Faculty of Arts

Peter van Onselen

Peter van Onselen is the Foundation Professor of Journalism at UWA, as well as the Contributing Editor at The Australian newspaper. He is a presenter at Sky News where he hosts it's flagship Sunday morning political program Australian Agenda.

A former Associate Professor in politics and government at Edith Cowan University (2004-2009) Professor van Onselen moved into full-time journalism half way through 2009. He is the author or editor of four books and dozens of scholarly journal articles, including the best selling biography John Winston Howard: The Biography. His research interests include political communication, Australian political institutions and the role of free speech and privacy laws.

Professor van Onselen holds a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours (UNSW), a Masters of Policy Studies (UNSW) and a PhD in Political Science (UWA). Professor van Onselen will teach across the masters and is also the coordinator of the program.

Kieran Gilbert

Kieran Gilbert is the Chief Political Correspondent at Sky News. He has been a journalist for 16 years and has been a member of the Federal Parliamentary press gallery since 2003. Through his coverage of John Howard's fourth election win in 2004, Kevin Rudd's victory in 2007 and the cliff hanger 2010 election, Kieran has earned a reputation alongside Sky Political Editor David Speers, as the key source for breaking news out of the nation's capital.

In addition to Federal Politics, Kieran has reported on several events of global significance including the Boxing Day tsunami and from Washington, Barack Obama's inauguration as President of the United States. He has a Master of International Studies (University of Sydney) and a Bachelor of Arts Communications (Charles Sturt University, Bathurst). Kieran will teach the unit on the role of the correspondent.

Ashleigh Gillon

Ashleigh Gillon is the Political Correspondent at Sky News. She interviews the country's leading politicians and opinion makers on a daily basis on Sky's political program Lunchtime Agenda. In 2011 she was recognised as one of the Canberra Press Gallery's top young journalists when she was awarded the prestigious National Press Club Wallace Brown Young Achiever Award.

In recent years Ashleigh has covered two federal elections and six state elections, also travelling overseas to cover a key UN Climate Change Convention in Indonesia, and to Washington and New York to report on Kevin Rudd's US tour. Previously, Ashleigh was Sky's Correspondent in Sydney. She joined Sky News in 2004 as a producer on the channel's main news desk. Prior to that, she worked at a radio station in Vancouver, Canada.

Ashleigh is originally from Perth, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Media (Murdoch University) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism (Curtin University). Ashleigh will teach the news gathering and broadcast and digital practicum units.

Stephen Barton

Stephen is currently a Principal Policy Adviser in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He has worked as a political/media adviser at the State and Federal levels, and as a media adviser and corporate spokesman in the Energy Sector. Stephen has previously lectured in politics, government and media at Edith Cowan University and has tutored in politics and government at the Universities of Western Australia, Notre Dame and Wollongong. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science and a Master of Arts (Research) from UWA. A part-time graduate of the Royal Military College Duntroon, he served with the Australian Army in the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan. Stephen will teach the units on the history of journalism and issues in contemporary global journalism.

Geoff Elliott

Geoff Elliott is the Business Editor of The Australian, with responsibility for directing all business coverage in the newspaper and online. A former Media Editor at The Australian he holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia and started his career at The West Australian. Geoff joined The Australian in 1999 as a telecommunications writer, won a Walkley Award for his business coverage in 2003 and was the founding editor of The Australian's popular Criterion stock-picking column. In 2005 he was appointed Washington correspondent, with his 4 1/2 years in the US including coverage of Barack Obama's landmark presidential election campaign. Geoff will teach the Management and Editorial unit.

Anthony Klan

Anthony Klan joined The Australian's national investigations team after returning from a six-month secondment with The Wall Street Journal in New York. He is a Walkley Award-winning journalist and the holder of News Limited's top honour, the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Most recently, Klan was short-listed for the nation's top journalism prize, the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year, for his work exposing widespread waste and mismanagement under the federal government's $16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution program. In 2007, he exposed the hollow core of the $200 million Fincorp financial group, precipitating its collapse, prompting the overhaul of laws pertaining to the $42bn unlisted, unrated debenture industry, and earning him the Walkley Award for business journalism and the News Award for Business Journalist of the Year.

Anthony has been with The Australian since graduating from the University of Queensland in 2005 with degrees in Arts and Commerce. He specialises in forensic reporting with a financial focus and will teaching the Investigative Reporting unit.

William Bowe

William Bowe is a doctoral candidate with the University of Western Australia’s Discipline of Political Science and International Relations. He has been running the electoral studies blog The Poll Bludger since January 2004, independently until September 2008 and thereafter with Crikey. He has also taught politics and government at both Edith Cowan University and UWA. He will teach the Online journalism unit.

Ainslie van Onselen

Ainslie van Onselen is a legal affairs columnist for The Australian newspaper. She is a former law partner in Perth as well as previous elected member of the WA Law Society and Legal Practice Board. After having her first child she left her legal partnership to take up a Senior Lecturer position in the law school of Edith Cowan University (2007-2010).

In addition to her weekly legal affairs column, Ainslie is currently a practicing litigator and company director. She has written extensively on the role of women in the law and her legal work covers areas such as defamation, media law and the Corporations Act, including having successfully appeared before the High Court. Before returning to Perth in 2004 she worked on Australia's largest media law suit, the C7 litigation while a senior associate at Atanaskovic Hartnell.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Finance. Ainslie will teach the media, law and ethics unit.

Jennifer Hewett

Jennifer is one of the most senior journalists in the country and writes a daily page two business and political analysis for the Australian Financial Review. She began her career in 1976 as a cadet journalist with WA Newspapers in Perth. After completing a master's degree in Journalism at New York's Columbia University Journalism School, where she was awarded best international journalism student, she joined The Sydney Morning Herald in the Canberra press gallery.

Between 1983 and 1986 Jennifer was the New York and then Washington for The Sydney Morning Herald, before returning home join The Australian Financial Review as a political and business feature writer. In 1996 she returned to Washington for another three-year stint as correspondent. In April 2007 she joined The Australian as National Affairs Correspondent before returning to the AFR in 2012. Jennifer will be teaching into the Advanced Writing and Role of the Correspondent units.

Paul Lampathakis

Paul has been a journalist for 22 years. He has spent the past seven years at The Sunday Times and is their investigative reporter. He previously worked at other newspapers, including The West Australian, and as a freelancer. He believes in advocacy-style journalism where journalists do not merely report, but attempt to positively change society through their stories.

He won the WA Media awards for health and politics in 2008, 2009 and 2010, as well as the award for business reporting in 2010. In 2011 he won the WA Seniors media award for reporting on seniors matters. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Masters of Applied Linguistics. Paul will be teaching into the News Gathering and Investigative Reporting units.

Chris Kenny

Chris is Chief Editorial Writer, a columnist and blogger at The Australian, and hosts the political interview and panel program, Saturday Agenda, on Sky News. A journalism graduate of UniSA, he worked in newspaper, television and radio journalism for more than 15 years before spending a decade as a senior political adviser at state and federal levels.

He served as Strategic Communications Adviser to SA Premier John Olsen, Chief of Staff to SA Premier Rob Kerin, Media Adviser and then Chief of Staff to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Chief of Staff to Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

Chris has won awards for print and television journalism, published two books, hosted talkback radio, provided professional media training, worked in Public Relations, and provided corporate advice on Government Relations. He has been involved in Cabinet level decision-making and meetings with senior politicians and policymakers at the United Nations, The White House, Downing Street and a range of capitals and trouble-spots around the world. Chris will teach into the Online Journalism unit and the unit focusing on advanced writing and broadcasting.