Kay Blundell
Kapiti reporter
04 296 1412
027 488 5613
Kay reports on the Kapiti Coast-Horowhenua district. She has covered stories including the arrival of the emperor penguin Happy Feet, the Wellington super city debate, a $44,000 pay rise for Kapiti Coast District Council’s CEO, and the $280,000 golden handshake given to the council’s former chief executive.
After completing a Diploma of Journalism at Wellington Polytechnic, Kay started work on Wellington suburban newspapers before working at The Star in Auckland. While raising four children, she worked in radio, including a stint with Radio New Zealand. Kay joined The Dominion Post in 2004.
Sam Boyer
Police reporter
04 474 0207
027 472 9385
Sam worked as the police reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times before joining The Dominion Post in 2012.
In Tauranga, he covered the Rena maritime oil disaster and its impact on the wildlife, commerce and environment of the Bay of Plenty. At the 2013 Canon Media Awards Sam was named Junior Reporter of the Year, and was a Student Journalist of the Year finalist the year before..
Sam holds an Honours degree from Victoria University and a Graduate Diploma in Communications from Massey University.
Katie Chapman
Wellington reporter
04 474 0031
027 472 9376
Katie works the Wellington City Council round, including covering the council's budget battles as it struggles with mounting debt and big bills for earthquake strengthening and leaky building liability. She also closely follows the super-city debate.
Katie joined The Dominion Post in 2009 and initially took on the transport and Greater Wellington rounds. She covered the capital's train woes and major roading projects such as the Kapiti Expressway, as well as revealing major leaky buildings in the city.
Katie has a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Canterbury University. She has worked at the Manawatu Standard and CityLife community papers.
Tracey Chatterton
Hawke's Bay reporter
06 870 7808
021 663 523
Tracey joined the Hawke's Bay office in 2012 and covers crime, emergencies and Napier City Council. Since arriving she has covered Napier's 11-year-old boy burglar, the quad bike crash that critically injured a six-year-old and Sir Paul Holmes' investiture ceremony.
Tracey has a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Canterbury University. She has worked at The Star in Christchurch, writing about earthquake-related issues and covered the 2008 general election while working for the Timaru Herald.
Shane Cowlishaw
Employment and justice reporter
04 474 0201
Shane moved to The Dominion Post in November 2010 and covers employment and justice issues.
He studied journalism at Massey University and has previously worked at The Press in Christchurch and The Southland Times in both its Invercargill and Queenstown newsrooms.
Shane covered the first Christchurch earthquake in September 2010 while living in the city and in February was sent back down to cover the second quake.
Since arriving in Wellington he has covered stories including the poor treatment of two teenage girls at the hands of police and several security breaches at prisons across the country.
Tim Donoghue
General reporter
04 474 0273
027 273 4630
Tim Donoghue joined The Dominion Post in 2008 and is a breaking news reporter and regular contributor to the obituary pages. Tim is a former chief political reporter for the New Zealand Press Association and has worked as the association's Hong Kong-based Asia correspondent.
He covered Operation Desert Storm in 1991 from the Middle East and the Aramoana Massacre in Otago in 1990. Tim also covered the tumultuous 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand.
Tim has a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University and a Diploma of Journalism from Canterbury University.
Michelle Duff
General reporter
04 474 0207
Michelle returned to the Dominion Post in 2013, after a sojourn teaching English and snowboarding in Japan.
A three-times Canon Media Award nominee, she has reported on major stories such as the Scott Guy murder, earthquake-prone schools and Child Youth and Family caregivers abusing foster kids, and had the time of her life covering the Rugby World Cup in 2011.
Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism, both from Massey University.
Prior to working at The Dominion Post she covered everything under the sun at the Manawatu Standard.
Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines and news websites in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age and the Irish Independent.
Paul Easton
Hutt Valley reporter
04 4740205
Paul has been working at The Dominion Post since January 2007 as a general reporter and has covered the environment, science, and Hutt Valley rounds. Paul helped launch the Green Zone environment page and has covered two local body elections and the debate around Exide's controversial Petone factory.
Before moving to Wellington, Paul worked at the Marlborough Express, on the council, transport, political and general rounds.
Prior to becoming a journalist, Paul worked as an information analyst at the Health Ministry and travelled overseas.
Alex Fensome
General reporter
04 474 0517
027 496 2307
Alex joined the Dominion Post in February 2012, fresh from the mainland where he worked for The Oamaru Mail and then The Southland Times.
Originally from Devon, England, Alex completed a history degree at University of East Anglia before shifting to New Zealand and undertaking a diploma of journalism at Aoraki Polytechnic.
Alex won Best Junior Feature Writer at the 2012 Canon NZ Media Awards for a series of articles on water and water quality issues in Southland, and has also written about Invercargill's air quality and fracking.
Michael Forbes
Transport and metro reporter
04 4740139
027 4888075
Michael is part of The Dominion Post's metro team and reports on transport, local politics and the Greater Wellington regional council.
Michael first joined The Dominion Post in 2010 as our Manawatu and Whanganui reporter and covered key regional stories including the Scott Guy murder, the Anzac Day Iroquois crash, and the polluted state of the Manawatu River.
He has a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Massey University. Before working at The Dominion Post he was a reporter at The Southland Times.
Caleb Harris
Wairarapa reporter
06 370 8038
0274 729 390
Caleb joined the Dompost in May 2013 as the Wairarapa reporter and is based in Masterton.
Originally from Dannevirke, he arrived back in New Zealand in 2012 after 19 years abroad.
The last seven of those were spent in Colombia doing freelance journalism, a Masters in Literary Studies focussed on the contemporary Colombian novel, and coordinating the Media, Violence and Peace project at human rights organisation Centre for Research and Popular Education (CINEP).
Prior to Colombia he was a sub-editor on the Bristol Evening Post in the UK and an English teacher in South Korea.
He has a BA in English and Journalism from the University of Queensland.
He has worked as a reporter on the Dannevirke News and has published freelance articles in the Melbourne Age, Christian Science Monitor and New Internationalist.
Ben Heather
Social Issues reporter
04 474 0519
027 296 0761
Ben started work at The Dominion Post in 2012 after six months travelling through South and North America.
Previously he worked as the earthquake reporter at The Press, where he wrote extensively about Christchurch's recovery from the 2010 and 2011 quakes. Ben has also work as a business reporter for The Press and a regional reporter in The Southland Times' Queenstown office.
He studied journalism at Massey University in Wellington.
Tom Hunt
Breaking news reporter
04 474 0052
Tom joined The Dominion Post in early 2010. He works as a breaking news reporter covering news as it happens in the Wellington region. He has also worked on our Capital Day page and has covered stories including the high-profile Hobbit union stoush.
Tom previously worked on a newspaper in northern Canada and at the Nelson Mail where he covered health, arts, emergency services and the council. In early 2009 he moved back to Wellington and worked for a year on the Education Review. Tom has a Diploma in Journalism from Massey University.
Amy Jackman
Reporter, The Wellingtonian and Wellington City Council
04 474 0147
Amy is a Fairfax intern and started work at The Wellingtonian community newspaper in April 2012, as the general news and Wellington City Council reporter. Before that she worked at the Upper Hutt Leader.
She has covered everything from the screeching of the Matangi trains on the Johnsonville line to roadworks issues in Wellington and the poisoning of native trees on Wellington's south coast.
As the Wellingtonian reporter she also covers sports, arts and features. She has interviewed Hurricanes and Phoenix players, scriptwriters, actors and nuns for the regular Wellingtonian interview series.
Amy has a degree in communications from Massey University, and completed journalism training at Massey University. She also studied sociology on an exchange at the University of Exeter in England.
Phil Kitchin
Investigations editor
06 874 7817
027 217 6443
Phil has been named Reporter of the Year a record four times. His investigations have included historical police rape claims made by Louise Nicholas, former ACT MP Donna Awatere-Huata's misuse of taxpayer-money, a series of articles on NZ First's political funding and the business dealings of Terry Serepisos.
In some cases his stories have led to police investigations and criminal convictions.
He recently broke the story on an ACC privacy breach in which the details of at least 9000 claimants were sent to a client.
Phil first joined The Dominion in 1987 as the Hawke's Bay reporter, before moving to TVNZ. He returned to The Dominion Post in 2007.
A multiple award winner, Phil took home the best investiagation and best reporter (politics) prizes at the 2013 Canon Media Awards.
Kerry McBride
Porirua and Wellington electorates reporter
04 4740545
Kerry was selected as a Fairfax intern and joined The Dominion Post in 2011. She reports on news from Porirua and the Wellington electorates.
She has previously covered civic issues in Wellington, including the regional governance debate, earthquake strengthening, and restoration of heritage buildings.
In November 2012, Kerry traveled to China to work at the Shanghai Daily newspaper, writing education, culture and business features.
Kerry has a degree in political science and international relations from Victoria University, and completed journalism training at Massey University.
Jo Moir
General reporter
04 474 0569
027 502 6626
Jo started working at the Dominion Post in January 2013 as a general reporter.
She spends her days chasing breaking and general news but also has a passion for politics and education reporting.
Jo graduated from Wellington's Massey Journalism course in 2006 after completing a Victoria University Bachelor of Arts majoring in political science and public policy.
Her first job was at the Wairarapa Times-Age before heading overseas to live and work in London.
On her return two years ago she took up a job with the Taranaki Daily News, a sister Fairfax paper, where she was the political and education reporter, until her move back to the capital this year.
Jody O'Callaghan
Education reporter
04 4740321
0272485014
Jody joined The Dominion Post in January 2012 after travelling through Africa, South East Asia and Europe for two years. She is the education reporter, covering from pre-school to the tertiary sector.
Prior to this she was a court reporter with the Manawatu Standard and the Wainuiomata reporter for City Life Communities. Jody has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Canterbury University.
Hank Schouten
Property reporter
04 4740276
Hank joined The Dominion Post in 2002 and works as property reporter. He was previously with The Evening Post where he was deputy chief reporter. He has covered foreign affairs, defence and also spent a year in the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
Hank began working as a journalist in the public service after training at Wellington Polytechnic journalism school and has worked for the New Zealand Press Association.
His book on the impact of Dutch immigration in New Zealand "Tasman's Legacy, the New Zealand-Dutch Connection" was published in 1992.
Marty Sharpe
Hawke's Bay reporter
06 870 7802
Marty has covered all aspects of the Hawke’s Bay region since joining The Dominion Post in 2007, including the Napier siege in May 2009.
He won a Qantas Media Award in the science and environment category in 2010 for his work on contaminated sites. His series of articles and Official Information Act requests resulted in the Ombudsman ruling that all council lists of potentially contaminated land should be made publicly available.
In 2012 he won a Canon Media Award in the science and environment category for a series of articles exposing the extent of a contaminated landfill in Napier.
Marty is an avid skier and his book A Guide to the Ski Areas of New Zealand was published in 1995. He attended Massey's journalism course and has worked at the Wairarapa Times-Age and Hawke's Bay Today.
Sophie Speer
Culture and Capital Day reporter
04 474 0292
Sophie reports on culture and arts in Wellington and contributes to the capital day page. She has been working at The Dominion Post since the start of 2012 and has previously worked at The Southland Times and City Life News.
Sophie has a Diploma in Journalism from Aoraki Polytechnic and a Bachelor of Arts from Otago University.
Matt Stewart
Weather, science and environment reporter
04 474 0556
Matt Stewart joined The Dominion Post in August 2011 as the Wairarapa reporter and in 2012 moved to the Wellington newsroom to cover weather, science and the environment.
While working in Wairarapa, Matt covered the Carterton balloon crash and resistance to the proposed Castle Hill wind farm. In 2008 he covered the fatal attack on Featherston man Paul Irons and subsequent murder trial in 2010.
Before working at The Dominion Post he worked at the Otago Daily Times and for the Wairarapa Times-Age.
Bronwyn Torrie
Health reporter
04 474 0110
Bronwyn is the health reporter at The Dominion Post. She was previously part of the metro team, reporting on Porirua. In that role Bronwyn followed the community's plans to restore Porirua Harbour, its objections to suburban bottle stores and the long-debated Transmission Gully road.
Bronwyn joined The Dominion Post in 2011. She has a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Massey University. She began her journalism career at the Upper Hutt Leader in 2007 before working at the Manawatu Standard covering Horowhenua, education and court.
At the 2013 Canon Media Awards Bronwyn won best reporter in the lifestyle section.
Olivia Wannan
Consumer Affairs reporter
04 474 0537
027 505 5621
Olivia was a Fairfax intern and started with The Dominion Post in 2012 as a general reporter. She has reported on Wellington issues such as disaster preparedness, employment relations law change and supermarket price wars.
She previously worked in the sub-editing department for a lifestyle magazine in Auckland.
Olivia completed a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University, and studied journalism at Massey University.
Mike Watson
Taupo reporter
07 3768143
027 2403759
Mike joined The Dominion Post in 2004 from the Rotorua Daily Post and covers the central North Island and Bay of Plenty, from Waiouru and Ohakune to north of Rotorua. He has reported on major stories including former TV presenter Clint Brown’s late night scuffle outside a Taupo taxi stand, the Nia Glassie trial and the conviction of a teenager for the murder of Scottish tourist Karen Aim.
Mike has a journalism diploma from Taranaki Polytechnic and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Victoria University.
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