BBC News appoints new Australia / NZ correspondent

BBC News has appointed Hywel Griffith as its new Australia and New Zealand correspondent, replacing Jon Donnison after 3 years.

He will be relocating to Sydney, from Wales, where he is currently the BBC’s Wales correspondent.

Andrew Roy, Foreign Editor, BBC News comments, “Hywel is an experienced journalist who has enjoyed a long career with the BBC in Wales covering some of the most significant domestic stories. I know he will embrace this next chapter getting to the heart of the biggest stories in Australia, New Zealand and across the Pacific for the BBC’s audiences in the UK and globally.”

Hywel comments, “This is an incredible opportunity, and one which I relish, as there is so much happening in the region at the moment. Some of the issues are already familiar from my time working in the UK, such as concerns over immigration, the economy and the future of heavy industries. But there many other stories which need to be told – around the changing shape of society, the region’s relationship with the rest of the world, and the challenge of environmental change.

“Until now my time in Australia and New Zealand has been as a visitor, but I look forward to getting to know the region and telling the stories which I know will be of interest to the BBC’s audiences around the world.”

Hywel will file for BBC World News and BBC.com, as well as covering news stories for the BBC’s news services within the UK, from September.

Hywel joined the BBC in 2000 after winning a place on the graduate training scheme. A placement at BBC Wales’ Cardiff newsroom led to him basing his career there. His first on-screen role was as the West Wales reporter for BBC Wales Today in 2002, before becoming BBC Wales’ Health Correspondent in 2005. In 2012, after a stint in the London newsroom, Hywel was appointed the Wales correspondent for BBC network news. This role has seen him report regularly across the BBC’s flagship news programmes such as the News at Six and News at Ten, as well as BBC Radio 4’s Today and PM programmes.

Hywel has covered a huge range of stories, from murder trials to major international sporting fixtures, as well as several elections. His work has taken him across Europe, and has led to reporting assignments in Australia, USA and the Caribbean.