JOURNALIST / AUTHOR

Madonna King can be heard giving her opinions on 4BC radio, or each week in her column in The Courier-Mail. She is one of Queensland's best-known and regarded commentators and writes on issues ranging from the Big Brother phenomenon to the future of our Constitution.

Madonna's columns are defined by the depth of her research, a discipline learnt from 20 years working as a journalist in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and the United States. Her career has taken her from the police rounds desk of The Courier-Mail to the second most senior role on The Daily Telegraph (Sydney's biggest selling and the nation's most influential newspaper) where she was deputy editor until returning to Brisbane three years ago. Along the way, she was a national political correspondent in Canberra for The Courier-Mail, Queensland political correspondent for The Australian, ran the Sydney office of The Australian and set up the Olympics coverage for The Australian and all the News Ltd papers across Australia.

Madonna has now embarked on a career as an author. Her first book, CATALYST (published by Queensland University Press in October 2005), looks at the personal stories that have provoked some of the nationÕs most significant law reforms. It's a captivating collection of how individuals can combine with the media to force politicians to right a wrong. Like her columns, the book relies on deep research, drawing on interviews with more than 130 people, from chief justices and premiers to the victims and criminals caught in a legal bind. Madonna has a hundred stories to tell: she has interviewed everyone from prime ministers and premiers to convicted murderers and armed robbers. She is a graduate of the University of Queensland, a member of the invitation-only World Press Institute and a board member of the Walkley advisory committee - which oversees media industry awards.