Andrew Rule (born 8 April 1957) is an Australian journalist who specialises in

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

Early life

Andrew Rule was born in country Victoria in 1957, later attending high school in Sale. He dropped out of journalism at RMIT before completing an arts degree at Monash University.

Career

Rule started aged 17 as a reporter for '' The Gippsland Times and Maffra Spectator.'' He subsequently worked for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with ''The Herald (Melbourne), The H ...

'', '' The Herald'', ''

Sunday Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'', and at radio station

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

. The

Murders of Margaret and Seana Tapp The murders of Margaret Tapp and Seana Tapp, sometimes simply referred to as the Tapp murders, are unsolved crimes that occurred on 7 August 1984. The murders have been described as one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in Australian ...

was a

cold case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

that Rule has worked to bring renewed attention to in articles for both ''The Age'' and ''Herald Sun''. Rule wrote an authorised biography of Australian media proprietor and billionaire

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. ...

to counter bad press from an unauthorised work by

Margaret Simons Margaret Simons (born 1960) is an Australian academic, freelance journalist and author. She has written numerous articles and essays as well as many books, including a biography of Senate leader of the Australian Labor Party Penny Wong. Her essa ...

that included testimony from an abandoned family. In 2021, Rule was involved in a controversy where he falsely accused the late former Labor Premier

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...

of corruption. The reports on which his commentary and claims were based were found to be false in an ABC Editorial Review.

Personal life

Rule is married to Di Rule who ran as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate for Seymour in the 1999 state election and Burwood in the 2002 state election. His wife was accused by political opponents of benefiting from

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...

s when she was appointed to a Victorian government board after serving as a long-time staffer for former Liberal leader and Premier

Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of ...

Books

Rule has authored a number of books: * ''Cuckoo: A True Story Of Murder And Its Detection'' (1988) *''Rose Against the Odds: The Lionel Rose Story'' (1991) *''The Silent War: Behind the Police Killings That Shook Australia'', (1995) with John Silvester and Owen Davies *''The Evil: Inside the Mind of a Child Killer'' (1997) with Margaret Hobbs *''Tough: 101 Australian Gangsters: A Crime Companion'', (2002) with John Silvester *''Sex, Death and Betrayal: True Crimes and Other Stories'' (2004) with John Silvester *''Leadbelly: Inside Australia's Underworld Wars'', (2004) *''Gotcha: How Australia's Baddest Crooks Copped Their Right Whack'', (2005) with John Silvester *''Rats: Crooks Who Got Away With It: Tails of True Crime and Mystery from the Underbelly Archives'', (2006) with John Silvester * ''Kerry Stokes: The Boy from Nowhere'' (2014) *''Man & Beast'' (2016) *''Rule On Crime: 10 Crime Stories You Won't Forget'' (2017) * ''Winx: The Authorised Biography'' (2018) * ''Chance'' (2021)

Underbelly

With John Silvester, he co-wrote the ''Underbelly'' series of books about crime which were subsequently adapted into a TV series. * ''Underbelly: True Crime Stories'', (1997) * ''Underbelly 2: More True Crime Stories'', (1998) * ''Underbelly 3: Some More True Crime Stories'', (1999) * ''Underbelly 4: More True Crime Stories'', (2000) * ''Underbelly 5: More True Crime Stories'', (2001) * ''Underbelly 6: True Crime Stories'', (2002) * ''Underbelly 7: More True Crime Stories'', (2003) * ''Underbelly 8: More True Crime Stories'', (2004) * ''Underbelly 9: More True Crime Stories'', (2005) * ''Underbelly 10: More True Crime Stories'', (2006) * ''Underbelly 11: True Crime Stories'', (2007) * ''Underbelly: The Gangland War'', (2008) * ''Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities'', (2009) * ''Underbelly: The Golden Mile'', (2010) * ''Underbelly: The Golden Casket'', (2010) * ''Underbelly: Mokbelly'', (2013) * ''Underbelly: Where the Bodies Are Buried'', (2015) * ''Underbelly: Shot at Close Range'', (2016)

Awards

Rule is an inductee in The Australian Media Hall of Fame. He was also twice (1994; 2001) the recipient of the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award. In 2001, he won the

Gold Walkley The Gold Walkley is the major award of the Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic ...

award for his story '' Geoff Clarke: Power and rape''.

References

Living people Australian journalists Australian non-fiction crime writers 1957 births {{Australia-journalist-stub