Updated ,first published
Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor has resigned after almost 10 years in the job, saying she was at peace with the decision to leave the exhausting job and left behind a team of high calibre potential successors.
Taylor told staff of her decision, which takes effect this week, via an email on Tuesday as global Guardian boss Katharine Viner flies into Sydney.
“I’ve been thinking about it for some time but there’s always been some new challenge or story or reason to defer,” Taylor said. “But after 10 years, the job is exhausting. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to care for yourself or those you love.”
“It’s time to pass the baton and I have a brilliant, brilliant team and so they have choices [for my successor].”
“I feel very at peace with the decision.”
Taylor was a founding Guardian staff member when it launched in Australia in 2013, and won a Walkley for the publication the next year. She has edited it since 2016, making Taylor the longest serving top editor in Australian media.
Guardian editor-in-chief Viner is visiting Australia and will run a process to select a replacement for Taylor. David Munk, the Guardian’s senior managing editor in London will return to Australia as acting editor. He has previously worked in the newsroom in Sydney.
In an email to staff, Viner praised Lenore’s tenure, saying she had made the Australian outpost a force to be reckoned with, “sometimes through sheer strength of will.”
“Her hard work, commitment, editorial rigour and political insight have helped deliver journalism that sets the national agenda and driven much admiration from our ever-expanding audience.”
“I want to thank Lenore for her enormous contribution to Guardian Australia over the past 13 years.“
Earlier in her career, Taylor was the chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald. She is expected to take several months off after departing the Guardian.
Lenore had told this masthead in 2025 she was still happy in the role and there was “more work to do here”, but there has been speculation about her stepping down for some time.
Last year she had to deal with the fallout of high staff turnover and bullying complaints within the publication’s Canberra bureau that led to an HR investigation.
In the aftermath the outlet took almost six months to eventually appoint former Australian Financial Review journalist Tom McIlroy as its new political editor, who had only joined as chief political correspondent months earlier.
More to come.
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Nick Bonyhady is the business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a former deputy federal editor, technology editor and industrial relations reporter.Connect via X or email.
Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.