After 40 years of work as a broadcast journalist in Australia, I now divide my time between a range of news media organisations, providing advice, writing about journalism and acting as an editorial consultant. I also write books for children.

I began my career as a cadet journalist in the Melbourne newsroom of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1979.

I spent 5 years there reporting in a range of areas including general news, industrial, legal and political reporting.

In 1984 I spent a year overseas, working for several months for the Visnews agency in London.

On returning to Australia, I spent another 3 years working for the ABC before switching to the Special Broadcasting Service in 1988.

In 1991 I became SBS’s Chief Political Reporter (and later Political Editor). I spent 5 years in Canberra covering the Hawke and Keating governments, and winning Walkley Awards for TV News Reporting in 1992 and 1995.

In 1996 I moved to Sydney and became the News Editor for SBS. Three years later I returned to on-air reporting, and spent several years working for the SBS current affairs programs Insight and Dateline.

In 2005 I returned to the ABC. I held a number of managerial roles in ABC News, including Head of Editorial Development, Head of News, Head of Current Affairs and Head of Policy.

In 2013 I became Director of Editorial Policy at the ABC (and later Editorial Director), with overall responsibility for providing advice on editorial matters, setting and maintaining editorial standards, and training journalists in editorial principles.

Since leaving the ABC in 2019, I have held a number of voluntary, unpaid roles in Australian and international media, including:

I am the author of “The Ten Rules of Reporting”, a basic guide to the ethical principles of good journalism.

I am also the author of eight children’s novels, and a Role Model with Books in Homes.