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Bronte Gossling

Bronte Gossling

Bronte Gossling is a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAtoday and Brisbane Times.

12 June 2026, SUN EXTRA - Social media case study. Social media ban. Six months in, is it working? Lara is a high school student who was kicked off social media. Photo: Ruby Alexander.

Australia banned under-16s from social media. The world is split on whether to follow

No platform has been fined and the rift between regulator and minister is in the open. How are our world-first social media laws faring?

  • David Swan and Bronte Gossling

Latest

The iPhone is being blamed for some of the world’s fertility decline

Seven things to know about Australia’s baby bust – and what it means for you

The smartphone is copping some of the blame for the declining global fertility rate. Middle children are out of style. And there is a big difference between childfree and childless.

  • Matt Wade and Bronte Gossling
Sydney horticulturalist Felicity Moody is an only child. She loved having her mother’s undivided love growing up, but does acknowledge it would be nice to have a sibling as her mother ages.

Selfish, spoiled, lonely … these only children have heard it all. But are the stereotypes true?

As Australia’s fertility rate falls, single-child families are on the rise. Most only children see no issue with that – but not all.

  • Bronte Gossling and Pablo Barnes
Reshmi and Tommy value travel, and wouldn’t be able to do that as often with a second child. Plus, Reshmi would like Adrian to do extracurriculars such as swimming, martial arts, tennis and soccer, and doesn’t think she’d be able to afford a robust schedule of activities for two children.

Cash, WFH, childcare overhaul? If we want Australians to have more babies, everything needs to change

Australians who want to have a child, or want more children, are asking for solutions. Can we, as a nation, help them?

  • Shane Wright and Bronte Gossling
NSW South Coast couple Steph Powell, 39, and husband Mark Powell, 40, with their five sons (L-R): Harlo, 11, Taj, 13, Bodhi, 3, Sabre, 7, Hendrix, 9. Steph says she would have more children if they didn’t grow up.

What it’s really like to have a big family today

Stares at the supermarket. 3am starts. Batch cooking champions. As Australia’s fertility rate falls to a record low, families with four or more children are becoming a rare species.

  • Bronte Gossling
Growing up in Perth playing with Baby Born dolls, Bianka Ismailovski never questioned that she’d become a mother. But she never felt maternal. “I was doing what I thought was expected of me,” she says. Once you start challenging stereotypes when you get divorced at 30, she laughs, then there’s no reason to stop.

The people who say no to being a parent, and have very happy lives

Australia’s fertility rate is at a record low, putting those who have made the personal choice to be child-free in the centre of a political battleground whether they like it or not.

  • Bronte Gossling
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Australian activists, including Juliet Lamont (pictured in Sydney on Monday), have alleged they experienced abuse and mistreatment while in Israeli custody last week.

Australian government ‘deeply alarmed’ over flotilla activists’ claims of abuse in Israeli custody

Israel’s ambassador to Australia said “no one was hurt” when 428 participants were intercepted at sea and detained. The Australians who have just been released from prison say otherwise.

  • Bronte Gossling and William Davis
Juliet Lamont and daughter Isla Lamont reunite with Juliet’s daughter Luca Lamont at Istanbul Airport after their detention in Israel.

‘It was chaos’: Australians released from Israeli prison, allege mistreatment

Between hugs and tears with family members at Istanbul Airport, some of the 11 flotilla activists have said the group was mistreated and abused by Israeli authorities.

  • Bronte Gossling and Emily Kaine
Hillel Newman

‘Disgraceful’: Israeli ambassador condemns minister over shocking flotilla video

Hillel Newman has condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir’s actions in the video, but explained that internal politics means the country’s national security minister is unlikely to suffer any consequences.

  • Nick Newling and Bronte Gossling
Juliet Lamont is pictured here with daughter Isla Lamont and Zack Schofield. They are now in Ketziot Prison.

Two grandmothers, a mother and daughter, a doctor: What we know about the 11 Australians in an Israeli prison

Worried families back home claim the Australian government is asking them for updates, rather than giving them. Here’s what we know about those detained in the Negev Desert.

  • Bronte Gossling and Nick Newling