Laurie Oakes

Laurie Oakes, one of Australia's foremost political commentators, has had a distinguished career in journalism that spans more than 30 years.

His incisive political commentary - such as the Oakes Report - and news-breaking ability has earned him the respect of peers and politicians alike and in 1998 he won the Walkley Award for Journalistic Leadership.

Oakes is renowned for his probing interviews and Canberra-shaking scoops. In 1997 he broke the travel rorts saga that ended the careers of three ministers and government staffers.

He also scored an exclusive interview on Sunday with one of the "Travelgate" affair's surprise victims — John Howard's close friend and senior adviser, Graham Morris.

Oakes graduated from Sydney University in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He joined The Daily Mirror the following year and in 1965 became state political roundsman.

By the age of 25, he was The Melbourne Sun-Pictorial's Canberra bureau chief. While reporting for this paper, Oakes also provided political commentaries for the Seven Network's Willesee At Seven program.

In 1978 he started his own political journal, The Laurie Oakes Report. The following year he joined Channel 10, where he stayed for five years before moving to the Nine Network.

For several years Oakes wrote about politics in The Age in Melbourne and The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney and provided political reports and commentaries to a number of radio stations.

Laurie Oakes is also a highly regarded political author, and has written a biography on Gough Whitlam.

In addition to his weekly appearance on Sunday, Oakes files reports for Nine News and Today.

Laurie Oakes also writes an influential political column in The Bulletin magazine.