Nick McKenzie

Nick McKenzie's Biography

Nick McKenzie is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist for leading newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He’s presented major investigations for the ABC's Four Corners and 7:30, 60 Minutes and the Australian Financial Review. With almost 20 years’ experience, Nick has won every major award in Australian journalism. His investigations span foreign affairs, defence and national security, corporate wrongdoing, politics, organised crime and corruption, the criminal justice system and social affairs.

His work has sparked many national and state inquires, including Royal Commissions and parliamentary inquiries, and has prompted investigations in Australia, the US and Britain into corruption and bribery.

Nick is passionate about giving vulnerable people a voice. He works closely with whistleblowers and is an advocate for better laws to protect their critical role exposing corruption and wrongdoing. He’s helped victims of sexual abuse in disability homes, soldiers with PTSD, and victims of human trafficking and police brutality to tell their stories to national audiences. Whistleblowers have worked with Nick to expose serious corruption in political parties, the health system and law enforcement agencies.

Nick started his career in journalism at the ABC, where he revealed Australia’s first Al Qaeda cell and exposed a major police corruption scandal involving the murder of a state witness. He later joined Fairfax Media (now Nine), where his work saw him named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year.

His journalism has been recognised with twelve Walkley Awards, and he is the most decorated reporter in the history of the Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards. He’s also been awarded the prestigious Lowy Institute Award for best foreign affairs reporting for his investigations into the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in Australian politics. This work has attracted global attention and debate, and contributed to new transparency laws.

Nick has a Bachelor of Arts from RMIT, a Masters in International Politics from the University of Melbourne.

Nick speaks regularly about corporate crime and investigations. His expose of a bribery scandal involving Australia’s central bank led to Australia’s first ever foreign bribery prosecution and caused a national scandal. Nick has spoken at several international integrity, fraud, policing and media conferences.

He also has lectured at Australia’s top universities. Nick’s book The Sting was published by Melbourne University Press in 2012 and exposed Australia’s biggest ever organised crime and money laundering probe. Nick has also done major investigations into doping and organised crime in sport and human and sex trafficking in the region.

Awards:

Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year (2017)

Lowy Institute Award for best Foreign Affairs reporting (2019)

Twelve Walkley Awards, Australia’s highest journalism honour.

His Walkley Awards include

2004 Walkley for exposing police corruption

2008 Walkley for exposing organising crime and race fixing in Australian racing

2011 Walkley for exposing corporate misconduct and bribery linked to Reserve Bank

2013 Walkley for doping in the Australian Football League

2013 Walkley for exposing corruption inside Australia’s border force agency

2014 Walkley for exposing corruption in construction industry and union movement

2019 Walkley for exposing organised crime and foreign interference linked to Australia’s biggest gaming company Crown Resorts

Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards

Nick has won over 25 Quill awards, including the Gold Quill (Melbourne’s most prestigious award) twice for his work exposing malpractice of a leading surgeon and his investigations into human trafficking.

Kennedy Awards

Nick has won a Kennedy Award for investigative reporting for his work exposing war crimes.

George Munster Award for independent journalis