Louise Milligan is an Australian investigative reporter for the ABC TV ''

7.30 ''7.30'' is an Australian nightly television current affairs program which broadcasts on ABC and ABC News at on Monday to Thursday nights. The program is currently hosted by Sarah Ferguson. History The program first aired on 7 March 2011, re ...

'' and ''

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

'' programs. As of March 2021, she is the author of two award-winning non-fiction books.

Career

Born in Ireland, Milligan grew up in the Roman Catholic faith. She graduated from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

with an Arts/Law degree. Early in her career she was High Court reporter for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

''. She subsequently spent seven years reporting for ''

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition television, high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while f ...

'' before joining ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

''.

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

(MUP) published Milligan's first book, ''Cardinal'', in May 2017. A month later MUP withdrew the book from bookshops across

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in response to

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victo ...

charging Cardinal

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 ...

with historic sex assault. ''Cardinal'' was returned to Victorian bookshops in February 2019. The charges against Pell were withdrawn in February 2019 for the "swimmers trial" and he was acquitted in April 2020 regarding the cathedral trial. In 2019, she was invited to give the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law annual lecture. Her talk was titled "A journalist's defence of trial procedures".

Defamation suits

In 2021, the Australian Commonwealth Attorney-General

Christian Porter Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Me ...

commenced defamation proceedings against her for an article published on 26 February 2021 which he says made a false rape allegation against him. Porter discontinued the action in May 2021 after the ABC agreed to post an editorial note to the original publication and to pay mediation costs. In 2021, federal MP Andrew Laming commenced defamation proceedings against Milligan for four tweets sent on March 28, 2021. He alleged one tweet implied he admitted to illegally taking a photo of a woman's underwear as she bent over in Brisbane in 2019. In August 2021 Milligan agreed to pay Laming approximately $130,000 in damages and fees.

Awards and recognition

Reporting awards

* 2016 Golden Quill Award,

Melbourne Press Club The Melbourne Press Club, commonly referred to as MPC, is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Press Club provides awards in the State of Victoria for outstanding journalism, presenting th ...

, winner with Andy Burn for ABC report, "

and

Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, ac ...

" *2017 Best reporting of an issue in sport,

Sport Australia The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as S ...

, winner with Lisa McGregor, Trish Drum for "After the Game" (''Four Corners'') * 2017 Law Reporting Award presented by the Sir Owen Dixon Chambers * 2019

Australian Press Council The Australian Press Council (APC) was established in 1976 and is responsible for promoting high standards of media practice, community access to information of public interest, and freedom of expression through the media. The council is also the ...

Press Freedom Medal

Book awards

* 2017

Walkley Book Award The Walkley Book Award is an Australian award presented annually by the Walkley Foundation for excellence in long-form journalism and nonfiction, with subjects ranging from biography to true crime to investigative journalism and reporting. Winne ...

, winner for ''Cardinal'' *2018 True Crime and Debut,

Davitt Award The Davitt Awards are literary awards which are presented annually by the Sisters in Crime Australia association. The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812–1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, ''Force and Fraud'' in 186 ...

, shortlisted for ''Cardinal'' *2018 Civic Choice Award,

Melbourne Prize for Literature The Melbourne Prize for Literature is an award given by the ''Melbourne Prize Trust'', which was founded by Simon Warrender in 2005. The trust grants awards on a rolling three-year basis for Urban Sculpture, Literature and Music, in that order. The ...

, winner for ''Cardinal'' * 2021

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

, winner for ''Witness'' and

Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has a remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category p ...

, shortlisted for ''Witness'' * 2021

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...

, shortlisted for ''Witness'' *2021

Colin Roderick Award The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presented ...

, shortlisted for ''Witness'' *2021 True Crime

, winner for ''Witness''

Bibliography

* *

Reviews of Milligan's work

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milligan, Louise Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Monash University alumni Australian journalists Australian non-fiction writers 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian writers