Our Team

Jack QuailPolitical reporter

Jack Quail is a political reporter in The Australian’s Parliament House bureau in Canberra. He joined the masthead in 2024 and is a winner of the Wallace Brown Young Press Gallery Journalist of the Year Award.

@JackHQuail

Jack Quail

Latest

Bondi guns crackdownNation

Naveed Akram - Grabs from video obtained by Sky News of Bondi Beach shooter. Picture: Sky News

Leaders back guns crackdown after Bondi massacre revelations

Gun owners would have to be Australian citizens, and would own fewer weapons under plans proposed by the national cabinet. The formation of a national firearms register may also be sped up.

John Ferguson, Jack Quail and LAHLAN LEEMING

Entitlements sagaPolitics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - November 26, 2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese holds a mock press conference for BTN with students from around Australia ahead of the the under 16Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s social media ban at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

No largesse held back, no perks left behind … Albanese digs in again

New analysis reveals most family travel expenses aren’t claimed by young parents, undermining the Prime Minister’s key defence of the controversial entitlements system.

Jack Quail, Noah Yim and Elizabeth Pike

Second caseNation

Reddit files High Court challenge against social media ban

Chat forum tech giant Reddit has initiated its High Court action to try to overturn Australia’s under-16 social media ban, at least for itself, less than two days after the landmark law came into effect.

Elizabeth Pike and Jack Quail

Politics NowNation

Communications Minister Anika Wells with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and (inset) Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland

Second minister seeks travel perks review as PM confirms he asked watchdog for advice

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has referred family travel to the expenses watchdog amid calls from Sussan Ley for embattled Anika Wells to stand down; the PM says he will wait for advice from the independent authority.

Thomas Henry, Elizabeth Pike and Jack Quail

change the rules? not my jobPolitics

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells speak to the media during a visit to St John Paul II College in Canberra, Thursday, December 11, 2025. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

PM accused of being a protectionist for his ministers on entitlements

Anthony Albanese has dodged calls to overhaul entitlements as analysis reveals more than a third of Labor’s $1m family travel bill was not used for dependants or partners with young children.

Geoff Chambers, Noah Yim and Jack Quail

Entitlements sagaPolitics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - December 4, 2025: Senator Sarah Hanson-Young during the Triple Zero service outage, Environment and Communications References Committee at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

‘Genuine concern’: Albanese warns on Hanson-Young’s expense claims

While the Prime Minister has weighed into Sarah Hanson-Young’s use of taxpayer-funded entitlements, Larissa Waters declined to say whether the Greens senator should refund taxpayers.

Jack Quail and Noah Yim

Politics NowNation

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - December 11, 2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Anika Wells hold a press conference in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

PM ducks travel perks review; no probe into ‘false representations’ in Higgins settlement

As the travel entitlements furore gathers steam, Anthony Albanese has brushed off calls for reform. Meanwhile, the NACC chief has revealed the watchdog didn’t examine alleged ‘false representations’ in a probe into Brittany Higgins’ $2.4m settlement.

Noah Yim, Jack Quail, Thomas Henry and Joseph Humphreys

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

Farrell family flies almost halfway to moon on taxpayers … within rules

Fresh scrutiny of MPs’ travel entitlements reveals Don Farrell’s extensive use of taxpayer-funded family flights and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s 78 publicly funded trips for her lobbyist husband.

Noah Yim and Jack Quail

Politics

10/12/25: Asanke Galgomuwa and his son Nethuhas 13 in the Pitt Street Mall discussing the Social Media ban for children under 16. John Feder/The Australian.

Mixed reception as young kids go off-line

Australia’s social media age ban has prompted international interest on its first day, despite the online watchdog admitting some ‘kids will fall through the cracks’.

Lachlan Leeming, Jack Quail and Jackson Robb

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young, left, and husband Ben Oquist, a political analyst and former Executive Director of The Australia Institute. Pictures: News Corp

Greens senator charged taxpayers $50K to ferry lobbyist husband to and from Canberra

Sarah Hanson-Young’s husband Ben Oquist works for a political lobbying firm that counts Ausgrid, Rio Tinto, Salesforce, Spotify, Uber and Wesfarmers among its clients.

Noah Yim and Jack Quail

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/jack-quail