Our Team

Rhiannon Down is a political reporter in The Australian’s Canberra bureau. She began her career at the paper in the Sydney bureau, where she covered mostly courts and crime, after joining the newspaper as a cadet.

@rhi_down

Latest

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

Workers on farms in LindenowMigrant workers on fruit and vegetable farms. Market gardens. Generic farm.Pictured: Agricultural landscape at Lindenow.PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Migrant grants a ‘union membership drive’

Anthony Albanese will likely funnel millions of dollars into unions under a new Department of Home Affairs grants program dubbed ‘protecting migrant workers’.

Rhiannon Down and Geoff Chambers

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

10/2/22: Anglican Bishop Michael Stead has been a long term supporter of the Religious Discrimination Bill, which was shelved in parliament today and will likely not pass until after the election now. John Feder/The Australian.

Religious leaders seek assurances from crossbench

Faith leaders are calling on independent MPs to provide assurance that they will stand up for religious freedom in a hung parliament.

Rhiannon Down and Dennis Shanahan

FlyersNation

Tuesday 18th June 2024. The Australian.Jeremy Leibler, Partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler and President of the Zionist Federation of Australia.Photograph by Arsineh Houspian.

Anti-Semitic leaflet condemned for being ‘Nazi filth’

A flyer claiming to be authorised by a neo-Nazi group that mimics Liberal Party campaign material has been placed in letter boxes in suburbs with large Jewish populations.

Rhiannon Down

agriculturePolitics

First arrivals of Pacific workers to the seasonal workforce in the Yarra Ranges at Vernview Apple Orchard in Launching Place. Massi Gregoire from Vanuatu. Picture: Mark Stewart

Visa pledge triggers warnings

The Coalition’s recommitment to establishing a specialist agriculture visa has sparked warnings the farm labour scheme would damage diplomatic ties with Pacific nations.

Rhiannon Down

campaign scrutinyPolitics

Teal MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan, and a video of volunteers saying an association, which appears to have links with the Chinese Communist Party, told them to support her.

AEC refers Ryan volunteers ‘Beijing links’ video to integrity taskforce

Australia’s election watchdog has asked a national electoral taskforce, which includes the ASIO and AFP, to examine a video of two of Kooyong MP Monique Ryan’s Chinese campaign volunteers.

Rhiannon Down and Mohammad Alfares

Election 2025Politics

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson and Australia's first Indigenous treasurer, Ben Wyatt. Pictures: Rohan Thomson, Colin Murty

Indigenous indignation at Dutton’s stand on ceremony

Australia’s first Indigenous treasurer says some welcome to country ceremonies are too long, but arguments about whether they should happen show how awkwardly First Nations heritage sits within our national identity.

Paige Taylor and Rhiannon Down

Politics NowPolitics

28/04/2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on ABC's 7.30 program on Monday 28th April, 2025. Picture: ABC

PM ‘won’t engage’ in Welcome to Country ‘culture wars’

When pressed on whether Welcome and Acknowledgement to Country are overdone, Anthony Albanese argued the issue was nothing but ‘a distraction’ encouraged by Peter Dutton, while refuting the view that he was half hearted in his defence of the ceremonies.

Rhiannon Down, Greg Brown, Sarah Ison, Matthew Cranston, Jack Quail and Geoff Chambers

Anzac DayNation

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 25: A Bunurong elder delivers the Welcome to country on April 25, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. Anzac Day is a national holiday in Australia, traditionally marked by a dawn service held during the time of the original Gallipoli landing and commemorated with ceremonies and parades throughout the day. Anzac Day commemorates the day the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC) landed on the shores of Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, during World War 1. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

‘Un-Australian, disgraceful’: PM, Dutton, Marles join chorus of condemnation for dawn disruption

Anthony Albanese has called for the perpetrators who booed a Welcome to Country at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance to face the full force of the law, adding his voice to furious criticism from the Opposition Leader, Defence Minister, Victorian Premier and RSL bosses.

ZOE DE KONING, Rhiannon Down, Sarah Ison, Noah Yim and Thomas Sargeant

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

Greens leader Adam Bandt in Brisbane after a wonderful Federal election for the Greens. Adam Bandt MP, Greens Leader talks to the media in Brisbane. Pics Adam Head

Labor’s just the ticket for Bandt & co

An analysis of Labor’s how-to-vote cards shows there are only eight seats where the ALP is either not giving any preferences or putting the left-wing party below third spot.

Noah Yim, Richard Ferguson and Rhiannon Down

Politics NowPolitics

NCA 2025 FEDERAL ELECTION LIBERAL BUS. 24/04/2025Pictured is Gina Rinehart (centre) who joined the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in attending a Channel 7 Lest We Forget live TV broadcast held on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney NSW.Picture: Richard Dobson / Newswire

Lift defence spending to 5pc of GDP: Gina Rinehart

Australia’s richest person has called on both major parties to dramatically increase their defence commitments, saying ‘we urgently need to do more to defend Australians’.

Noah Yim, Jack Quail and Rhiannon Down

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/rhiannon-down/page/7