http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/ellen-whinnett/ Ellen Whinnett is chief reporter of the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne. She got her start in journalism as a 17-year-old copygirl at The Examiner in Launceston in 1989, and jumped ship to The Mercury in 1996. In a 16-year career in Tasmania, she covered the Port Arthur massacre, the illness and death of Premier Jim Bacon, and in 2004 won a Walkley award for her coverage of Richard Butler’s brief but tumultuous reign as Governor of Tasmania. In 2005 she crossed Bass Strait to work for the Herald Sun, covering politics and working as an investigative reporter. She joined the Sunday Herald Sun in November 2008. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-travel-warning-system-is-the-boy-who-cried-wolf/ AUSTRALIA needs to overhaul its travel warning system or end up looking like the boy who cried wolf. We found out last week that 567,000 Australians visited our neighbour Indonesia last year. This means more than half a million Australians either didn’t know about - or, more likely, happily ignored -  the Australian Government’s travel warnings when they flew off to Bali for a week of sun, surf, beer, braiding, tattoos and tummy upsets. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Ellen Whinnett) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-travel-warning-system-is-the-boy-who-cried-wolf/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-travel-warning-system-is-the-boy-who-cried-wolf/#item2607 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:55:16 +0000 Ellen Whinnett | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-rudd-kept-his-promise-we-wouldnt-need-sea-shepherd/ BACK in 2007, Kevin Rudd said that if we elected him as prime minister, he would stop the slaughter of whales. And it wasn’t just earnest young lefties who took off their Save the Whales T-shirts and replaced them for a time with a red, white and blue Kevin 07 design. No, Mr Rudd’s pledge to end ``commercial’’ whaling appealed across the political spectrum, young and old, progressive, conservative, as advancing technology meant Australians were bombarded with real-time images of dying whales writhing in agony as they were hauled at the end of a harpoon line through blood-stained seas. And he was pretty clear about it too, our prime ministerial hopeful. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Ellen Whinnett) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-rudd-kept-his-promise-we-wouldnt-need-sea-shepherd/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-rudd-kept-his-promise-we-wouldnt-need-sea-shepherd/#item2125 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:00:19 +0000 Ellen Whinnett | Author bios | The Punch