Which Australian journalists and politicians have gone on trips to Israel and Palestine?

The following story is a running list of journalists and politicians who have taken part in organised tours to the Middle East on the dime of lobby groups or governments, or at their own expense. It was last updated on March 21, 2024.

For decades, Israeli advocacy groups have sent journalists as well as elected and aspiring politicians to the Middle East on what the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies calls the “Journalists’ Mission to Israel”. 

“For about 25 years, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) has been inviting senior media personnel to take part in the annual journalists’ study tour of Israel,” the board’s website reads.

“The aim of the study mission is to demonstrate the complexity of the situation in the Middle East and provide journalists with background briefings to improve their knowledge of the issues.”

While the trips themselves remain a rather opaque element of the media landscape (indeed, the NSW JBD did not respond for comment), a number of the most powerful people in Australian media have been on tours of Israel, organised and often funded (at least in part) by the JBD or the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). The trips often include time in the occupied Palestinian territories or meetings with Palestinian officials as part of the experience.

The Israeli delegation to Australia also often organises trips that involve politicians, as does the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Australian Union of Jewish Students, which traditionally sends a group of some of the nation’s brightest student politicians every year. 

With these tours designed to pull favourable coverage and policy settings (federal parliamentarians visit Israel at a significantly higher rate than other countries), disclosure obligations on journalists vary from outlet to outlet, with little to no consistency on whether journalists disclose their experience of a funded trip to the region before reporting back. 

Canvassing the Australian media for figures who have been on these trips (some before occupying their current roles) reads like a who’s who of the fourth estate: four major editors of the Nine newspapers in Bevan Shields, Tory Maguire, Patrick Elligett and David King; Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor; SBS managing director James Taylor; Daily Telegraph editor Ben English; and AAP CEO Lisa Davies are just some of the 130+ names in Crikey’s list. 

The AIJAC Rambam program counts former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull, as well as Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott among its alumni. All four were signatories to the recent letter from six ex-prime ministers condemning “hatred” spread by Hamas — Paul Keating is the only living former prime minister to not have signed the letter.

On the other side of the border, Palestinian advocacy networks have also run tours of their own, albeit without the five-star experience of Israeli trips. Crikey understands that trips to Palestine organised by Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) are at least partially self-funded by participants. Then-Crikey reporter, now political editor Bernard Keane attended a tour of Palestine conducted by APAN in 2016.

Crikey has asked the editors of more than a dozen Australian news outlets for information on their policies on whether reporters and journalists are allowed to go on such trips, and, if so, whether disclosures in their work are required. 

The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Seven Network, Nine Network, Network 10, The West Australian, News Corp, Sky News, and the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies did not respond.

An ABC spokesperson said the national broadcaster “does not give approval to ABC employees to accept offers of travel of this kind”, and Crikey understands that SBS takes into account considerations of impartiality and objectivity, similarly to the ABC, when it comes to staff travel. The editor of the Nine-owned Australian Financial Review, Fiona Buffini, told Crikey that any reporting resulting from such a trip would “carry a disclosure about who paid for it”.

Guardian Australia didn’t initially respond to our questions, but after publication a spokesperson told Crikey that they “do not allow any reporters to take government funded trips, unless they are offered as part of a competition where the reporter chooses their own topic of study. The nature of the funding would be noted on the resulting story. This applies to all governments, including Israel, and also to the trips offered in the past by APAN.”

Trips to Israel

Media

• Ben Packham — The Australian foreign affairs and defence correspondent (2023) 
• Caroline Di Russo — News Corp columnist (2023) 
• Eliza Edwards — Nine News political reporter (2023)
• Gemma Tognini — The Australian columnist (2023)
• Nicholas Jensen — The Australian opinion editor (2023) 
• Patrick Elligett — The Age editor (2023)
• Tom Minear — News Corp US correspondent (2023)
• Clare Armstrong — News Corp national political editor (2022)
• Paul Sakkal — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age federal political correspondent (2022)
• Sarah Ison — The Australian political reporter (2022)
• Amie Meehan — 2GB newsreader (2019) 
• Brad Clifton — then Daily Telegraph print edition editor (2019) 
• Brian Carlton — radio host (2019) 
• Chris Jones — now editor of The Courier-Mail (2019)
• Chris O’Keefe — 2GB Drive host (2019) 
• Erin Jones — then head of news of The Advertiser (2019) 
• Georgina Windsor — now deputy editor of The Australian (2019) 
• James Chessell — Nine executive (2019) 
• James Taylor — SBS managing director (2019)
• Kaycie Bradford — then news director/editor at Sky News (2019) 
• Michelle Griffin — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age federal bureau chief (2019) 
• Natasha Squarey — now reporter at Seven (2019) 
• Adam Creighton — The Australian economics correspondent (2018) 
• Andrew Holman — then editor of The Sunday Mail (2018) 
• Danielle Pogson — Apple News editor (2018) 
• Kate de Brito — then editor-in-chief at news.com.au (2018) 
• Leo Shanahan — then business reporter at Sky News (2018) 
• Mark Ludlow — Financial Review Queensland bureau chief (2018) 
• Mark Mallabone — now deputy editor of The West Australian (2018) 
• Michael Bachelard — then deputy editor of The Age (2018) 
• Nick O’Malley — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age environment and climate editor (2018) 
• Renee Viellaris — then federal political editor for The Courier-Mail (2018) 
• Rob Harris — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age Europe correspondent (2018) 
• Simon King — Nine Network editor (2018)
• Bryan Seymour — then reporter for Seven Network (2017) 
• Caroline Marcus — Sky News senior reporter (2017) 
• Daniel Wills — then state political editor for The Advertiser (2017) 
• James Morrow — The Daily Telegraph national affairs editor (2017) 
• Kelvin Healey — The Courier-Mail weekend editor (2017) 
• Lisa Davies — then editor of The Sydney Morning Herald (2017) 
• Mark Dunn — Herald Sun (2017)
• Nassim Khadem — now national reporter for the ABC (2017) 
• Nick Butterly — then political reporter for The West Australian, now media adviser to Resources Minister Madeleine King (2017)
• Peta Credlin — Sky News host (2017)
• Sally Roberts — then SBS executive editor (2017)
• Tory Maguire — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age executive editor (2017) 
• Zac McLean — The Daily Telegraph chief of staff (2017) 
• Amelia Brace — Seven reporter (2016) 
• Andrew Clennell — Sky News political editor (2016)     
• James Massola — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age national affairs editor (2016) 
• Jennifer Oriel — The Australian columnist (2016) 
• Josh Gordon — The Age senior reporter (2016)
• Luke Malpass — Financial Review writer, Stuff political editor (2016) 
• Rita Panahi — News Corp columnist (2016) 
• Aaron Patrick — Financial Review senior correspondent (2015) 
• Alan Dupont — The Australian columnist (2015)
• Alex Hart — then senior reporter at Seven (2015)
• Ben English — now editor of The Daily Telegraph (2015)
• Bevan Shields — now editor of The Sydney Morning Herald (2015)
• David Lipson — then reporter at Sky News (2015)
• James Campbell — News Corp national weekend political editor (2015)
• Sharri Markson — Sky News presenter (2015)
• Vic Alhadeff — SBS non-executive board director (2015) 
• Joe Aston — then columnist for Financial Review (2014) 
• Laura Jayes — Sky News host (2014) 
• Rowan Dean — Sky News host (2014) 
• David King — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age national editor (2013)
• Hamish McDonald — then writer for The Sydney Morning Herald (2012)
• Brian Thomson — then senior correspondent for SBS (2011)
• Joel Gibson — then opinion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald (2011) 
• John Rolfe — The Daily Telegraph senior reporter (2011) 
• Kylie Merritt — then Sky News business channel manager (2011)
• Peter Hartcher — The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age international editor (2011) 
• Andrew Bolt — News Corp columnist (2009)
• Chris Uhlmann — then political editor of the ABC (2010)
• Greg Sheridan — The Australian foreign editor (2010) 
• Lenore Taylor — then Fairfax national affairs correspondent, now Guardian Australia editor (2010) 

Politicians and public figures

• Bert van Manen — LNP, MP for Forde (2024)
• Bridget McKenzie — Nationals, senator for Victoria (2024)
• Dan Tehan — Liberal, MP for Wannon (2024)
• Garth Hamilton — Liberal, MP for Groom (2024)
• Gavin Pearce — Liberal, MP for Braddon (2024)
• Jacinta Nampijinpa Price — Liberal, senator for Northern Territory (2024)
• James Paterson — Liberal, senator for Victoria (2024)
• Josh Frydenberg — Liberal, former treasurer and MP for Kooyong (2024)
• Andrew McLachlan — Liberal, senator for South Australia (2023)
• Anne Webster — National, MP for Mallee (2023) 
• Cassandra Fernando — Labor, MP for Holt (2023)
• Jenny Ware — Liberal, MP for Hughes (2023)
• Josh Burns — Labor, MP for Macnamara (2023)
• Keith Wolahan — Liberal, MP for Menzies (2023)
• Michelle Ananda-Rajah — Labor, MP for Higgins (2023)
• Raff Ciccone — Labor, senator for Victoria (2023) 
• Scott Buchholz — LNP, MP for Wright (2023) 
• Simon Birmingham — Liberal, senator for South Australia (2023)
• Zoe McKenzie — Liberal, MP for Flinders (2023)
• Dr John Lee — former adviser to foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop (2023) 
• James McGrath — LNP, senator for Queensland (2022) 
• Julian Leeser — Liberal, MP for Berowra (2022)
• Megan Lane — Labor, former party press secretary (2022) 
• Sussan Ley — Liberal, deputy leader of the opposition (2022) 
• Hollie Hughes — Liberal, senator for New South Wales (2022) 
• Jacqui Munro — Liberal, New South Wales MLC (2022) 
• Amanda Stoker — LNP, former senator for Queensland (2018) 
• Jonathon Duniam — Liberal, senator for Tasmania (2018) 
• Kevin Hogan — National, MP for Page (2018)
• Kristina Keneally — Labor, then senator for New South Wales, former premier of New South Wales (2018) 
• Rick Wilson — Liberal, MP for O’Connor (2018) 
• Stirling Griff — Centre Alliance, former senator for South Australia (2018) 
• Trent Zimmerman — Liberal, former MP for North Sydney (2018) 
• Andrew Hastie — Liberal, MP for Canning (2017) 
• Andrew Wallace — LNP, MP for Fisher (2017, 2023) 
• Anne Aly — Labor, MP for Cowan (2017) 
• Julian Hill — Labor, MP for Bruce (2017) 
• Meryl Swanson — Labor, MP for Paterson (2017) 
• Milton Dick — Labor, speaker of the House of Representatives (2017) 
• Steve Georganas — Labor, MP for Hindmarsh (2017) 
• Tony Pasin — Liberal, MP for Barker (2017) 
• Bill Shorten — Labor, former leader (2016) 
• Georgina Downer — Liberal, perennial candidate (2016) 
• Tim Smith — Liberal, former MP for Kew (2016) 
• Daniel Mookhey — Labor, New South Wales treasurer (2014) 
• Deborah O’Neill — Labor, senator for New South Wales (2014) 
• Jim Chalmers — Labor, treasurer (2014) 
• Rose Jackson — Labor, New South Wales MLC (2014) 
• Penny Wong — Labor, minister for foreign affairs and trade (2014) 
• Stephen Jones — Labor, assistant treasurer (2014) 
• Tanya Plibersek — Labor, minister for the environment (2014)
• Tim Watts — Labor, assistant minister for foreign affairs (2014) 
• Joshua Frydenberg — Liberal, former treasurer (2012) 
• Paul Fletcher — Liberal, MP for Bradfield (2012) 
• Walt Secord — Labor, former New South Wales MLC (2012) 
• Amanda Rishworth — Labor, minister for social services (2011) 
• Catryna Bilyk — Labor, senator for Tasmania (2011) 
• Kevin Rudd — Labor, former prime minister (2010) 
• Peter Khalil — Labor, MP for Wills (2010) 
• Richard Marles — Labor, minister for defence (2010) 
• Julia Gillard — Labor, former prime minister (2005)

Trips to the occupied Palestinian territories

Media

• Andrew Tillett — now federal political correspondent for Financial Review (2016) 
• Bernard Keane — Crikey political editor (2016) 
• Chris Graham — New Matilda editor (2016) 
• Dennis Atkins — then News Corp journalist (2016) 
• Mark Kenny — then Fairfax national affairs editor (2016)
• Rashida Yosufzai — SBS news editor (2016)

Politicians and public figures

• Louise Pratt — Labor, senator for Western Australia (2023) 
• Anne Urquhart — Labor, senator for Tasmania (2017) 
• David Shoebridge — Greens, now senator for New South Wales (2017) 
• Janet Rice — Greens, senator for Victoria (2017) 
• Julian Hill — Labor, MP for Bruce (2017) 
• Susan Templeman — Labor, MP for Macquarie (2017) 
• Tony Burke — Labor, minister for employment and workplace relations and the arts (2017) 

Clarification: The introduction to this list initially characterised these entries as “journalists and politicians who have visited Israel or Palestine either on the dime of lobby groups or governments, or at their own expense.” A few readers have got in touch with us to say they were confused by the wording, asking if entrants have merely have gone on holidays to these destinations. We’ve since changed the wording to better reflect the nature of these trips to read: “a running list of journalists and politicians who have taken part in organised tours to the Middle East on the dime of lobby groups or governments, or at their own expense.”