Andrew Probyn

Andrew Probyn is an Australian journalist and television presenter.

He is currently the Nine Network's national affairs editor.

Life and career

Probyn spent his early years in Lancashire before moving with his parents and two sisters to Sokoto in Nigeria. The family migrated to Australia in the early 1980s. Probyn attended Scotch College in Melbourne, before studying law at Monash University.

He worked at the Herald Sun for nine years When Chris Uhlmann left the ABC, Probyn became the public broadcaster's political editor.

In early 2020, Probyn became the feature of an internet meme, initially gaining popularity from a video by comedian Brooke Taylor on social media platform TikTok, after an encounter with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, where Morrison stated “Andrew, I know, but you don't run the press conference, okay?” In response to these memes, Probyn added “if something like that encourages people to at least watch press conferences where some serious stuff is being discussed, all the better.”

In June 2023 Probyn was made redundant by ABC staff as part of a company-wide shift to restructure more on digital content.

In October 2023, it was announced that Probyn joined the Nine Network as a national affairs editor from November.

Morrison Government

When the Liberal Party replaced Turnbull as leader in August 2018, Probyn reported it was "vengeance pure and simple". He attributed Turnbull's loss to "a billionaires' tug of war between the nation's most powerful media moguls" (Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes), telling the ABC: "Until the end, News Corp's The Australian had been unabashed in its advocacy for an end to the Turnbull prime ministership."

In the wake of a large swing against the Liberals in the subsequent Wentworth by-election, Probyn opined: "The Liberal Party and the Coalition now stand on the edge of the electoral abyss. Political gravity drags at their toes, whistling a final ruin in just over six months' time, perhaps sooner... it looks very much like a presage of a much nastier blow next year at the general election. The Prime Minister must be wondering if he's caught a hospital pass in August's madness." He praised the Liberal Party's main opponent Kerryn Phelps as "an eloquent cleanskin with a just-add-water political persona that oozes the trust and authority so lacking in the place she's poised to become tenant." It was later reported that Guthrie had received a series of complaints about the ABC's political coverage from board chairman Justin Milne.

Amid government complaints about Probyn's reporting, Milne allegedly told Guthrie that keeping him as the public broadcaster's political editor was "putting the future of the ABC at risk". These claims raised questions of potential political interference by the Turnbull-appointed chairman, and Milne resigned his position, acknowledging there had been discussion of the "Probyn issue" but denying he had ever emailed Guthrie to sack journalists.

Personal Probyn is married to Felicity Hamilton. They have three children and live in Canberra.