Annika Smethurst is an Australian journalist. She is the state political editor for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' newspaper in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Early life and education

Smethurst graduated from Girton Grammar School in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

in 2005. She studied journalism and

international studies International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, beginning her degree in 2007 and completing her honours thesis in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in 2010. She spent a semester of her degree at

Bishop's University Bishop's University () is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, Anglican Bishop of Quebec ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Career

After graduating in 2010, Smethurst began a traineeship with

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

. In 2012, while a reporter at the '' Bendigo Weekly'', Smethurst played an important role covering the Jill Meagher missing person case and homicide investigation. Smethurst lived close to Meagher's house at the time and said that covering the story was difficult for her. In June 2012, Smethurst joined the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'' reporting team. In 2013, Smethurst and her colleagues, James Campbell, Matt Johnston, Michelle Ainsworth and Mitchell Toy, were nominated for a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for their investigation into the back-room dealings of the office of the then Victorian premier

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Victorian Liberal Party, Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, represe ...

, which exposed secret conversations between the premier's chief of staff and Tristan Weston, an adviser to the deputy premier Peter Ryan. Smethurst joined the ''Herald Sun''s Canberra team in 2015. In December 2015, she won the 2015 Walkley Award for All Media Scoop of the Year for her investigation of the " Choppergate" expenses scandal involving

Bronwyn Bishop Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop (née Setright; born 19 October 1942) is an Australian former politician who served as the 29th speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015, during the Abbott ministry, Abbott government. Her se ...

's inappropriate use of parliamentary travel entitlements. She also won two

Melbourne Press Club The Melbourne Press Club (MPC), is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It runs the annual Quill Awards for Excellence in Victorian Journalism. Governance MPC is a not-for-profit association of journal ...

Quill Awards for her work on Choppergate. In 2017, Smethurst won her second Walkley Award, also in the Scoop of the Year category, for her story about taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast made by

Sussan Ley Sussan Penelope Ley (pron. , "Susan Lee"; ; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal ...

MP, to buy a flat. Ley was forced to resign as Health Minister as a result of the scandal. In 2020, her book, ''On Secrets'', was published by Hachette.

Espionage exclusive and AFP raid

On 4 June 2019, the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

raided Smethurst's home over a story she published in 2018. She had been reporting on "alleged plans to allow greater surveillance of Australian citizens", with agents searching her computer, phone, and home. At the time of the raid, she was the political editor of Sydney's ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

''. In her original report in April 2018, she "revealed top secret emails between Department of Home Affairs Secretary

Mike Pezzullo Michael Pezzullo (born ) is a former Australian public servant who served as Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, from 2017 until 2023. Previous to this role he had been the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protect ...

and Department of Defence Secretary

Greg Moriarty Gregory Laurence Moriarty, (born 4 April 1964) is a senior Australian public servant and diplomat, and the current Secretary of the Department of Defence since 4 September 2017. He was previously the Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Malcolm Tu ...

, discussing a plan to allow the cyber spy agency to snoop on Australian citizens". A "tepid" response to the raid, which included going through her cookbooks and underwear, from the prime minister resulted in criticism from the press and organisations such as the Australian Lawyers Alliance. News Corp called it a "dangerous act of intimidation". The AFP confirmed the raid was not only to uncover her source, but to potentially look into Smethurst and News Corp as targets for a criminal charge. On 15 April 2020, the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

ruled that the

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...

used in the raid was invalid. On 27 May 2020 the AFP announced that Smethurst would not be charged over her stories that "...relied on classified intelligence documents".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smethurst, Annika 1980s births Australian women journalists Girton Grammar School alumni Living people Monash University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Walkley Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)