Andrew Thomas

Andrew Thomas's picture
Andrew Thomas
Sydney Correspondent | Australia
Biography
After 11 years based in his native London, Andrew moved to Sydney with his Australian wife tasked with bringing all things Antipodean to Al Jazeera English. Since he started in December 2010, Andrew has covered a long line of natural disasters and the very human responses to each: the Christmas Island asylum boat sinking, the floods in Queensland and Victoria, the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and the triple-whammy of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan. In London, Andrew worked for Channel 4 News and at the BBC's Newsnight.

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By Andrew Thomas in Asia on December 18th, 2011
Protesters have gathered to vent their frustrations over the mounting political crisis Photo: AFP

Lifts are the worst.  The confined space means the smell can be intolerable: the body odour reeks.  A hot, humid climate is the chief culprit – but now Papua New Guineans have another reason to sweat. 

A country with a history of violence, crime and corruption is effectively leaderless: when two men claim the country’s top job, it means no one is really doing it. 

Their style is very different. Peter O’Neill is the more professional. His handshake is firmer; his suit sharper; his message more carefully honed.  Michael Somare would call all that gloss. He may be frailer, and somewhat more dishevelled – but right, he says, is on his side.

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on October 28th, 2011
Photo by AFP

Of all the signs, my favourite called for 'Land Rights for Gay Whales'. But there were also people 'So Mad That I Made This Sign' and people against 'Science Corrupted by Money'.

Then the more expected causes: in favour of renewable energy, against excessive mining, disgusted that 'war criminal' President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka had been invited to Perth.

The 'Protest CHOGM' rally - held to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth - Australia, saw an eclectic mix of groups.

And that says a lot about the Commonwealth meeting itself.

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By Andrew Thomas in Asia on October 23rd, 2011

File 50951

Forty-seven matches down. As I write, just one left to go. The Final: New Zealand – the home side, and the hottest of favourites – against France.

It's not just the players who will feel the finish line for this World Cup is now tantalisingly within sight.

A tournament of this size – nearly 1.5 million tickets have been sold in all, and the matches are broadcast live to hundreds of millions around the world – takes months and months of planning.

The office that Al Jazeera is based in Sydney, shares space with a company that is providing the satellite trucks to broadcast the games.

Those working on the plans for those trucks were pouring over their maps, spreadsheets and ferry timetables for two years.  

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on August 24th, 2011

 

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on August 2nd, 2011

Not many shop owners grin, on camera, when they tell you how expensive their goods are.  But Moery Najib, who owns Emiles Fruit and Veg in the Balmain district of Sydney, knows that his prices aren’t exceptional.

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on July 27th, 2011
Photo by Andrew Thomas

I never thought I would stand in a battery-chicken farm and think, what impressive progress!.

But however unpleasant for the birds - cooped up, two to a shoe-box sized wire cage - its owners show off the Railaco farm with pride.

Its eggs are replacing ones that would otherwise have been brought in from abroad; it employs people and operates for profit. It is an East Timorese business success story.

They are becoming more common. Tony Jape - East Timorese but of Chinese descent and fresh from a fortune made as an émigré in Australia - is building the country’s first ever shopping centre.

Though still not quite finished, it is, he says, already 60 per cent let. And Timor Corp - one of the country’s two big coffee producers - is proud it exports beans right around the world.

By Andrew Thomas in Europe on May 4th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

It was an excruciating moment. A prominent BBC journalist – famous for skewering his interviewees – being totally skewered himself by his most high-profile interviewee of the week. 

The guest: Britain's prime minister. The subject: the UK's referendum on changing the voting system.

David Cameron leads the "no change" camp. His central argument is that the current "first-past-the-post" (FPTP) system is simple, the proposed "alternative vote" (AV) system is not.  

Famous for his argumentative style, the BBC's John Humphrys walked straight into Cameron's trap.

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on April 30th, 2011

What’s next?  Alcohol sold only in black plastic tubs?  Burgers that can only be bought from opaque, windowless outlets: dingy ‘adult shops’ for fast food?

Ridiculous?  Not according to the tobacco industry.  That, they say, is the way that Australia is going.

Already cigarettes are sold from under the counter in most Australian states; already packets are plastered with gruesome imagery of the health problems smoking brings.

Tags: Australia
By Andrew Thomas in Asia on April 21st, 2011



Six weeks ago, it was Christmas Island. Today it was Villawood in Sydney. Another month, another riot at an Australian detention centre. This is beginning to look like a habit.

One hundred were involved in last night’s trouble, a quarter of all those that Villawood houses. Fires were lit and nine buildings burnt to the ground.

Sixteen detainees clambered onto the roof of the centre from where some hurled tiles at the police and firefighters below. Six detainees remained up there, undetained, well into Thursday evening.

Just as Australians were winding down for the extended Easter break, the Villawood riot reminds them of one of the most potent issues in politics.

By Andrew Thomas in Asia on April 8th, 2011
Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd [EPA]

It was an amazing spectacle: former prime minister, now foreign minister, Kevin Rudd slowly – but surely – undermining his successor on live TV. And – just as the assassin always smiles – doing so while being praised by fellow panelists and clapped by the audience for "honesty" uncharacteristic in a politician.

Monday Night’s Q&A – Australia’s version of the BBC’s Question Time – suddenly became a key moment in Australia’s political narrative.

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Andrew Thomas's picture
Andrew Thomas
Sydney Correspondent
Roving correspondent based in Sydney, Australia

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