The John Curtin Prize for Journalism: Judges 2006

Eric Beecher has worked as a reporter on The Age, The Sunday Times, The Observer and The Washington Post. He has been editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and editor-in-chief of the Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group. He was one of the founders of The Text Media Group and is currently co–owner of the Private Media Partners.

Dr Gerard Henderson is one of Australia's leading political and social commentators. He was educated at the University of Melbourne and is now executive director of The Sydney Institute. He writes a weekly column for The Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian, comments each week on ABC Radio's National Breakfast program and appears regularly on the ABC TV Insiders program. His books include Menzies Child: The Liberal Party of Australia 1944-94, A Howard Government? Inside The Coalition, Mr Santamaria and the Bishops and Australian Answers. Between 1976 and 1979 Dr Henderson worked on the staff of Kevin Newman, a minister in the Fraser Government. From 1984 to 1986 he was chief of staff to John Howard (who took over the Liberal leadership in September 1985). He also comments on the ALP and the labour movement. In August 1994 he reviewed Bob Hawke's memoirs for the ABC TV Four Corners program.

Liz Jackson is a qualified lawyer and five-time Walkley Award winner who has worked as a journalist at the ABC since 1986 on programs including Media Watch and Four Corners. Liz won two Walkley Awards in 2000 - one for her acclaimed report on cricket match fixing, ‘Fixing Cricket’, and another for her program on the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws, ‘Go to Jail’. Her previous Walkleys were for stories on Somalia and the suicide of Aboriginal activist Rob Riley. In 2002, Liz Jackson won another Walkley Award for her investigation into the NSW Department of Community Services, ‘Putting the Children at Risk’. She has also been awarded two UN Peace Prizes and three Logies.