors into court rulings, sentencing, regulatory action and public consequences. His beat includes political scrutiny, corruption findings, campaign money, political speech, policing, protest charges, serious criminal cases, appeals and long-running investigations. He also reports on corporate governance, superannuation investment, telecommunications failures, public-sector pay, bird flu, biosecurity and archival science. Notable work includes coverage of the Gladys Berejiklian corruption appeal, Gina Rinehart’s funding of Pauline Hanson’s Europe flights, Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech, Australia’s largest tax fraud, Chris Dawson’s murder appeal and a Taser death. He works in straight news, relying on court documents, judicial comments, police statements, official releases and documented events.

Evelyn Hartwell follows how political power, oversight and policy choices reverberate through global systems, and keeps both power and people in view. She is editor-in-chief at BIMC Media, where she makes complex international stories about governance, security, markets and social regulation clear and accessible. Her beat sits where decisions in parliaments, ministries and boardrooms meet everyday consequences, from energy prices and elections to healthcare and online safety. She covers oversight actions affecting financial and political elites, international sport sanctions, military tension around key energy routes, and security ties between regions. She reports on democracy, environmental responsibility and digital regulation, including elections, nuclear waste policy and minors’ access to adult content. Her work on health and abortion care, and her patient-facing guides, use the same grounded approach. She also writes children’s story collections and joke books, breaking down systems into understandable parts.

Evelyn Manfield is a political journalist at the ABC’s Parliament House office who connects federal decisions with their financial, social and security effects on people’s lives. She covers government policy, universities, cost of living, party dynamics, polling, national security, alliance politics and question time. Her reporting treats education and housing affordability as core political issues, showing how university fees and student debt affect borrowing, savings and access to home ownership. She also examines polling, internal party disputes and the domestic impact of defence policy. Manfield reports through digital, audio and television, including live blogs, explainers and broadcast updates. She joined ABC News as a cadet in 2020 and has worked across ABC newsrooms and Behind the News. She also covered the disappearance and rescue of Cleo Smith and has appeared on ABC News Breakfast.

Finn Hartnett writes about how political power is used and abused, with a sharp focus on Trump, Republican maneuvering, and the institutions bent to serve those in charge. He is an editorial intern at The New Republic. He previously worked at the Marion County Record. His beat centers on Trump’s donors, loyalists, slush funds, Congress, the Pentagon, foreign influence, and wartime propaganda. He covers how money, secrecy, and official narratives shape public power. His reporting is news-forward and detail-driven, with close attention to documents, briefings, and contradictions. He also writes features on resistance groups and nuclear reactors in small towns, linking local struggles to national policy.

Fiona Katauskas is a political cartoonist and illustrator who uses visual satire and short, accessible commentary to show how power works and how policy decisions are felt in everyday life. She is a regular editorial cartoonist for The Guardian, where her weekly pieces pair a central cartoon with a brief written frame to capture the drama of politics, not just the headlines. Cartooning since the late 1990s, her work has appeared across major newspapers and magazines and in outlets such as Eureka Street. She focuses on Australian policy debates, national values, electoral politics and constitutional questions, and also on global populism, political spectacle, technology, culture and everyday institutions. Her reporting relies on humour, caricature, visual metaphors and strong emblematic images to make complex manoeuvres and contested reforms clear, with attention to who holds power and who lives with the consequences.

Flic Everett is a freelance columnist and broadcaster who uses relationships and personal dynamics to illuminate politics, celebrity and public life. She writes for The Independent, covering political couples, marriage, divorce, royal behaviour, television personalities, celebrity culture, activism and personal finance. Her columns examine power, status, gender, trust, image management and emotional realism rather than policy or industry detail. She writes about figures including Nicola Sturgeon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Prince Andrew, Claudia Winkleman, Hugh Jackman and Claire Foy. She also covers midlife divorce, emotional labour, financial strain and practical ways to manage debt. Her reporting is opinion-led and grounded in specific stories, personal experience and everyday life. Everett has more than two decades of experience writing columns and features for national newspapers and magazines. She is also an author of fiction and non-fiction and founded the travel platform Road, Rail and Sea.

Gary Adshead is a veteran political reporter at Business News who brings a crime and corruption reporter’s scrutiny to politics and government. He covers state politics, party finances, strategy and internal tensions, as well as campaigns, budgets, political figures and policy debates. His reporting also examines councils, public agencies, utilities, inquiries, audits and regulatory systems, linking administrative decisions to business and community consequences. He has spent more than four decades across print, radio and television, earning Journalist of the Year honours four times and a national Best Podcast award in 2024. Past investigations exposed a political scandal involving a false war crimes claim and corruption in the tow trucking industry, prompting new regulations. At Business News, he writes, produces podcasts, contributes to the magazine and moderates events. He reports through specific cases, documented misconduct and close attention to power, money and accountability.

Gary Fields is a politics reporter for the Associated Press whose work traces how power, race and the rules of American democracy collide, with a focus on who is included, who is excluded and how government decisions play out in people’s lives. He covers the mechanics of U.S. democracy, voting rights and access to the ballot, including early primaries, Native American voting rights cases and the legacy of activists killed in the fight for voting protections. He reports on race, education and civil rights, examining curriculum changes, book bans and how campaigns address issues facing Black Americans. His coverage of Donald Trump spans internal power moves, court constraints and political violence. With roots in criminal justice and institutional accountability, he highlights limited press access to prisons and keeps rules, institutions and marginalized communities at the center of his reporting.

Gavin Blackburn connects European politics with war, diplomacy and the law, following how decisions in parliaments and commissions play out in courts, conflict zones and multilateral bodies. He is a senior digital editor and journalist at Euronews, working on politics and international affairs stories. His recent work spans EU newsletters, frontline conflict coverage and detailed reporting on legal and human rights cases inside and beyond Europe. He covers EU migration reform, party crises, technology governance and sanctions enforcement, and links high-level summits to actions at sea and on the ground. His conflict reporting tracks battlefield decisions, diplomatic messaging and occupation or withdrawal plans, using direct quotes and precise terms. A recurring strand is international law, court judgments and evidentiary archives. His background in digital editing and translation shapes clear, cross-language storytelling on European politics, security and the rules-based order.

Holly Tregenza is a federal political journalist and senior video producer covering how national policy affects households, workers and institutions. She works in the ABC’s Parliament House bureau after reporting and producing across other ABC teams. Her beat spans federal politics, economic pressure and technology, including housing, interest rates, cost of living, budgets, migration, welfare, artificial intelligence, data centres and big tech regulation. She also covers the NDIS and contested social programs. Tregenza reports on the practical effects of policy, using clear language, concrete figures and direct quotations to explain political trade-offs. She contributes real-time analysis and context to federal politics live blogs, tracking parliamentary debates, press conferences, ministerial statements and political disputes. Her coverage connects policy detail with its effects on affordability, services, infrastructure, care, digital regulation and public debate.

Jacob Freedland stands out for how he uses concrete episodes in Scottish politics and rural life to show how power, scandal and land shape modern Scotland. He is a Scotland reporter for The Telegraph, covering politics and home affairs north of the border. His beat includes SNP leadership crises, financial and ethical lapses, Holyrood drama, land reform, rural estates and North Sea energy disputes. He follows the people and institutions around Holyrood and the wider UK, using specific cases to show how local controversies feed into national debates. He reports on symbolic scenes, legal and constitutional questions, and the politics of land, wildlife and resources. His stories are grounded in documents, interviews and detailed financial or legal context, often built around a single vivid case that opens out into wider questions of trust, accountability and governance.

Jake Evans is a senior political correspondent at ABC News who treats federal grants as instruments of political power. He covers how government decisions on money, migration and climate policy affect communities. His reporting examines grant winners and losers, pork-barrelling, taxpayer-funded projects, transparency and accountability. He covers migration and border policy, including visa settings, enforcement, population targets and the way parties use migration in electoral strategy. He connects climate and energy policy to household costs, investment and political risk. He also explains budget measures such as tax changes and cheaper medicines. Evans works across written reporting, analysis, live politics blogs, weekly round-ups and television packages. He covers parliamentary manoeuvring, party tactics, leadership contests and legislative fights. Earlier, he worked as a political reporter and producer, building experience across digital, broadcast and analysis-driven formats.

Jamie Seidel connects global flashpoints and emerging technologies to real-world risks for governments, militaries and civilians, always stressing the big picture and how separate events fit together. He is an experienced reporter, subeditor and digital producer with more than three decades in news, now writing news and analysis pieces across the News Corporation network and other national outlets. His beat spans international affairs, defence, science, space and technology, with a core focus on rising tensions, conflict scenarios, weapons systems and AI-driven automation. He reports on China, the United States, the Middle East and space programs, tying timelines, trigger points and dual-use technologies to wider strategic patterns. His work blends hard reporting with explanatory context, using concise, high-impact prose to turn complex geopolitical and technical issues into plain language for general readers.

Jano Gibson is ABC News’ Antarctic reporter, and his work stands out for linking polar science with government accountability. He reports on how science, environment and governance play out in and around Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. His beat covers climate change, long-term science projects, contamination, clean-up commitments, wildlife and remote fieldwork. He has reported on falling Antarctic sea ice, the Million Year Ice Core project, Kennaook/Cape Grim air records, penguin breeding shifts, Wilkes Station contamination, Heard Island, and Antarctica’s first confirmed dinosaur bone. He also covers political controversy and official responses. His reporting uses clear timelines, concrete measurements, rare on-site access, researcher quotes and human or wildlife stories to make remote issues immediate.

Jasper Lindell links ACT politics and government decisions to public services, development and civic life. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter at The Canberra Times, where he has worked since 2018. His core beat covers the Assembly, parties, government policy, tax, spending, infrastructure, integrity and accountability. He reports on how political decisions affect transport, childcare, housing, planning and city services, often connecting systemic issues to individual cases and formal inquiries. He also writes about development, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, including regular contributions to Panorama magazine. His past work includes Sunday Canberra Times reporting. He is also a restaurant reviewer and travel writer, covering venues, destinations, landscape and hospitality. His reporting combines detailed scrutiny of government machinery with close attention to how people experience institutions, places and public services.

Jean Bell is a reporter for ABC News who shows how policy decisions and political systems shape everyday life, especially in regional communities and at the local level. She covers the intersection of politics, infrastructure and social outcomes, focusing on how abstract debates become concrete consequences for residents. Her political reporting includes how elected officials use emerging tools such as AI-generated images, and what that means for power, accountability and public trust. She reports on regional towns, planning and infrastructure, from walkable streets and footpaths to severe weather that strains networks and homes. She examines social fabric, migration and belonging, documenting how newcomers build networks and find inclusion. Her work is grounded in specific places, using interviews, data, research findings and on-the-ground observation to show how policy and power affect daily routines, health, security and community ties.

Josh Butler stands out for treating politics as a system that must be understood as well as watched. He is a political reporter and chief of staff at Guardian Australia, covering federal politics from Parliament House and coordinating coverage from the parliamentary bureau. His core beat is Parliament, the major parties, legislation and party strategy, with a focus on accountability, ethics and the use of public money. He also covers media policy, tech platforms and the news business. His reporting moves between straight news, interviews, explainers, podcasts and live election coverage. He hosts Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast and appears in live streams, turning complex parliamentary and policy debates into clear, grounded accounts of what governments are doing and why it matters.

Kelly Nealon is editor at Inside State Government, with a high-volume beat covering state government decisions, appointments and programs. She reports on major projects and investments, including the Barossa InterContinental plan and the future of an iconic tourism island. Her work also follows leadership changes in commissions and authorities, such as the appointment of a new Commissioner for Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People. She covers health and social policy within state decision-making, including research on testosterone and improved diabetes outcomes, child protection, community welfare and public-service delivery. Nealon focuses on how cabinet and agencies shape policy, services, public institutions and industries. She has filed thousands of tightly focused news items, moving quickly across tourism, hospitality, investment, public agencies and specialist commissions.

Lachlan Leeming stands out for treating gun control as a live politics and money story. He is The Australian’s NSW political reporter, with past work as a federal political reporter in the Canberra press gallery. He covers NSW politics and firearms policy, especially gun reform, buyback schemes, licensing, ownership changes, and the clash between state and federal power. His reporting tracks the cost, the machinery of implementation, and the backlash from unions, industry groups, experts, politicians and firearm owners. He often uses economic modelling, detailed cost analysis and direct quotes to test government claims and show how reforms hit budgets, bureaucracy and those expected to carry them out.

Lexie Jeuniewic covers where federal politics meets the rules governing technology, energy and social policy at the ABC. She reports on AI data centres, energy and water use, social media regulation, online safety, welfare, migration, public safety and cost-of-living pressures. Her work includes coverage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, gun buyback proposals, family visa changes and oil prices. She also follows parliamentary tactics, party dynamics and the path from legislation to law. Jeuniewic contributes to AM and ABC News Top Stories, as well as online stories and live blogs. She reports in text and audio, using clear explainers to show how policy affects institutions and households. Her coverage connects technical and legislative detail with political risk, economic trade-offs and the practical effects of government decisions.

Lidija Ivanovski is a politics writer for The Australian Financial Review who focuses on how party strategy, communication and culture-war battles shape what voters hear and feel. A former Labor adviser, she concentrates on how leaders frame economic and social policy, which messages cut through and where they misfire. Her work sits at the intersection of federal politics, tax and economic reform, populist anger and identity questions. She reports on election campaigns, internal party dynamics and campaign material, treating party splits and turmoil as strategic problems. She writes on economic policy and tax reform as contests over fairness stories and emotional frames. Her culture wars and freedom of speech columns track how gender, history, housing, immigration and speech are weaponised, and how global shifts like the BRICS summit feed into domestic narratives and campaign messages.

Lillian Hanly is a political reporter in RNZ’s press gallery whose work centres on accountability, institutional governance and the detail of political process, treated as core subjects rather than background. She covers national politics and executive power with a focus on how policy, ministerial decisions and official record‑keeping affect people and communities, including transparency around the Prime Minister’s office and Official Information Act practice. Hanly reports and writes analysis on climate policy, law and democratic process, foreign and security debates such as AUKUS and defence alignment, and the strategic implications of political travel. A background in production, research and long‑form storytelling, including the documentary “Fifty Percent” on Huntington’s disease, underpins her clear reporting on complex legal, climate and security issues. She has held her RNZ press gallery role since May 2024 after prior editorial and production positions.

Lin Lin connects housing data, corporate collapses and regulation to show how politics and economics affect households and investors. She is a business reporter and finance presenter at ABC News, covering property, construction, corporate failures, consumer finance, markets and household spending. Her reporting examines affordability, investor confidence, interest rates, regulation, tax and planning policy, and the effects on families, buyers, contractors and small businesses. She has closely followed the collapse of developer Bathla and buyer’s agency Dashdot, including funding deadlines, insolvency, customer losses and questions of oversight. She also reports on ASIC action, currency movements, inflation risks and consumer spending. Lin Lin presents ABC News bulletins, including Auslan-interpreted programs. She uses market data, expert analysis and case studies to explain complex financial and corporate stories in clear, direct language. She previously reported for CNBC and SBS.

Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent at the Guardian whose distinct focus is the political consequences of international trade, especially post-Brexit arrangements. She covers Brexit and EU affairs through trade, borders and rights, tracing complex regulatory debates from European institutions to their impact on businesses and citizens. Her core subject is post-Brexit trade and UK–EU relations, including market access, tariffs, regulatory alignment and the risk of trade wars or diplomatic stand-offs. She reports on European trade policy and industrial strategy, including debates on Chinese imports and trade defence tools. A steady strand of her work is Ireland, Northern Ireland protocol politics, border checks and changing rules for EU citizens and British dual nationals. She treats disinformation as part of her politics brief and reports in hard news and explanatory formats, including regular podcast and public forum appearances.

Lucy MacDonald is an award-winning, multi-platform state political reporter for the ABC, known for combining close tracking of Tasmanian parliamentary manoeuvring with a focus on political culture, accountability and the human impacts of state power. She covers Tasmanian state politics, leadership turmoil, cabinet stability and internal party tensions, reporting on episodes such as Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s handling of ministerial resignations and their implications for the state’s political future. MacDonald pays sustained attention to transparency, money and political conduct, including political donations, government businesses and taxpayer-funded legal bills. She explains parliamentary procedure and lawmaking through clear, process-driven reporting across digital news, audio programs and social platforms. Her work also explores the emotional and psychological toll of political life and the cost of medical misogyny, linking political structures to lived experience.

Lyndal Rowlands connects UN decisions, war, climate change and public health to their effects on people and communities. She writes news and features for Al Jazeera, covers the UN system, climate politics, public health and fast-moving international crises, and contributes to live coverage of the US-Iran war and wider Middle East tensions. Her reporting examines sanctions, international law, Palestinian rights, diplomacy, regional escalation, civilians, infrastructure and basic services. She also reports on fossil fuels, climate litigation, emissions, the rights of nature, Indigenous food systems and global justice. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, the Diplomat, SBS, Audible Originals and other outlets. A former UN correspondent and bureau chief, she works across digital features, radio and podcasts. She builds stories from affected communities, officials and experts, explaining complex policy and institutional power in clear terms.

Madeline Link reports how local power and institutional decisions affect workers and communities for the Newcastle Herald. Her beat covers council politics, courts, industrial disputes, jobs and regional journalism. She focuses on Newcastle and Lake Macquarie council decisions, budgets, governance disputes, infrastructure and local services. Her court and crime reporting follows serious incidents, police operations, legal process and public safety. She also covers heavy industry, steelmaking, manufacturing investment, regional jobs and newsroom cuts. Since 2016, she has worked in reporting and editing roles across regional newspapers. She was a deputy editor and a multiple-time Kennedy Awards finalist, including for reporting on regional newspapers and bullying complaints at an anti-sexual violence organisation. Her work combines meeting reports, live coverage, explanatory pieces and sustained investigations, linking institutional decisions to the people affected.

Marieke Walsh digs into how power is used at the federal level, breaking internal political stories and following them through to their policy, diplomatic and public consequences. She is a senior political reporter in The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau, covering federal politics since 2019 and reporting on two federal election campaigns. Her work focuses on high-stakes federal politics and party dynamics, from caucus ruptures and leadership calculations to election calls. She reports on internal party decisions and how they reshape the government’s agenda, including energy, climate and nuclear strategy, and federal–provincial negotiations. Walsh also does accountability reporting on federal policy, contracts and public health, using government documents, expert briefings and political context to test official narratives. She often works in collaborative investigations and carries her reporting into broadcast analysis of campaigns, parliamentary strategy and diplomatic disputes.

Mark Santomartino stands out for combining state political reporting with detailed gaming and technology coverage. He is a state political reporter at Nine News, covering budgets, transport projects, government decisions and their effects on costs, delays and the public. He also reviews Nintendo Switch 2 hardware and games, including Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, Yoshi, Pokémon and Kirby. His technology reporting examines medical AI, drones, space navigation and smart-watch safety tools. He reports on breaking news, crime and political integrity, often centring victims, witnesses and community voices. His past work includes Sky News, regional television and radio, and reports for the TODAY Show and the federal politics bureau. He writes in a direct, conversational style, using clear questions, concrete detail and first-hand verdicts.

Matt Dennien is a state politics and public service reporter at Brisbane Times who tracks how power works through laws, bureaucracy and local government. He covers Queensland legislation, ministers and opposition leaders, justice, workers, communities, councils and major infrastructure. His reporting follows bail reform, parliamentary contests, party manoeuvring, integrity disputes and the effects of political decisions. He writes Public Circus, Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, examining agencies, officials, appointments, restructures, information handling and decisions made behind closed doors. He also reports on Brisbane Metro, council governance, hiring and executive appointments. Dennien’s work is document-heavy and process-oriented. He uses Right to Information disclosures, committee evidence, legal papers and parliamentary records, then explains the numbers, dates and clauses in clear, direct language. He previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and in community radio, covering general news, councils, elections, budgets and environmental issues.

Matt Maloney is a political reporter who shows how government decisions change services and protections for ordinary people. He works at The Advocate and has also published in The Examiner. His beat covers state politics, public policy, transport, infrastructure, disability services and worker protections. He follows Premier Jeremy Rockliff and his cabinet, ministerial disputes, budget changes and accountability for public spending. He reports on Spirit of Tasmania terminal costs and new ships, regional transport routes, TassieCare, the NDIS and workplace legal claims. His stories connect policy with its effects on passengers, businesses, disability clients and workers. He combines straight news with explanatory and feature reporting. He uses figures, detailed examples, official statements and on-the-ground observations to show who makes decisions, what they cost and how people are affected.

Matthew Knott stands out for tracking how foreign policy and national security decisions spill into domestic politics. He is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. His reporting focuses on Australia’s diplomacy, alliances, defence strategy, national security, Israel and Palestine, the Pacific, and military politics. He covers how global crises, sanctions debates, aid policy, and procurement choices shape the agendas of Australian leaders. He also reports from conflict zones, including Israel and the West Bank. Before this role, he was a US correspondent and political reporter, and he has written about the Trump administration, presidential campaigns, politics, education, and communications. His work mixes news analysis, reported features, and commentary, with a close eye on strategy, budgets, industry, and the political costs of public positions.

Michael Bachelard is a senior writer at The Age whose reporting tracks how hidden power works in politics, religion, security agencies and public institutions. He brings an investigative lens to government, secretive Christian sects, terrorism cases, national security, foreign influence, land rights, environmental policy and contested resources. His work ranges from stories on separatist Christian sects, “ISIS brides” and foreign censorship pressure, to long-form examinations of land rights after Wik and Mabo and award-winning reporting from Mosul on life under and after Islamic State. A former deputy editor and investigations editor at The Age, he works across formats, including interactive features and podcasts such as “Phoebe’s Fall”, and is known for persistence with sensitive subjects, detailed documentation and a focus on the structures behind political events.

Michael Koziol stands out for immersive reporting on the exercise of US power and its consequences, especially how American politics, policy and culture are felt on the ground and read by an Australian audience. He is the North America correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He has a background in federal political reporting, and has also worked as a breaking news reporter, a Sydney editor and a deputy editor at a Sunday masthead. His coverage spans US foreign policy, defence and security ties, immigration, courts, protests, Trump-era politics and Australians living, working and performing in the US. He writes with detailed scene-setting, close attention to people caught in events, and a mix of straight news, analysis and long-form reporting.

Millie Cooke is a political correspondent at The Independent who links Westminster decision-making to defence, international relations and equalities, using detailed policy reporting and exclusives to show how high-level choices affect security and rights. She focuses on how governments fund and organise defence, tracking delays, budget gaps, strategic reviews and rows over plans for bigger armed forces, new submarines, long-range weapons and artificial intelligence. Her work connects domestic defence debates to alliance politics, Brexit’s long tail, foreign policy appointments, international summits and Labour positions on the Middle East. She also covers women, equalities, migration and border politics, using interviews, FOI-led investigations, explainers and analytical dispatches. Her stories often lead the site or front page, grounded in quotations, documents and close reading of government reviews and plans.

Miriam Webber covers how federal political decisions play out inside institutions and workplaces, focusing on the Australian Public Service and the culture, costs and accountability of politics rather than the day-to-day contest. She reports on federal politics and the public sector for The Canberra Times and co-authors Politico’s Canberra Playbook. Her core subject is the federal public sector, especially how workplaces are run, funded and experienced by staff, using detail such as cost figures, program design, union responses and internal communications. She tracks diversity, culture and representation in the APS, transparency and audits, and lessons from inquiries, including robodebt. She also reports on parliamentary testimony, asylum and refugee issues, and civic life, design and public spaces in Canberra. Her work relies on formal documents paired with unions, staff and affected communities, and she uses secure channels to handle sensitive material.

Mohamad Fadli is a political reporter whose work is defined by analyst-driven coverage of coalition power struggles and government messaging. He reports on politics for Free Malaysia Today, with more than 6,500 articles that track opposition dynamics, party manoeuvres and national policy debates. His recent reporting concentrates on Perikatan Nasional, especially the relationship between PAS and Bersatu, the role of the presidential council and how internal checks shape Muhyiddin Yassin’s authority. He also covers how the unity government explains economic decisions, travel funding and social programmes, treating fiscal moves and support schemes as political stories. His reporting relies heavily on political analysts, academics and party insiders to interpret events, and his long-running archive has been cited in research on strategic communications and youth political participation, marking him as a key chronicler of contemporary Malaysian politics.

Nabil Al-Nashar is a federal politics reporter at ABC News who connects government decisions to daily life. He covers housing, immigration, infrastructure and community safety, using data, expert voices and lived experience to explain how policy affects households and neighbourhoods. Before federal coverage, he reported for ABC News across Western Sydney, covering local stories that often foreshadowed national debates. His work examines rental stress, auction clearance rates, interest rates, anti-immigration rallies, far-right organising and social cohesion. He also reports on major infrastructure projects, cultural and scientific institutions, assistive technology, disability and the effects of global conflicts on families. His reporting is grounded in breaking news and on-the-ground interviews, but adds context about race, belonging and public trust. He writes and broadcasts in plain language, keeping attention on communities rather than political insiders, market speculation or abstract geopolitics.

Nick McKenzie specialises in long-running investigations that expose systemic wrongdoing in public institutions and powerful organisations, often using confidential sources and cross‑platform reporting across print and television. He is an investigative reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, working on politics, corruption and public accountability, with stories that routinely lead to inquiries, court cases and policy change. His political reporting focuses on conduct and integrity, scrutinising the behaviour and decision‑making of senior leaders and setting individual scandals inside broader accountability problems. He tracks how internal party dynamics, donor relationships and external influence distort public interest decisions, framing stories around truthfulness and responsibility. Beyond politics he investigates corruption, organised crime, corporate malpractice, casino regulation, national security, war crimes, extremism, whistleblowers and press freedom, relying on documents, interviews, legal proceedings and whistleblower testimony to show how alleged wrongdoing unfolds over time.

Nick Visser is a politics-focused reporter and liveblogger at the Guardian, known for fast, clear coverage that tracks policy decisions and breaking events in real time. He runs the Australian edition’s daily news liveblog, covering politics, public policy, cost-of-living issues, major national developments and global events. His reporting also examines environmental policy, climate change and the politics surrounding them. Before joining the Guardian, he spent more than a decade at HuffPost as a senior reporter and editor on general assignment and environmental coverage. His work also appeared in Mother Jones, Grist, the Seattle Times, the Advocate, KUOW and the Jordan Times. He has covered elections, overnight breaking news, international stories and Australian disputes involving land, infrastructure and urban development. He works mainly in liveblogs, breaking news pieces and short reports, using frequent updates and practical detail to show how decisions affect daily life.

Nicola Smith reports on federal politics through a security and Indo-Pacific lens. At the Australian Financial Review, she covers budgets, tax concessions, housing reform, national security, espionage, foreign interference, privacy law and technology risks. Her reporting shows how laws, budgets and regulation affect real-world risk, power and different groups of voters. She draws on about 20 years as a foreign correspondent for the Telegraph and The Sunday Times, including senior Asia and Indo-Pacific roles and frontline coverage of Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan and the West Bank. Smith connects domestic political choices to wider strategic and geopolitical stakes. She combines straight news with analysis, using institutional detail, polling and clear accounts of policy winners and losers. Her compact, fact-led work links specific measures to public sentiment, party strategy and operational security.

Nino Bucci is an award-winning justice and courts reporter at Guardian Australia who treats criminal cases, police powers and political disputes as one system of accountability. He reports on justice and courts, with a core focus on major criminal trials, process, evidence and what verdicts mean for the justice system. He has written extensively about the mushroom murders trial and Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial, and has tracked the manhunt for Dezi Freeman. He also reports on police powers and less-lethal weapons, including stinger grenades, with attention to training, oversight, injuries and regulation. His political reporting covers foreign interference and the overlap between law, national security and public office. He combines daily news, courtroom reporting and explanatory detail, and is on the board of the Melbourne Press Club.

Noah Yim is a political reporter who focuses on how legislation, programs and institutions turn into real-world outcomes, with a systems view that tracks rules, incentives and unintended effects rather than just headline announcements. He reports for The Australian’s Canberra press gallery bureau, covering economic policy, tax reform, defence, technology, campus governance, integrity bodies and public opinion. His work ranges from interest rates, capital gains tax changes and development programs to defence contracts, energy projects and foreign investment, often showing who gains and who loses from technical policy design. He has examined AI, data centres and digital privacy as economic and strategic questions, and has written on diplomacy and polling-based views of major powers. Across these beats he writes tightly focused straight news, rooted in close reading of fine print and institutional process.

Patrick Lenton is a queer politics reporter and LGBTQIA+ news journalist whose work is rooted in community impact, storytelling craft and a distinctive, sometimes playful voice. He is the digital editor and journalist at Star Observer, covering how policy shifts and public debates shape the daily lives and rights of LGBTQIA+ people. His beat centres on queer politics, anti-discrimination law, legislation, policy frameworks and parliamentary debates, approached as live safeguards for communities rather than abstract legal topics. He reports in plain language and focuses on concrete outcomes such as protections, harm and institutional power. Lenton also runs Nonsense Newsletter, a comedy and queer news publication supported by a major Walkley Foundation grant, and is the author of the queer rom-com In Spite of You and the short story collection Sexy Tales of Paleontology, which inform his mix of political literacy, humour and queer storytelling.

Paul Sakkal links sourced inside‑gallery reporting to clear explanations of policy detail and party strategy, showing how decisions in Canberra reshape the economy, security settings and the party system. He is chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, an award‑winning political journalist on federal and state rounds. He covers the federal Labor agenda, taxation, superannuation, capital gains, housing, infrastructure, trade, tariffs and biosecurity, anchoring stories in concrete mechanisms and long‑term political stakes. Defence, foreign policy, AUKUS and contested security issues are core subjects, as are party crises, internal investigations, factional tensions and media influence on party fortunes. He works across straight news, enterprise reporting, analysis, co‑hosts the Inside Politics podcast, appears in video explainers and brings a strong accountability lens, regularly breaking stories based on senior political and government sources.

Pema Levy is a politics reporter at Mother Jones who treats the conservative legal movement as a political project reshaping American democracy. She covers national politics through courts, conservative judicial power, and institutional design, with a beat that focuses on voting rights, civil rights, and the rules of political engagement. Her reporting tracks the Roberts Court and Republican-appointed judges as engines of political change, translating complex rulings and obscure maneuvers into clear narratives about power, winners, and losers. She digs into legal archives to test “originalist” claims, follows billionaires’ campaigns to influence the Court, and documents how decisions affect agencies, borders, asylum protections, and everyday rights. Her work on the Electoral College, January 6 denialism, Trump-era institutional conflict, extremism, and climate and global risk all centers on how leaders and systems entrench or challenge multiracial democracy and democratic governance.

Pjotr Sauer is a Russia affairs correspondent for the Guardian whose reporting links the war in Ukraine to life inside Russia, military structures and high-level diplomacy. He covers strikes on cities, hospitals and critical infrastructure, showing their effects on civilians through eyewitness accounts and local material. He follows mobilisation, conscripts and families, anti-mobilisation protests, censorship, war fatigue and economic pressure. He reports on mercenary recruitment, prison fighters, casualty figures, military contracts and ties between paramilitary groups and the regular armed forces. His work also examines Russia’s relationship with China, state visits, diplomatic symbolism and support for Russia’s position on the war. He covers imprisoned journalists and the wider repression of media workers. His reporting combines documents, official statistics, court developments, testimonies and detailed observation, returning to stories over time to connect individual experiences with broader political and military systems. His work has also appeared in The Moscow Times, The Telegraph and Het Parool.

Pramod Madhav is a politics reporter for India Today whose work is defined by close, detailed coverage of Tamil Nadu power struggles and Dravidian politics. He focuses on how contests between Dravidian parties and national rivals shape the state’s direction, tracking leaders like MK Stalin, symbolic gestures, intra-Dravidian outreach and institutional questions such as delimitation. He consistently anchors colourful quotes, slurs and wars of words in the longer story of Tamil Nadu’s party system and its ties to the centre. Madhav reports on the ground from rallies, clashes and crime, covering events like crowd crushes, mining fears, triple murders and mob lynchings across South India. Elections are a major strand of his beat, along with economic and policy transitions, where he treats investment, regulation and institutional redesign as instruments in the contest over Tamil Nadu’s future.

Rachel Eddie covers Victorian politics for ABC News, with a distinct focus on how state power, party dynamics and public services shape everyday life. She reports on Labor leadership, elections, cabinet changes and the Coalition’s prospects, while also covering transport networks, infrastructure, fares and the Suburban Rail Loop. Her policy reporting examines support for children removed from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, work-from-home laws and One Nation’s candidate vetting. She previously wrote for The Age. Eddie combines breaking news, analysis, profiles and policy explainers. She follows political figures and systems over time, using specific dates, laws, committees, transport lines and campaign movements to connect decisions at the top with their effects on commuters, families, workers and other communities. Her reporting is clear, concrete and focused on how political choices accumulate.

Richard Nimijean analyzes how political leaders brand national identity and sell it to domestic, continental and global audiences. He is a political scientist who writes on the politics of branding Canada, Canada’s place in North America, and the narratives that link foreign policy, economic debates and public attitudes. His core subject is “Brand Canada,” including how parties use consumer-style branding, image management and publicity to frame agendas and values such as civic engagement, rule of law and middle-power diplomacy. He covers Canada–U.S. relations, including proposals for “Fortress North America,” and tracks how crises and populist moments shift stories about sovereignty, dependency and integration. Writing from an academic base in Canadian studies and branding research, he combines close readings of leaders’ language with analysis of institutions and audiences to explain gaps between rhetoric and policy.

Sam Levine focuses on the machinery of US democracy, looking at how voting rules, court decisions and election administration determine who gets a voice in politics. He is a national voting rights reporter at the Guardian, concentrating on voting rights and access to the ballot. His beat includes voter ID, partisan gerrymandering and structural barriers to participation, rather than day-to-day campaign strategy. He reports on legal efforts to add proof of citizenship to voter registration, executive actions, court rulings and federal enforcement, always tying them to real limits on who can register and vote. He also covers extremism and the long-tail fallout from January 6, and writes about federal accountability processes. His democracy reporting appears in other outlets and syndicated platforms, while staying rooted in voting rights, legal structures and how institutions respond when rules are challenged.

Samantha Dick reports on how political power, lobbying and regulation affect people. She is a political reporter at the ABC and contributes digital investigations to Four Corners and ABC Investigations. Her beat covers lobbying, the defence industry, taxation, regulation, consumer protection, disability policy, legal aid, guardianship, health, aged care and end-of-life law. She has reported on former officials who move into defence lobbying, the influence of lobbyists in Parliament House, gas companies and tax, food labelling, National Disability Insurance Scheme safeguards, legal aid shortfalls and guardianship orders. Her work has appeared in digital investigations, longform online stories and audio current affairs programs. She uses data, access-to-information work, interviews and individual cases to explain how decisions, rules and funding affect vulnerable people. Her style is direct and explanatory, with a focus on systems and consequences rather than political personality.

Sandeep Moudgal stands out for treating wealth disclosures, cabinet design, technology adoption, digital campaigning and crisis management as windows into how power really works. He reports on politics for The Times of India, focusing on state-level leadership and policy in India. He follows how institutions, parties and individual leaders use governance tools, money and campaign strategy to shape outcomes. His coverage of chief ministers’ declared assets, including DK Shivakumar’s rise toward becoming India’s richest chief minister, links personal fortunes to public accountability. He tracks cabinet dynamics, new departments and emerging technologies like UAVs and cyber security as contests over authority and control. He also reports on digital campaign operations and crisis coordination between states. He writes in a straightforward news format but consistently asks who gains or loses power from each decision and strategy.

Sarah Ison is a senior political reporter and comic whose coverage of federal politics blends straight news with clear, often lightly humorous explanations of process and power. She works in The Australian’s press gallery bureau, reporting on federal policy, parliamentary dynamics, campaign politics and how major decisions are communicated to the public. Her core beat is budgets, economic packages and party dynamics, focusing on caucus messaging, internal debates and how governments frame and sell contested measures. She tracks election campaigns, daily federal news, leadership manoeuvres and key votes, explaining what they mean for party unity and voter trust. She fronts digital video explainers, Q&As and behind-the-scenes segments that demystify how government works. Before joining The Australian, she covered federal politics for The West Australian as a press gallery journalist.

Sarah Martin follows the money and machinery of federal politics. She is a senior correspondent on Guardian Australia’s national investigations team, specialising in business and politics after more than 15 years covering politics and business, including as chief political correspondent. Her beat includes One Nation, minor-party power, corporate wealth and the effects of political decisions. She uses documents, flight-tracking data and expense records to examine how private interests support parties, build branches, run campaigns and shape public debate. Her investigations have covered One Nation’s rapid expansion and governance problems, and financial support from Gina Rinehart. She also reports and produces narrative podcasts, including the seven-part Gina and The Populist, and has hosted Australian politics coverage and episodes on gender equality. Her work combines detailed investigations with accessible audio storytelling grounded in verifiable evidence.

Shounak Sanyal is a history-driven politics and geopolitics writer for India Today’s World Desk. He stands out for using archival detail, data and defence expertise to explain how power works across borders. His work focuses on defence arrangements, strategic geography, immigration and Indian diaspora issues, and West Bengal politics. He writes explanatory pieces that ask how and why, not just what happened. He has covered the India-Canada nuclear pact, the India-Russia RELOS agreement, the Strait of Hormuz, a Sikh gurdwara demolition in Pakistan, the Indian American Voter Atlas, H-1B holders moving to the UK, a civil denaturalisation complaint, and the Churchill and Greenland cryolite stories. He also reports on symbolic controversies and local politics in West Bengal. Across subjects, he uses official documents, expert testimony, ship-tracking data and historical context to ground his reporting.

Stephen Kuper treats defence as a political economy story, focusing on how policy, industry and politics intersect through contracts, infrastructure and long-term strategy. He is a senior analyst with Defence Connect, working across government relations and defence industry coverage, with a policy background spanning defence, foreign affairs, infrastructure development, industry, economics and employment. He reports on defence policy and industrial strategy, major government decisions, strategic reviews and procurement moves, including submarine and maritime programs, and tracks how they reshape the industrial base and sovereign capability. He covers cyber security, accreditation and regulatory frameworks, unpacking DISP and industry obligations, and hosts Defence Connect podcasts that test policy settings with industry and expert guests. He also plays visible roles in Defence Connect summits and awards, linking sector themes back into his written and audio analysis.

Stuart Marsh is a morning news editor and politics reporter for Nine’s digital platforms who both writes and decides on stories that connect political decision-making, economic settings and the daily concerns of workers, renters and consumers. He focuses on economic policy, interest rates, inflation and fiscal decisions, breaking down complex settings into practical consequences for mortgages, savings, housing security and the broader cost of living. Housing stress and cost-of-living pressure are recurring themes, especially where economic trends create social strain for families and communities. He has reported extensively on COVID-19 politics and policy, major legal challenges and health restrictions, and works in live-blog and rolling-update formats for coronavirus and breaking news. Earlier work as a senior reporter for Nine News covered crime, business, politics and major events, blending hard news with clear explanations of policy and regulation.

Tamaghna Banerjee is a senior reporter and digital content creator at The Times of India who works at the intersection of politics, crime, defense, aviation and human rights, always keeping the human consequences of power and policy at the center of his work. He covers election campaigns, party machinery, high-stakes contests in West Bengal and the pressures on individual leaders, often blending trail statistics with narrative politics and a close look at voter psychology and turnout. He reports on crime, policing and protest, tracking weapons, law-and-order operations and clashes between state power and rights. His long-form and features explore displacement, fear, civic infrastructure failures and festival culture, translating technical and geopolitical detail into accessible stories. With roughly 14 years in journalism, he moves between spot news, features and analytical pieces with a consistent focus on lived experience.

Xanthe Gregory is a reporter for the ABC who shows how government decisions, regulation and infrastructure affect everyday life. She focuses on the intersection of government action and environmental contamination, especially PFAS chemicals, tracking legal responses, clean-up efforts and blood testing programs for exposed communities. She explains complex regulatory and technical material in plain terms, while centring the lived experience of affected people. Another strand of her work covers infrastructure, maintenance and safety on transport networks and historic bridges, following stories from technical diagnosis through to political decisions and community disruption. Her political reporting comes through housing, cost of living and regional impact, with a consistent focus on regional communities, farmers, heritage and Indigenous affairs. She also covers science, technology and economic geography, grounding broad trends in specific locations, datasets and government strategy.

Zoya Sheftalovich is POLITICO’s Chief EU Correspondent and host of the Brussels Playbook Podcast. She covers how EU institutions respond to war, crises and power struggles, with a focus on internal battles over policy, power and priorities. Her beat spans AI regulation, trade disputes, budget fights, the war in Ukraine, European security, NATO, Donald Trump, transatlantic politics, global summits and Indo-Pacific security. She tests leaders’ promises against economic limits, political divisions, institutional constraints and external threats. She was a founding member of POLITICO’s European newsroom, began as a technology reporter, and later edited the Brussels and London Playbook newsletters. Her investigative work included a probe into a secret deal involving Rwandan guerrillas that was a Walkley Awards finalist. She reports through explainers, news stories, newsletters and podcasts, using clear language, sharp sourcing and a focus on real-world consequences.