Introduction
Nick McKenzie is an Australian investigative journalist and author who has won multiple Walkley Awards. He works for Fairfax Media and his investigations regularly appear in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review. He also presents special investigations for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television program, Four Corners.
Life and career
His career began as a cadet journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, later joining Fairfax Media. McKenzie's investigative reporting has led to a number of government inquiries and police investigations, including a federal police probe into political donations given by alleged mafia figures.
An investigation in 2009 by McKenzie and his Fairfax Media colleague Richard Baker into alleged foreign bribery involving two companies owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia, sparked a national scandal and prompted an investigation by the Australian Federal Police.
It ultimately led to Australia's first-ever foreign bribery prosecution in 2011, with the criminal charging of two firms, Securency and Note Printing Australia and several individuals. McKenzie and Baker were awarded a Walkley Award for Investigative Reporting for their investigation, which also led to the governor of the Reserve Bank, Glenn Stevens, testifying before a senate committee to respond to allegations the bank mishandled the scandal.
In 2014, a report by the pair on an undisclosed multi-million dollar payment to Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung from Australian company UGL, prompted widespread calls for Leung's resignation and sparked an investigation by Hong Kong authorities.
Much of McKenzie's work has been produced with Richard Baker. In 2012, McKenzie and Baker were rated the third most influential journalists or editors in Australia by news website Crikey.
Awards and recognition
McKenzie has won Australia's top journalism award, the Walkley Award, on seven occasions.
In 2010, McKenzie and his colleague Richard Baker were awarded the prestigious George Munster Prize for Independent Journalism by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
McKenzie is the most decorated journalist in the history of the Melbourne Press Club's Quill Awards and has twice won the press club's highest award, the Gold Quill.
Books
In 2012, McKenzie's book The Sting, about one of Australia's biggest organised crime and money laundering investigations, was published by Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) Victory Books.
McKenzie has also contributed to the Australian journalism textbooks, Australian Journalism Today (2012) and The Best Australian Business Writing (2012).