Phil Coorey navigating Australian federal politics from 1998 after his start with 'The Advertiser' in Adelaide

Phil Coorey, as political editor for tha Australian Financial Review newspaper in Sydney, contributing his views to the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio National Breakfast programme.
Image courtesy ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Phillip Coorey, reporting on Australian federal politics since 1998 starting with The Advertiser in his hometown Adelaide, was a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence.
After his initial stint with The Advertiser, Coorey spent two years from 2003 as a New York correspondent for News Corp Australia, before returning to Canberra as the political editor of The Advertiser.
Coorey made the switch in Canberra in 2006 to being chief political correspondent at Fairfax Media’s Syndey Morning Herald. During his seven years at the paper, he gained repute as a journalist with key contacts on both sides of politics and breaking major stories, leading to his Paul Lyneham award for Canberra press gallery excellence in 2012 and 2013.
In 2012, Coorey move to sister Fairfax newspaper The Australian Financial Review as political editor. Coorey also regularly appeared on political panel television programmes such theABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Insiders and Sky News Australia’s Speers Tonight.
Among the bias accusations that Coorey attracted as political commentator was that he favoured prime minister Scott Morrison's coalition federal government. In July 2023, shareholders advocate and media player Stephen Mayne commented in his MayneReport that “Phil Coorey (was) showing his Adelaide history in his Friday AFR (Australian Financial Review) column as he unloads on Dan Andrews (Victoria state Labor premier).”
From the other persoective, Coorey was criticised in 2019 by right-wing Sky News Australian commentator Andrew Bolt for questioning whether it was fair for Bolt to ask Liberal federal member of parliament Gladys Lui whether China’s president was a dictator.