About us

Ant grew up in Canberra, largely avoiding the world of politics except for the occasions when he and his schoolmates from Telopea Park High would sneak off to the building site of “New Parliament House” to smoke ciggies. After graduating from Sydney Uni with a half-arsed degree from the economics…Read more »

Tory Shepherd studied anthropology, then travelled, then studied some more, then travelled, then ended up with a cadetship at The Advertiser in 2006. She covered police rounds, politics, general news and health, while working at The Punch on the side. And doing some more travelling and studying. Now Tory is…Read more »

Leo started in journalism when he published a family newspaper after reading a book called “What To Do When You’re Bored”. Fortunately being from a family of 11 the readership of the newspaper was larger than any article he has published since. He also worked out that journalism was indeed…Read more »

Lucy has nursed her ambition to be a journalist since 1987 when at the age of seven she announced her intention to the family video camera with steely determination. Born in Victoria but raised in NSW, she worked in the subscription department of Murdoch Magazines before completing an undergraduate degree…Read more »

Dave grew up in Adelaide’s southern suburbs and attended a really nice public school, Marion High, which was subsequently bulldozed during the tyrannical reign of Liberal Premier Dean Brown. He fell into journalism while not studying law at the University of Adelaide. He joined The Adelaide Advertiser as a cadet…Read more »

Paul is the editor of news.com.au. He started in journalism writing music reviews for The Drogheda Independent, his local newspaper in Ireland. After training there as reporter and sub-editor and freelancing for Irish music mag Hot Press, Paul joined the Dublin bureau of The Sunday Times as a news reporter…Read more »

Designer of The Punch, occasional writer and rabbit fancier Read more »

John Cobb was no stranger to politics when he entered Federal Parliament in 2001.  Born and raised in western NSW and a former president of the NSW Farmers’ Association, John made the move into federal politics to change city-centric politics and achieve a fair go for country people. John served…Read more »

EMC Director Peter Lewis used to describe himself as ‘spinning for lost causes’, until his campaigns started to work, thanks largely to the political research that underpins his offerings to the Punch. He has worked previously for Unions NSW and helped advise the ACTU on its Workchoices strategy ahead of…Read more »

Clive Small is a former detective and Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police. His investigations included the murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay, the Nugan Hand bank, the shooting of police officer Michael Drury, the murder of Cabramatta MP John Newman and the backpacker murders which led to Ivan Milat…Read more »

Alex is a relative baby in the News Ltd family. After nutting through a law degree at the Queensland University of Technology and a stint at the Glasgow University Law School in Scotland in 2005, “Dicko” finally turned to journalism to annoy his once-proud mum. He began on the Courier-Mail’s…Read more »

Letitia Rowlands is a senior journalist on The Daily Telegraph. She is also the mother of Hugo, 2. Read more »

Zac Martin is an 19 year old university student, currently in his third year of a Marketing degree. He is a freelance writer and social media marketing consultant but hates the word “expert”. Depending on whose authority you’re going on, he’s either a Gen Y or an iGen but often…Read more »

Jorge Cervantes is a Mexican journalist in Mexico City writing for Reforma, the most influential business newspaper in Mexico. He is a former producer of MonitorNews, one of the most important radio news shows in Mexico and with hispanic audiences in the US. Read more »

Emma Grey is the author of ‘Wits’ End Before Breakfast! Confessions of a Working Mum’ (Lothian, 2005) and Director of the life-balance consultancy, WorkLifeBliss.  She writes, speaks and coaches on motherhood, career and relationships and ‘having it all’, while parenting her three children, aged 12, 10 and two months.  She…Read more »

Tony Burke, Federal Member for Watson, has a background in Small Business and in Industrial Relations. He was a founding director of Aticus Pty Ltd and later worked as a union official for the SDA. Tony was appointed as Shadow Minister for Small Business on election to the Australian Parliament…Read more »

Michael Sherris is Professor of Actuarial Studies in the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. His research is in the areas of financial and insurer risk management and longevity insurance. He is lead investigator in an ARC Linkage grant with industry research partners PwC, APRA…Read more »

Sam Cleveland is a professional writer with an arts degree and near-perfect manners. Gold Coast-born and based, Sam nurses a pre-occupation for films directed by Michael Mann and Brian DePalma, comics written by Alan Moore and Mark Millar and music made by (mostly deceased) black folk. For years he was…Read more »

Geoff Russell is a mathematician by training and long time member of Animal Liberation in SA. He has picked up crippled and dead ducks left behind by duck shooters in four states of Australia. His first book is “CSIRO Perfidy” (http://perfidy.com.au), an expose of the most environmentally damaging diet on…Read more »

Vince Taskunas was appointed to the role of General Manager, Public Policy and Communications at the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania Ltd in January 2008. He is the Club’s representative on the national public policy committee of the Australian Automobile Association, which collectively represents over 6 million motorists. Vince is…Read more »

Executive Producer Sydney Sport - Triple M and Rugby League caller. Read more »

Senator Fiona Nash is Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate and was elected at the 2004 Federal Election to represent NSW. Her term began on 1 July 2005. Fiona and her husband David Nash are farmers at Crowther near Young in south-west NSW and have two teenage boys.…Read more »

Helen Razer ekes out a living as a freelance writer.  She’ll tell you she’s working on her novel but, really, which aging hack isn’t? Honestly, though.  It’s out next year. She has worked in radio; primarily at the ABC for the moderately young, Triple J, and the ABC for the…Read more »

James Campbell is a reporter and columnist with the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne. He has also written for The Times of London. Before joining the paper he worked as an adviser to the State Opposition in Victoria. Read more »

Mitch was sworn in as Senator for Victoria in the Australian Parliament on 1 April 2004 and re-elected at the 2007 election. He was appointed the Shadow Minister for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector on 14 September 2010 and also serves as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.…Read more »

Tim Mendham is an experienced journalist, editor and copywriter. Over a career spanning more than 30 years, he has written extensively on IT, technology, R&D, business finance and marketing issues. During this time he has edited a number of publications, including Lab News, a technical journal for the R&D community;…Read more »

Armed with an honours degree in government and a federal parliamentary internship, Sarrah Le Marquand left university determined to become a political reporter. Yet an early detour on a magazine devoted to the surprisingly intricate world of daytime soap operas redirected her career. Having worked as an entertainment journalist in…Read more »

Margo has been with The Cairns Post since the early 1990s, variously covering local council, environment, indigenous affairs and health rounds, including campaigning for a better hospital for the fast-growing region last year amid a time of chronic bed-block, ambulance ramping and blown-out waiting lists. As a senior journalist with…Read more »

Stuart Robert is the Federal MP for the electorate of Fadden on the Northern Gold Coast and is the Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel. Stuart is an ADFA and Duntroon graduate and served as an Army officer for 12 years including operational service overseas. Just prior to…Read more »

Julia Thornton is a 30-something, unashamed Gen X, post modernist and iconoclast. Trained in public relations, she spent 13 years in government and corporate communications and knows a disaster when she sees it. A strong advocate of Western Australia’s succession and the removal of Section 100 from the Constitution of…Read more »

Chris Back has a degree in veterinary science and is a former businessman who has worked in the fuel, oil and gas industries. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Rottnest Island Authority and the Bush Fires Board of Western Australia 1995-97.He has been a Liberal Senator…Read more »

Kate Norris is the Senior Sustainability Policy Officer for Choice and runs Choice’s Green Watch campaign, which aims to lift the standard of environmental marketing claims, expose shonky advertising and help Australians get a better deal for themselves and their environment. Read more »

Graeme is a lawyer, mediator and company director, and has been a human rights practitioner for almost 30 years in NSW, WA and nationally. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia, and the first Chair of Vision Australia, Australia’s national blindness agency. He has been one of…Read more »

This is the byline all four of us use (Ant, Evil Tory, Penbo and Leo) when we work collaboratively on live blogs, stories and campaigns. Read more »

Anonymous and well-connected political operative. Read more »

Peter Garrett was elected as the Labor Member for Kingsford Smith at the 2004 federal election. In 2007, he was appointed Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts following the election of a Rudd Labor Government on 24 November. Widely known as a passionate advocate and campaigner on a…Read more »

Nick was elected to the federal seat of Wakefield in 2007. He is a former president of the ALP (SA) and holds a BA and GradDip in Communications. Before entering Parliament he was an occupational health and safety officer, training officer and organiser for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’…Read more »

Kathy Keele has been chief executive officer of the Australia Council since December 2006 and last December was confirmed in the role for a further five years.  Read more »

Michael O’Connor has been National Secretary of the CFMEU Forestry and Furnishing Products Division since 2005, and has worked for the union for over twenty five years. During this time he has been an outspoken supporter of timber workers, their families and communities and has coordinated a large number of…Read more »

Professor Judy Lumby began her professional career as a registered nurse working mainly in intensive care before moving into the higher education sector. Her doctoral and post doctoral work focused on patients’ experiences of our health care system believing that unless we listen to and involve patients in their care…Read more »

After completing a thesis in gender and talk radio, Eliza Cussen has worked as a writer, broadcaster and publicist for a range of NGOs. She aims to tell stories which take politics and culture off their pedestals. As campaigner for GetUp she works to make Australia a more democratic and…Read more »

Lyall grew up in Brisbane and left high school with plans to become a radio star. Unfortunately radio stations didn’t share those plans so he undertook further study in journalism after which he regularly contributed to many newspapers and magazines across Australia in the subject areas of current affairs, politics,…Read more »

Brendan Shanahan is a Sydney-based writer. His books include The Secret Life of the Gold Coast and In Turkey I am Beautiful, an account of his time running carpet shop in Istanbul. He has been a columnist with the Daily Telegraph and writes regularly for various publications internationally. He once…Read more »

Eleanor is the features editor at Messenger Community News in Adelaide and has a particular interest in all things retail. This thirty something loves to shop – especially for anything quirky and vintage. Clothes are (predictably) a favourite. And, although she is no stick-thin ‘’so now’’ harem-pant-clad fashionista, she does…Read more »

Tim Cahill is one of Australia’s favourite Socceroos. Born in Sydney, he learned his football under the watchful eye of his dad playing with Balmain, the Marrickville Red Devils and Sydney United before taking the big step of pursuing his dream of being a professional footballer in England. After six…Read more »

Peter Best is the Perfect Prime Minister. His background, beliefs, values and policies have all been created by a poll of 12,000 Australians and counting. Anything the people want him to do or say, he does. Over the coming weeks he will be touring the electorate, meeting the public and…Read more »

Ben is a writer, journalist and investor. He launched and edited The Review Independent Monthly, a journal of opinion and the arts, before becoming a reporter. He has written on politics, economics, finance and investing for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Australian and the Financial Times’…Read more »

Adam Baidawi is a Melbourne-based writer and photographer. His interviews and photographs featuring the likes of Lily Allen, Katy Perry, Empire of the Sun, The Temper Trap and Powderfinger have been published internationally. At 18, he was the surprise appointment as head editor of Queensland’s long-running music street press Tsunami.…Read more »

Dr. Joel Hodge is a lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Australian Catholic University. He previously lectured in the USA. He received his doctorate from the University of Queensland and his research focused on how Christianity forms responses to violence and oppression, with a particular focus on East Timor. Joel…Read more »

Jessica Buccolieri is a freelance journalist and is in her final year of studies at La Trobe University. She initially wanted to become a psychologist, but chose to pursue a career in print journalism due to her love of writing. She is also interested in broadcast journalism and television production. Read more »

Ward Young is the Communications Manager for the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses. Ward has been involved in the animal protection movement for 7 years, and has worked with various organisations both nationally and internationally, including time with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the US. Read more »

Dr Alex Wodak has been Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincents Hospital, Sydney, Australia since 1982. Dr. Wodak is President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004). He helped establish the first needle syringe programme and the…Read more »

David is the ICT Practice Director at public affairs firm Parker & Partners and an adviser to the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace (ICOMP). Starting his career as a journalist on telecommunications and IT, he has been an adviser on a range of policy issues, including Internet regulation, to…Read more »

Mike Rann is Australia’s longest-serving incumbent Premier. He was elected as South Australia’s 44th Premier in March 2002, and was re-elected with an increased majority four years later. As well as serving as Premier, Mr Rann holds the strategic portfolios of Economic Development, Social Inclusion, the Arts, and Sustainability and…Read more »