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Sarah ElksSenior Reporter

Sarah Elks is a senior reporter for The Australian in its Brisbane bureau, focusing on investigations into politics, business and industry. Sarah has worked for the paper for 15 years, primarily in Brisbane, but also in Sydney, and in Cairns as north Queensland correspondent. She has covered election campaigns, high-profile murder trials, and natural disasters, and was named Queensland Journalist of the Year in 2016 for a series of exclusive stories exposing the failure of Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel business. Sarah has been nominated for four Walkley awards. Got a tip? elkss@theaustralian.com.au; GPO Box 2145 Brisbane QLD 4001

@sarahelks

Sarah Elks

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exclusivePolitics

17-04-2025 - Senator Pauline Hanson with One Nation’s lead Senate candidate, her daughter, Lee Hanson on the campaign trail in Tasmania. Picture: Facebook

Hanson won’t play ball on Coalition preferences

Pauline Hanson is refusing to repay Coalition moves to preference One Nation in key battleground seats, putting minor conservative parties ahead of Liberal and National MPs and candidates.

Sarah Elks and Michael McKenna

QUEENSLANDMining & Energy

Photographs of the damage caused by the blast at Callide C3 power station on April 4. Picture: Seven News Brisbane

Coal power station ‘too dangerous, old’

The embattled Callide coal-fired power station is too dangerous and unreliable to underpin the state’s future energy needs, according to new modelling.

Sarah Elks

EXCLUSIVEPolitics

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWIRE Photos MARCH 13, 2024: Stock pictures of police emergency. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / John Gass

State’s database for guns missing its targets

Queensland still does not have a working digital gun licensing system, nearly five years after police were warned the current regime was risking officers’ lives.

Sarah Elks

commentaryNation

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - April 9, 2025: Adam Bandt MP, Australian Greens Leader, addresses the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra for the

Bandt not so vocal when he’s asked the questions

Adam Bandt wants the major parties to be subjected to scrutiny, but the Greens leader can’t cop the same treatment.

Sarah Elks

ExclusivePolitics

Greens MPÃs Elizabeth Watson-Brown, Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates at Kangaroo Point. Picture Lachie Millard

At risk Greens MPs make teal-tinged ‘strong independent’ pitch

The three Greens MPs trying to fend off major party attacks to hold on to Brisbane electorates are pitching themselves as a ‘strong independent voice in parliament’.

Sarah Elks

‘Failure at the highest levels’Politics

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - APRIL 8, 2025.Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Energy David Janetzki during a press conference after delivering a keynote address to the Queensland Energy Club. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Janetzki puts the blame on bosses

The Queensland Treasurer has blamed a government-owned power company for misleading him and allowing him to provide ‘grossly inaccurate’ information to the Premier.

Sarah Elks

FEEDING THE CHOOKSFeeding the Chooks

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - JULY 6, 2024.Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (right) and Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli during the LNP Convention in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Has Crisafulli paused the ‘youth crime crisis’ for Dutton?

Is the youth crime crisis that David Crisafulli rode into power paused for the federal election?

Sarah Elks and Michael McKenna

SENATE RACENation

The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, at Ipswich today holding a doorstop, Browns Park. Pictured, Qld Labor Senate Candidate Corinne Mulholland, Treasurer, Jim Chalmers and Shayne Neumann MP. Photo: Patrick Woods.

Star lobbyist Labor’s best roll of the dice

An in-house lobbyist for embattled casino giant Star Entertainment is Labor’s great hope to recover from the party’s worst Queensland Senate result in nearly 80 years.

Sarah Elks

QueenslandPolitics

Callide C power station. Picture: CS Energy

Janetzki denies any ‘blast cover-up’

David Janetzki has denied covering up an explosion at a government-owned power plant after failing to declare the blast during a major energy policy speech.

Sarah Elks

EXCLUSIVEMining & Energy

BILOELA, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: A general view of the Callide Power Station on January 19, 2025 in Biloela, Australia. As Australia approaches the 2025 federal elections, the debate over nuclear power is intensifying, particularly with the Liberal-National Coalition's proposal to establish nuclear energy facilities across the country. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has identified several former coal power station sites for potential nuclear development, arguing that this shift is essential for achieving a balanced energy mix and reducing electricity prices. However, this plan has faced criticism for lacking detailed cost assessments and feasibility studies, with opponents asserting that it may prolong reliance on coal and gas rather than facilitating a transition to renewable energy sources. (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Coal-fired power generator shut down by blast

Queensland’s troubled Callide coal-fired power station has again had a generator forced offline for weeks by a serious safety incident – described by its owners as a ‘pressure spike’ and by workers’ representatives as ‘an explosion’.

Sarah Elks

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/sarah-elks/page/2