Guardian staff stonewalled over status of absent political editor

The Guardian’s Australian staff and readers have been left in the dark over the future of its political editor, who remains on an extended leave of absence ahead of a crucial federal election, following a bust up in the outlet’s Canberra bureau.

Karen Middleton, who joined the Australian outpost of the historic British newspaper less than a year ago is approaching three months without appearing at work, with staff stonewalled by editors and managers over the status of her return.

She did return to work after the summer break, but not to The Guardian. Instead, continuing her fortnightly gig as Australian correspondent for Radio New Zealand, the public service broadcaster across the Tasman.

Last week, Middleton joined the radio network to chat about election date speculation, current polling, China’s military action near Australia, spiders and an NRL controversy in Las Vegas.

Her ongoing absence follows an interview process conducted in late-2024, where the masthead’s Canberra-based staff were questioned after political editor Karen Middleton made a complaint against chief political correspondent Paul Karp, and Karp made a counter-claim against Middleton, this masthead reported in January.

Karp was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing, this masthead was told at the time, and the journalist appeared to refer to this in his farewell speech to colleagues, telling staff he was departing with a “clean record”.

He has since joined The Australian Financial Review, capping off an exodus of almost all of its Canberra-based staff after Middleton’s predecessor Katherine Murphy joined Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office in early 2024. Middleton, who is Albanese’s biographer, a regular Insiders panelist and has been a Canberra Press Gallery journalist for 33 years, joined from The Saturday Paper in March last year.

The Guardian announced a number of new hires last week, after it was reported the AFR’s Tom McIlroy will replace Karp as chief political correspondent. However, he will not arrive until after the possible election date of April 12, leaving the outlet without its two most senior political reporters for the run-in.