International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Journalist Search:

Ross Coulthart, Australia, is the senior investigative reporter for Sunday, a documentary program on Nine Network Television.

, Australia

He was the first reporter internationally to obtain confirmation of the existence of the ‘Echelon’ international spying allegiance - a secret collaboration between the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - that monitors the phone, fax and email communications of everyone on the planet. Another expose into Australia’s overseas spy service ASIS prompted a Royal Commission and greater parliamentary scrutiny. His multi-award winning recent work has investigated alleged U.S. mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq; how Indonesian and militia killers in East Timor have gone unpunished for their crimes; and, in the wake of 9/11 and the Bali bombing, the extent of Islamist terror networks across Southeast Asia. Domestically, his investigations revealed a secret plan to cripple a union, with strike-breakers used in a dirty tricks campaign against the powerful federal meat union; and his legal background helped him raise serious faults with the arcane rules barristers use to protect themselves in the court system; an investigation into the misuse of funds by charity, CARE Australia; and an expose of cronyism and impropriety in some of the country’s Aboriginal Legal Services.