Amy McQuire, the former editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine, will join the New Matilda team from Monday as a senior journalist.
McQuire is a Darumbul and South Sea Islander woman from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. She’s been working as a journalist since the age of 17, and has also edited publications such as the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine.
McQuire is widely regarded as one of the best Aboriginal journalists in the country, and her areas of interest include Aboriginal affairs, human rights, environment and science (she is currently completing a science degree at Macquarie University in Sydney).
Her appointment adds to a strong and growing stable of writers at New Matilda – the publication is edited by award winning writer Chris Graham, and includes writers Max Chalmers and Ben Eltham, along with contributing editor Wendy Bacon and regular contributors such as Ian McAuley, Michael Brull and cartoonists Fiona Katauskas, Lindsay Foyle and Costa A, along with a host of occasional contributors, and our admin guru Angela Nicholson.
New Matilda editor Chris Graham said McQuire’s addition to the New Matilda team marked an important milestone in independent journalism in Australia.
“I may stand corrected, but I think Amy will be the first and only Aboriginal reporter in Australia’s independent media landscape,” Graham said. “I think that’s significant in its own right, because independent media has dragged its heels a bit in this area.
“But more than that, it’s the quality of reporting that underpins Amy’s work which I think is the real coup for New Matilda, and for independent media more generally.
“I’ve worked on and off with Amy since the start of her journalism career almost a decade ago. She’s an outstanding young journalist, and was named in her first police warrant two weeks after she started her cadetship.
“She’s been named in countless police warrants and investigations ever since. That’s the sort of pedigree I think independent media needs.”
Graham said McQuire brings passion and intellect to her writing, and apart from good quality straight news reporting, McQuire has a very strong background in investigative journalism, and feature and opinion writing.
“New Matilda has a 10-year history of outstanding journalism, and Amy’s skills are going to add enormously to the direction New Matilda is heading,” he said.
“We’re increasingly focusing on breaking stories, on strong analysis and on good old fashioned investigative journalism.
“We’re trying to tell our readers not just what the issues are, but also, what they mean, and, most importantly, why our readers should care.
“Amy’s addition to the team will help us do that even more effectively.”
McQuire said she was looking forward to her entry into independent journalism.
“I’m very excited about joining New Matilda. I’ve watched and admired the publication for years, and I think it comes from a very solid base,” she said.
“The people who built New Matilda from the ground up have laid a platform for genuinely robust, independent journalism. I’m honoured to be a part of that.
“New Matilda obviously has a very loyal, and very active readership, and from my perspective that was one of the really big drawcards for me.
“I think the future of real journalism in this country lies in independent media, and publications like New Matilda will continue to grow in strength as people turn away from mainstream media models.
“I’m really looking forward to working with a fantastic team, and getting to know the many people and organisations who support the work of New Matilda.
New Matilda will be announcing exciting details about additional writers and regular contributors in the coming weeks.
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